Yi kwang-su and modern Korean literature, Mujŏng
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Yi kwang-su and modern Korean literature, Mujŏng
（Cornell East Asia series, 127）
East Asia Program, Cornell University, 2005
- : pbk
- Other Title
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The heartless
無情
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Note
Bibliography: p. 349-371
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Yi Kwang-su (1892–1950) was one of the pioneers of modern Korean literature. When the serialization of Mujong (The Heartless) began in 1917, it was an immediate sensation, and it occupies a prominent place in the Korean literary canon.
The Heartless is the story of a love triangle among three youths during the Japanese occupation. Yi HyÅng-sik is a young man in his mid-twenties who is teaching English at a middle school in Seoul. Brilliant but also shy and indecisive, he is torn between two women. Kim SÅn-hyÅng is from a wealthy Christian family; she has just graduated from a modern, Western-style school and is planning on continuing her studies in the United States. Pak YÅng-ch'ae is a musically gifted young woman who was raised in a traditional Confucian manner; due to family misfortune, she has become a kisaeng but remains devoted to HyÅng-sik whom she knew as a child.
The Heartless goes beyond the level of romantic melodrama and uses these characters to depict Korea's struggles with modern culture and national identity. A long critical introduction discusses Yi Kwang-su's life and work from his birth in 1892 to the publication of his first novel The Heartless in 1917. It contains in-depth analyses of the novel, Yi Kwang-su's literary theory, and early short stories.
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