Cover Page The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/20839 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation. Author: Lee, Jung-Shim Title: Buddhist writers in colonial Korea : rethinking Korean literature, religion and history during the colonial period, 1910-1945 Issue Date: 2013-04-24 Buddhist writers in colonial Korea: Rethinking Korean literature, religion and history during the colonial period, 1910-1945 Proefschrift ter verkrijgen van de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden, op gezag van Rector Magnificus prof. mr. C.J.J.M. Stolker, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties te verdediging op woensdag 24 april 2013 klokke 16.15 uur door Jung-Shim Lee Geboren te Seoul, Korea in 1974 1 Promotiecommissie: Promoter: Prof. Dr. B.C.A. Walraven Prof. Dr. R.E. Breuker Overige leden: Dr. K. de Ceuster Prof. Dr. K. Cwierska Prof. Yoonsik Kim (Seoul National University) Prof. Dr. I.B. Smits 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 5 Introduction 7 Part 1 Han Yongun (韓龍雲, 1879-1944): A doubtful national hero 22 Chapter 1 A doubtful national hero: Han Yongun’s Buddhist nationalism revisited 23 Chapter 2 Pangmyŏng: A hero’s dilemma amidst war 51 Part 2 Yi Kwangsu (李光洙, 1892-1950): Korea’s most controversial writer 86 Chapter 3 Religion reclaimed: Yi Kwangsu’s Buddhism in its relationship to literature, nationalism and collaboration 87 Chapter 4 Yi Kwangsu’s novel Wŏnhyo taesa as counter-discourse 122 Part 3 Kim Iryŏp (金一葉, 1896-1971): New Woman reborn as a Buddhist nun 149 Chapter 5 Love, Buddhism, and nationalism: Kim Iryŏp’s Buddhist stories in the age of free love 150 Chapter 6 Women, disability and Buddhism in Kim Iryŏp’s (post)colonial literature 177 Part 4 Hong Sayong (洪思容, 1900-1947): A writer on a pilgrimage 200 Chapter 7 Neither decadent nor nationalist: Hidden Buddhist themes in Hong Sayong’s 1920s literature 201 3 Chapter 8 Meditating amid war: Hong Sayong’s Buddhist literature in wartime colonial Korea 225 Conclusion 262 Bibliography 268 Samenvatting 286 Curriculum vitae 289 4 Acknowledgements The completion of my dissertation was a long journey, much longer than expected. As tends to happen on most long journeys, I often felt confused, disoriented, and at a loss. More than once, I was confronted with writer’s block. As a non-native speaker, I have struggled with academic English skills from start to finish. Nonetheless, these difficulties do not overshadow the happy, pleasant and inspiring moments I enjoyed during my PhD research. Unable to get anything done under stress, I can say that every page of this dissertation is the result of my pleasure, joy and enthusiasm. So many people did not hesitate to help and support me. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Prof. B.C.A. Walraven. Without his extraordinary patience and guidance, I would not have finished this work. He gave me the time to grow and the freedom to learn through trial and error. His careful and attentive proofreading contributed to the improvement of this dissertation. Secondly, I would like to thank Prof. R.E. Breuker for his warm encouragement. He lent a helping hand to me in times of distress. I particularly appreciate his efforts in dealing with the administrative paperwork in the final stages. I thank Dr. K. De Ceuster for generously sharing knowledge and references on Korean colonial history with me. I am grateful to Prof. em. K.M. Wells at ANU who showed a constant interest in my research and offered productive criticism along the way. I would like to extend my thanks to the professors and lecturers in Chinese and Japanese studies at Leiden University, who allowed me to be part of their lectures and seminars on modern Chinese intellectual history, modern Japanese history and religions in Asia. This experience enabled me to look at my topic from a wider perspective. I am grateful to all my colleagues, co- workers and peers in the Arsenaal and Huizinga buildings, who provided me with a friendly and cheerful working atmosphere and gave me a sense of belonging in Leiden University. I owe a debt of gratitude to the PhD students, junior and senior scholars in Korean Studies in Europe, whose academic companionship I had the pleasure of enjoying during all these years. They directly and indirectly motivated me to push on and complete this research. I offer special thanks to my dear friends. Despite the long distance, they stood by me, cheered me up, and laughed with me. Although I was negligent in keeping in touch, distracted as I was by my dissertation, they showed great understanding and friendship. My deepest thanks go to my parents and other family members. They did not dare to call or visit me for fear of disturbing me. Their unconditional love has made me stronger. I dedicate this dissertation to Jeroen, my husband, who never faltered in motivating me by offering the sweetest carrots and the most threatening sticks and who kept saying “I am proud of you” even when I myself lost self- confidence. 5 Chapter 1 is a slightly revised version of my article “A doubtful national hero: Han Yongun's Buddhist nationalism revisited,” Korean Histories 3.1 (2012): 35-52. (http://www.koreanhistories.org) Chapter 3 is a reworked version of my article “History as colonial storytelling: Yi Kwangsu’s historical novels on fifteenth-century Chosŏn history,” Korean Histories 1.1 (2009): 81-105. (http://www.koreanhistories.org) Chapter 4 is a largely extended and reworked version of my paper “Wŏnhyo taesa: the “hidden transcript” of a Buddhist novel” in One Hundred Years of Change: Korean Religion and Literature in the 20th Century. KAREC Discussion Paper 6.7 (2005), pp.69-86. An earlier version of Chapter 5 was published as an article “New for old: Kim Ir-yŏp’s Buddhist stories in the age of yŏnae,” ArOr (Archiv Orientální/Oriental Archive: Quarterly Journal of African and Asian Studies) 76 (2008): 195-215. Chapter 7 is a largely reworked version of my article “Fifteenth-century history and Buddhist approaches to colonial landscape in Hong Sayong’s writings from the early 1920s” in Korea in the Middle – Korean Studies and Area Studies: Essays in Honour of Boudewijn Walraven, Edited by Remco E. Breuker (Leiden: Research School CNWS, 2007), pp.204-219. 6 Introduction This study on a group of Buddhist writers active in colonial Korea (1910-1945) is part of a broader attempt to look into the complex process of interaction between religion and literature in producing history during the colonial period. When studying colonial history, it is a salient feature of the period that religion and literature took a prominent role. One may remember that the monumental March First Movement in 1919 was led mainly by Ch’ŏndogyo (an indigenous religion), Christian and Buddhist religious leaders. Cultural nationalism in the 1920s was under the guidance of devout Protestant Christians such as Yun Ch’iho and An Ch’angho. Authors were actively engaged in many fields as journalists, priests, schoolteachers, scholars of history or law, and leaders of nationalist and socialist movements. Religious and literary figures were influential social actors who had close contact with the public as well as the colonial authorities and were concerned with social, cultural, and political events and affairs, large or small. It is also no coincidence that many wartime collaborators at the end of the colonial period were either religious figures or literary writers. The existing dominant scholarship particularly in Korea on the role and meaning of religion and literature for a long time has been conditioned by a nationalist historical perspective, which limits relevant research to the single theme of national resistance against the Japanese colonial power. The description of colonial period literature often begins with the major premise that it was a period of economic hardship and mental distress due to Japanese exploitation and repression. The Korean nation (Han minjok) fought against colonialism and demonstrated their national strength in various fields of economy, society, and culture. The motive that dominated the literary consciousness of authors in this period was nothing else but the wish to express their anger with the pen. Facing the national ordeals, writers are assumed to have shown a spirit of resistance or non-conformist attitudes, and made an effort to protect the nation and boost the national spirit of the people.1 What tends to be emphasized in the general history of Korea concerning religion is confrontation with the Japanese government and religious service to the Korean nation (minjok or kyŏre). Korean Buddhists tried to guard their tradition from the penetration of Japanese Buddhism and governmental control. Such efforts to protect religion were nothing different from the anti-Japanese movement. 2 Korean Christian churches brought 1 Yi Myŏngjae 李明宰, Singminji shidae Han’guk munhak 植民地時代의 韓國文學 (Seoul: Chung’ang taehakkyo ch’ulp’anbu, 1991); Kim Yunsik and Kim Hyŏn 김윤식 김현, Han’guk munhaksa 한국문학 사 (Seoul: Minŭmsa, 1973/2000); Cho Tong’il 조동일, Hanguk munhak t’ongsa 5 한국문학통사 5 (Seoul: Chisik sanŏpsa, 2005). 2 Kim Kyŏngjip 金敬執, Han’guk kŭndae Pulgyosa 한국근대불교사 (Seoul: Kyŏngsŏwŏn, 1998/2000); Chŏng Kwangho 정광호, Ilbon ch’imnakshigi-ŭi Hanil Pulgyo kwanggyesa 일본침략시기의 한일불교관 7 modernization to Korea and made a major contribution to political anti- Japanese struggles. Christians labored to save the Korean people in the midst of hardship and despair and shared joy and sorrow with them.3 New religions such as Ch’ŏndogyo are often regarded as the defenders of the national spirit against foreign encroachment of Japan and the West.