The Past and Present of Women’s Literature

This essay aims to consider the limitations and possibilities of womens literature. Although womens literature played an enormous role in the renaissance of Korean literature, it was ghettoized into a literature of the biological woman. Especially Sin Gyeong-suk and her admirers confine women in the gendered space of the kitchen and thus keep womens literature relegated to a subgenre of literature. We cannot ignore the fact that womens literature of the 1990s, incriticizing the male-dominated literature of the time, asked questions about literature itself. Nevertheless, its power to provoke has been remarkably weakened by a market logic that commercializes the works of female writers and by the attempt of male critics to replace subversive womens literature with the image of home and maternity. However, new paths in womens literature are being exploredthrough the recent works of Cheon Un-yeong, Hwang Byeong-seung, and Kang Yeong-suk. They reposition women and femininity to the point where conventional lines between masculine and feminine blur while deepening and enlarging the scope of Korean literature. Cheon reveals a reversive gender consciousness through phallic women and feminine men; Hwang summons innumerable in-betweens ranging from man to woman by showing the performative and subcultural gender identities that constitute male and female; and Kang suggests a conceivable aesthetic of femininity by thinking of lives of women on the boundaries, especially in terms of the female body and sexuality.

keywords: womens literature, femininity, gender, plural genders, gender ideology, dichotomy, womens body, phallic women, border-line, border crossing, politics of identity, aesthetics of femininity, womens literature, femininity, gender, plural genders, gender ideology, dichotomy, womens body, phallic women, border-line, border crossing, politics of identity, aesthetics of femininity

참고문헌

Bae, Su-a, (2002) Dongmulwon kinteu (Zookind), Leegaseo

(2004) "Myeongnang" In Myeongnang, Moonji.

Felski, Rita, (1998) Geundaeseong-gwa peminijeum,

Heo, Yun-jin, (2005) Na-ui bunhong jongi yeonindeul, Changbi

Park, Hye-kyung (Bak, Hye-gyeong), (1995) Sainhwadoen segye sok-eseoyeoseong-ui jagi jeongcheseong chatgi (Quest for Identity of a Woman in the Private World), Munhak dongne

Seo, Yeong-chae, (2005) Naengsojuui, jugeum, maejeokijeum” (Cynicism,Death and Masochism), Munhakdong

Yeom, Mu-ung, (1995) Geulsseugi-ui jeongcheseong-eul chajaseo” (Searchingfor the Identity of Writing), Changjak-gwa bipyeong

Yoon, Ji-Kwan (Yun, Ji-gwan). , (1996) "90nyeondae rieollijeum-ui gil chatgi”(Way Seeking of the Realism in the 1990s) , Dongseo munhak

Hwang, Byeong-seung, (2005) Yeojang namja Sikoku (Drag Queen Sikoku), Random House

10.

Hwang, Jongyon (Hwang, Jong-yeon), (2001a) “Naehyangjeok in-gan-ui jin-sil”(Truth of an Introverted Individual), Munhakdongne

11.

(2001b) Yeoseong soseol-gwa jeonseol-ui umul” (Woman Noveland Well of Legend), Munhakdongne.

12.

Kang, Yeong-suk, (2004) “Nalmada chukje” (Everyday, Carnival). In Nalmadachukje (Everyday, Carnival). , Changbi

13.

Kim, MiHyun (Kim, Mi-hyeon), (1999) “Ibeu, janchi-neun kkeunnatda” (Eve,the Festival Is Ended) , Munhak dongne

14.

Kim, Myeong-hwan, “‘Oettan bang’-ui mun-eul yeolgi wihayeo” (ToOpen the Door of An Isolated Room). , Silcheon munhak

15.

Kim, Sa-in, (1996) “‘Oettan bang’-e daehan myeot gae-ui memo” (Notes onAn Isolated Room). , Munhak dongne

16.

Kim, Youngok (Kim, Yeong-ok), (2002) “90nyeondae hanguk yeoseongmunhak damnon-e daehan bipanjeok gochal” (Critical Review Woman Literature Discourse in the 1990s of Korea). , Sangheo hakbo

17.

Lee, Hye Ryoung (Yi, Hye-ryeong). , (2006) “Gukgyeong-gwa naemyeonseong”(National Borderlines and Interiority),

18.

Lee, Myungho (Yi, Myeong-ho). , (2006) 2000nyeondae hanguk yeoseong-uiwisang-gwa yeoseong munhak-ui banghyang” (Status of Korean Womenand Direction of Women’s Literature in the 2000s). ,

19.

Mohanty, Chandra Talpade, (2005) “Seoron: tal sigminjuui, ban jabonjuuibipyeong, peminijeumjeok gaeip”(Introduction: Postcolonialism, Anti-capitalistCriticism and Feminist Interventions). ,

20.

Cheon, Un-yeong, (2001) Wolgyeong” (Crossing the Border), Changbi

21.

Eun, Hui-gyeong, (1999) Yeokseol-ui yeoseongseong” (Paradoxical Femini-ty), Minumsa

바로가기메뉴

논문 상세

Vol.47 No.1

The Past and Present of Women’s Literature

Abstract

참고문헌

Korea Journal