Dr Cho Dong-il’s History of Korean literature, translated by Charles La Shure, published by Saffron Books, offers a comprehensive examination of the history of Korean literature, both written and oral, and inquires into its relationship with world literary history. He places Korean literature within its proper cultural, philosophical, and political contexts, tracing the threads that run through it from ancient times to the 20th century. You may order this book here.
Cho Dong-il’s History of Korean literature traces the development of Korean literature from its beginnings in paleolithic times through the ancient and medieval eras, the important transition from medieval to modern Korea, and the Japanese colonial period, which ended in 1945.
A pre-eminent scholar of Korean literature, Cho Dong-il demonstrates how inextricably the threads of history, literature, and philosophy are interwoven, providing the necessary background to understand Korean literature as an unbroken tradition of thousands of years. His theories of literary branches and tendencies, as well as his unique understanding of the relationships between historical eras, provide a deeper and more flexible framework for interpreting Korean literature than traditional genre and periodization systems. Lastly, he goes beyond regional boundaries to examine the place Korean literature occupies in world literature.
This English translation of the six-volume original serves as a foundation for and stepping stone to further study of Korean literature.
About the Author
Professor Cho Dong-il has been has been teaching Korean literature for 45 years, primarily in Korea but also in France, Japan, and China. He has spoken to academic audiences in sixteen countries around the globe. His contributions to the fields of Korean literature and Korean Studies include over seventy books and over two hundred papers. Of his recent books, A Theory of Learning (2012), serves as an approachable introduction to and summary of his vast body of research, while Where Now for Literary History? (2015) offers his thoughts on the future of the discipline.
Dr Cho Dong-il is currently professor emeritus at Seoul National University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Korea.
About the Translator
Charles La Shure holds a doctorate in classical Korean literature with a specialization in oral literature from Seoul National University. In addition to his academic research, he works as a translator of academic and literary texts from Korean into English; recent previous translations include the novel Black Flower, by Kim Young-ha, and the novel Scenes from the Enlightenment, by Kim Namcheon. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Seoul National University.
Contents 6~9
Preface 11
Notes on conventions 13
Introduction
A new understanding of literature 15~23
1. The scope of literature 15
2. Literary branches 17
3. The division of historical periods 19
Part One | From primitive to early medieval literature 25~86
1. Primitive literature 27
2. Ancient literature 30
3. The emergence and role of hanmun literature 33
4. The new face of songs 40
5. The world of hyangga 41
6. Principle and expression in Buddhist literature 49
7. Tales and drama 56
8. The literature of Balhae 57
9. Mature Silla hanmun literature 59
10. The mythological expression of national foundation 64
11. The tradition of hyangga 66
12. The civil service examination system and hanmun literature 68
13. The reestablishment of Buddhist literature 70
14. Between tales and history 74
15. The end of early Goryeo aristocratic literature 81
Part Two | Late medieval literature 87~183
1. The Military Officers’ Uprising, the Mongol
Invasion, and Literature 89
2. Controversy over the essence and function of literature 99
3. New ground in Buddhist literature 108
4. A new understanding of national history 111
5. Folk song lyrics 120
6. Tales, shaman songs, and drama 124
7. The growth of gyeonggi-style songs, sijo, and gasa 125
8. The direction and critical consciousness of literati literature 129
9. The establishment of Joseon Dynasty hanmun literature 139
10. Hangeul and narrative poems 145
11. Early Joseon hangeul poetry 155
12. Government official literature 164
13. Independent literati literature 166
14. Outsider literature 169
15. The trials and transformations of Buddhist literature 174
16. The advent of the novel 178
Part Three | The first stage of transitional literature 185~343
1. Literature that dealt with national suffering 187
2. The unrest and continuation of traditional literature 195
3. The transformation to the era of novels 205
4. A re-examination of the fundamental issues of literature 218
5. The broadening authorship of literature 226
6. The direction pioneered by the literature of the
Practical Learning School 236
7. Folk songs, folk song poems, and akbu poems 254
8. Changes in sijo and the emergence of verbose sijo 261
9. The changing face of gasa 272
10. Buddhist, Taoist, and Catholic literature 282
11. From hanmun records to hangeul expressions 289
12. Tales, yadam, and hanmun short stories 297
13. The growth and transformation of the novel 311
14. From narrative shaman songs to pansori-based novels 326
15. The latent power and transformation of folk drama 335
Part Four | The second stage of transitional literature 345~550
1. Popular religious movements and literature 347
2. The vitality and tension of oral literature 360
3. The continuation of and changes in old vernacular literature 374
4. The task appointed to hanmun literature 393
5. The literature of the righteous armies’ struggle 417
6. The shift from the old to the new view of literature 436
7. New aspects of vernacular poetry 454
8. Prose for an awakening of the times 474
9. The domain of novels and the position of new novels 489
10. Folk drama, changgeuk, and new-style drama 501
11. The insecure position of new-style poetry 518
12. Novels by a wandering generation 532
13. The formation of literature in exile 544
Part Five | Modern literature 551~829
1. The direction and trials of modern literature 553
2. The impact of Western literature 576
3. The basic tasks of forming modern poetry 582
4. The process of achieving the modern novel 591
5. Wandering and seeking in the world of poetry 602
6. The body of works and critical consciousness of novels 632
7. The labour pains of modern drama 650
8. The era of criticism and controversy 666
9. The direction and fruits of the folk song poetry movement 688
10. The development of the sijo revival movement 696
11. Historical novels, rural novels, and popular novels 708
12. The various philosophies of dramatic composition 739
13. Poetry that sought an inner consciousness 757
14. Novels of a dark era 778
15. Poetry’s agonizing over how to deal with history 808
Postscript
From Korean literary history to world literary history 832~838
Changes in oral narrative poetry 832
Literatures of the common written language
and national language 834
Characteristics of modern national literature 836
In closing 838
Timeline
Early Medieval Era, Second/Third century~1170 840~841
Early to Late Medieval Era, 1170-1592 842~843
Late Medieval Era, 1170-1592 to First Stage of
Transition from Medieval to Modern Era, 1592-1860 844-845
Modern Era, 1860-1945 846
Indices
Index of Authors 847
Index of Works 859
Hangeul Index 893
Index of Characters 907
Glossary & General Index 913
Acknowledgments 943
You may order this book here.