Perspectives on Post-Modernism in Contemporary Korean Fiction

  • Published : 2002.10.01

Abstract

The Contemporary Korean fiction today to a certain context infringes on the outskirts of mainstream literary theories diversified to an extent that anything and everything that are printed are defined as literature. The two fictions that the study is based upon, probably, shows the effects of postmodernism in Korean fictional 'space' in that the representation of the said fictions veers clear from that with which one might associate in contemplating the traditional Korean fiction. The study, though it seems, based on a more of a societal perspective rather than traditional literary perspective is to be noted in reference with the postmodern theories that we identity with today. The paper takes look at the changes that can be noted in the fictions: Kyung ma jang ga nun gil by Ha Il-ji and Oak tap hang by Park Sang-woo. The main objective of the paper is that it tried to identify the cultural identity of Koreans through the descriptions found in the two works. While concluding as to why these two fictions can be categorized as belonging to the genre of postmodernism the research also tries to formulate what and how postrnodernism can be discerned in fictional genre and this especially in today's Contemporary Korean fiction.

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