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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School Department of Comparative Literature SET APART BY MIND AND SOUL: SUBJECTIVITY IN THE WRITINGS OF EARLY KOREAN CATHOLICS A Dissertation in Comparative Literature by Deberniere J. Torrey 2010 Deberniere J. Torrey Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2010 The dissertation of Deberniere J. Torrey was reviewed and approved* by the following: Thomas O. Beebee Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and German Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee Ronnie Hsia Edwin Earle Sparks Professor of History Alexander C.Y. Huang Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, Chinese, and Asian Studies Richard Nichols Professor Emeritus of Theater Arts Donald Baker Director, Centre for Korean Research Associate Professor, Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia Special Member Cho Sung-Won Professor of English Language and Literature, Seoul Women’s University Special Signatory Caroline D. Eckhardt Head, Department of Comparative Literature Director, School of Languages and Literatures *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. iii ABSTRACT In Korean intellectual historiography, engagement with Western Catholic thought is cited as one of several influences contributing to the epistemic change that marked the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. However, studies of this influence have thus far been limited to intellectual and social historiography. This project helps to complete the general picture and to illuminate a somewhat obscured period in the history of Korean literature by connecting the philosophical and historical issues with the personal literature of the period, examining the subjective discourse associated with this influence as a text of change. What does the discourse of those individuals who embraced Western Catholic thought reveal about the changing landscape of this transitional time? What is distinctive about this site of Catholic-influenced discourse, and how does it compare with both the literary mainstream and the concurrent stream of change in late Joseon Korea? In preexisting studies of the influence of Catholic thought and the ensuing conflict between the Neo-Confucian establishment and the Catholic movement, an important theme that surfaces is the troubling of traditional assumptions regarding the place of the human being in relation to the world. Starting from this initial observation, the project examines a selection of Catholic-influenced texts to demonstrate that the personal discourse of individual Catholics expresses a new subjectivity of the human as separate from the world; a position that contrasts to the traditional Korean assumption of the human as part of a unifying self-contained cosmic pattern. iv The texts at the focus of this examination are two groups of personal writings from the early years of the nineteenth century that are contextualized by the divide between the Catholic movement and mainstream Korean society. The first is a selection of the social poems of Dasan Jeong Yagyong (1762–1836), most of which were written in exile during the first two decades of the nineteenth century. The second group consists of a remnant of personal writings by Catholics from the time of the Great Persecution of 1801: the letter written by Hwang Sayeong (1775–1801) to the Bishop of Beijing requesting aid for the persecuted Church (1801), the letters of Yi Sunyi (1781–1801), written from prison to her mother and sister-in-law (1801), and the confessional essay written from excile (c.1803) by Choe Haedu (dates unknown). The Catholic-influenced discourse represented by both bodies of work is demonstrated to be divergent from the Korean mainstream in its representation of the human subject as set apart by intellect and/or by the immortality of the soul. For their part, these two groups of texts, each representing one side of a divide within the Catholic movement, are shown to express two variations of this new subjectivity. In his poetry, Dasan, representative of the camp that maintained its identification with Confucian tradition, expresses a paradigm of subjective distinction that translates into free will and responsibility, which supports his main purpose of ethical action in the world. Thus, the Dasanian subject, while distinct from the world, remains engaged. On the other hand, the writings of Hwang Sayeong, Yi Suni, and Choe Haedu, representing the camp that allied itself fully with the Catholic Church, express a subjective distinction from the world, based on loyalty to a transcendent authority represented by the Church and by belief in the soul’s immortality. Like Dasan, these writers represent the human being as distinct v from the world, free to choose, and responsible to act righteously. At the same time, their writings manifest an increasing focus upward to the transcendent world of heaven and inward to the individual soul, and greater disengagement with the world. The changes of the eighteenth and nineteenth century may reasonably mark this period as one of transition between pre-modern and modern, in which characteristics associated with modernity coexist with the traditional and “feudalistic” mainstream. In light of the Catholic-influenced texts examined in this project, is it possible to assert that the introduction of Western Catholic thought contributed to Korea’s transition to modernity? Inasmuch as the separation of human agency from the cosmic order was the point at which Dasan, Hwang Sayeong, Yi Suni, and Choe Haedu diverged from the dominant worldview of their milieu, Catholic-influenced discourse might indeed be said to have contributed to the movement toward a modern consciousness of distinct human subjectivity. In particular, Yi and Choe introduce a new inward self-consciousness by focusing on the state of their souls, and Dasan reveals a human subject that conceives of being distinct from the cosmos by merit of the intellect. However, the moral impetus of these writings and their expressed subjective dependence on heaven or God also trouble any clear-cut identification with the autonomous modern subject. Thus, the answer to this final question remains problematic. Nonetheless, considering the characteristics that reveal its affinity with both modern and pre-modern literature, Catholic-influenced discourse may be usefully associated with the category of “transitional literature,” coming into being within the changes and the tensions of late Joseon Korea. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...............................................................................................vii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................1 Chapter 2. THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN CONFUCIANISM AND CATHOLICISM IN LATE JOSEON...........................................................................................35 Chapter 3. THE INDEPENDENT HUMAN SUBJECT IN THE POETRY OF DASAN JEONG YAGYONG..........................................................................71 Chapter 4. TRANSCENDING TRADITION AND SOCIETY IN CATHOLIC DISCOURSE..................................................................................................112 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................188 WORKS CITED..............................................................................................................198 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project would have been impossible without the generous assistance of many individuals. The following is a brief mention of those who have played a vital role during the course of my graduate career at Penn State. First, I wish to thank my adviser, Thomas Beebee, for his scholarly guidance and his many acts of assistance in smoothing my transition through the phases of doctoral studies, as well as for his communication and support as graduate director leading up to my enrollment in the program at Penn State. I also wish to express my deep appreciation to Donald Baker of the University of British Columbia for going beyond the expected duties of an outside member and patiently reading and commenting on the chapters and drafts of my project throughout the period of my writing. I am grateful to Ronnie Hsia for agreeing to sit on my committee and for offering constructive criticism during the final phases of my writing, and to Alexander Huang for providing moral support and input at various points in my graduate career. I thank Richard Nichols for being willing to remain on my committee even after his time of duty at Penn State had ended, and for taking the trouble to give my final draft an editorial reading. Cho Sung-Won of Seoul Women’s University offered much guidance and assistance during the earlier phases of my project, and I appreciate the support and interest she has continued to show, and the time she has given to be a special member on my committee. Although not a member of my committee, during her affiliation with our department, Cathy Steblyk was very supportive, and pointed me to some key sources at the beginning of my graduate career. viii I am also indebted to the support and the departmental leadership provided by Caroline Eckhardt throughout my graduate career, and to her steady and affirmative guidance through many of my teaching assignments. The staff of the Department of Comparative Literature has truly been a beacon of humanity; their kindness, hard work, and competence