574:220 Korean Literature in Translation I: The Search for Self in Modern Literature Department of Asian Languages and Cultures Rutgers University-New Brunswick Fall 2019 Instructor: Professor Jae Won Edward Chung Email:
[email protected] Room: HC-N106 (rumaps.rutgers.edu) Day/Time: Tuesdays & Thursdays 2:50-4:10pm Office: Scott Hall 325 Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:30-2:30pm Description: How does the act of writing and reading literature create or undo one’s sense of self? How have modern Korean writers grappled with this question? Moving from early twentieth century to the present, we will cover major literary movements, their key works and authors, and techniques of close reading and analysis. We will explore how the search for the modern self intersected with processes of colonialism, enlightenment, nation building, migration, urbanization, industrialization, liberation, war, national division, democratization, neoliberalism, and virtualization. By the end of the course, students will have enhanced their aesthetic responsiveness to literary works and know how to contextualize them within modern Korea’s broader socio-historical trajectory, through eras of Japanese occupation, the Cold War, and post-democratization. No background in Korean language, history, or culture is required. Course Outcome: By the end of the course, students will have ● attained historically-situated knowledge about modern Korean culture and society. ● encountered canonical and currently trending works (fiction and poetry) of Korean literature. ● the analytical tools to close-read literary texts and explore broader themes. ● the ability to appreciate poetic, stylistic, formal, and structural design of literary texts. ● the ability to read literary texts "against the grain" (i.e.