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ABSTRACT
Korea’s abrupt transition into modernization was followed closely by Japanese colonialism at the turn of the twentieth century. With this social and political upheaval came the sudden hegemony of novel ideologies over an established traditional Confucian system. In public discourse and literary representations of early modern Korea, women figured as emblems of the country’s larger existential crisis. In addition, the kisaeng (generally known as female entertainers in pre-modern Korea) occupied a precarious ambiguity in the public sphere as innovators of new cultural trends and persistent obstacles to domestic morality. This study examines this ambiguity as a productive, creative deliberation regarding changing roles of women in Korea. I focus in particular on the hybridization of traditional imagery depicting female chastity (chŏngchŏl) in Yi Hae-jo’s fictionalized biography of the kisaeng, Kang Myŏng-hwa, which localized aesthetics of feminism and free love ideology for Korean reading publics. Through the biographical text of Kang Myŏng-hwa chŏn, the chaste kisaeng archetype relives the classical narrative of Ch’un-hyang and her virtuous wifely love for an aristocrat. In effect, Ch’un-hyang is remythologized in Kang Myŏng-hwa in the twentieth-century as a bridge between the past and modernity.
ABSTRACT IN KOREAN
20세기 초 일본식민지 제국주의의 거센 물결 속에서 조선의 근대화는 활발히 진행되고 있었다. 오랜 유교 전통적 제도 위에 새로운 사상과 사회 정치적 변화가 일어나고 있었다. 문학에서는 여성의 존재가 거국적 위기의 상징으로 표현되기 시작했다. 또한 기생은 새로운 문화 기류의 창시자이며 동시에 가족적 윤리에 큰 해가 되는 존재로 떠오른다. 기생의 사회적 모호성을 통해 당시 조선의 새로운 여성상을 고찰해 본다. 특히 이해조의 기생 강명화가 나타내는 전통적 정절의 이미지와 당시 문학에서 추구한 자유연애 사상과의 복합적 이미지에 초점을 맞춘다. 강명화전에서 정절 기생의 원조라고 할 수 있는 춘향과 그의 일부종사의 철학이 20세기 환생을 한다. 다시 말해서 춘향이 20세기에 강명화라는 새로운 인물로 등장하여 과거와 현재를 잇는 것이다.
Acknowledgements
This study is an edited version of my master’s dissertation for SOAS University of London. I would like to thank all the faculty and staff at SOAS for facilitating my learning and research. In particular, I extend my deepest gratitude to Dr. Grace Koh, for her sage and stimulating guidance as my advisor, and for her kindness and warmth. I am also grateful to Dr. David Lunn and his illuminating lectures, highly-constructive feedback, and entertaining anecdotes. I must also thank my beautiful, loving, and merciful family for their unwavering support during my year of study; and my partner, James, who encouraged me to take as many breaks as I needed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Carrie MIDDLEDITCH has recently finished her master’s coursework at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London in Korean Literature. Before that, she completed a two-year fellowship at the Korea Literature Translation Institute in Seoul, South Korea. She received her bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts at the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio, USA. Her interests include literature translation and theory, colonial studies, and creative writing. She currently resides in Melbourne, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Notes
1. The colonial era name for Seoul.
2. The moniker used by colonial Koreans to refer to Tokyo.
3. The original article was printed in issue #1021 of the Donga Ilbo, June 15th 1923.
4. As was common with ttakchibon works of popular fiction, there were multiple printings and versions of Yi Hae-jo’s original text. For my comparison, I will use a recent translation into modern Korean, which is from Yi’s original.
5. Besides the many versions of Yi’s story, which were printed up until the 1960s, her story was also developed into two film adaptations and a song.
6. The story of Ch’un-hyang has many versions both in its oral repertoire, (signified with the label “ka”), and transcribed texts (chŏn). For my comparison, I will cite mostly from the English translation of the Wanp’an woodblock transcription, which is the most circulated written edition of the story of Ch’un-hyang, see (Rutt & Kim, Citation1974).
7. The texts I refer to include the Naehun (Instructions for Women), written in 1475; and the illustrated version of the Sohak (Elementary Learning) from 1407, which included a section titled Yŏllyŏ (Chaste Woman).
8. See Hyun, Citation2004, pp. 44–45. Magazines with available dates included: Sin Yŏsŏng (1923), Sin Yŏja, Yŏja Kye (1917–1920), Sin Kajŏng (1933–1936), and Yŏsŏng (1936–1940).
9. See Shin, Citation2002; p. 168.
10. See Lee, Citation2010; p. 76.
11. See Hwang, Citation2011, p. 526.
12. For more in-depth analysis, see Pilzer, Citation2006.
13. See Parker (Citation2000) for a European comparison of a female biographical subject in similar socio-historical conditions.
14. Examples include Suk-hyang chŏn, a kisaeng who is jailed for her illicit love with a yangban, and Un-yŏng chŏn. Though Un-yŏng is not a kisaeng, her social status as a palace woman is ranked far below the yangban she falls in love with.
15. The genre of fiction written in vernacular han'gŭl in Chosŏn developed a stigma among the upper class, who largely viewed the genre as inferior to genres written in hanmun. However, as Michael Kim shows, the upper class, despite the stigma, read fiction too. For more details, see Kim, Citation2004.