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The late 19th to early 20th century was a period of great transformation in Koreanliterature. However, change was also accompanied by continuity, with works thatinherited or utilized the styles of pre-modern periods existing alongside works ofa new stylistic form. This was the situation for &ldquoself-narrative&rdquo works which lookedback upon, recorded and evaluated the meaning of a person&rsquos life. Prior to themodern period, works that took the writer&rsquos own life as the subject matter were rarein traditional East Asian literature as the European tradition of writing confessionswas absent. As a result, the autobiography, in the European sense, did not exist.Nevertheless, self-narrative works which took on the forms of other pre-existingliterary genres can be observed. Examples of self-narrative works which utilizedtraditional literary forms can also be found in the Korean literature of the late 19th toearly 20th century. These works differ from European autobiographies in terms theirobjectivity and style their characteristic features are the way in which the historicalcircumstances of the time, which are not harmonious, are reflected and how thetransformation of the social group, rather than the individual, is emphasized. On theother hand, self-narrative works which adopted new literary styles from Europe orJapan also began to appear, produced by individuals who had become familiar withthe Christian tradition or who had studied abroad. Examples of this can be foundin the works of An Jungg?n, Jang ?ngjin and Yi Kwangsu which demonstrate theadoption of new techniques that allow confessions or the disclosure of the writer&rsquosinner side. These new forms of self-narrative cannot be regarded, in terms of theircontent and theme, as representing a development but their unique significancecannot be denied as well. |
