Buddhist writers in colonial Korea : Rethinking Korean literature, religion and history during the colonial period, 1910-1945

Abstract

This dissertation explores the diversity and complexity of Korea__s colonial history (1910-1945) through interdisciplinary approaches. It focuses on religion and literature, because they inextricably intertwined with politics during that period. Other scholars have understood this intimate relationship to indicate simply how much artistic and cultural activities contributed to the national ideals and goals of independence from Japanese colonialism. However, this dissertation attempts to diverge from the dominant politicized understanding by adopting four diverse perspectives: postnationalist, postcolonial, feminist, and religious. By using a group of writers as a microcosm, this dissertation examines how Korean writers were fully aware of their role in a colonial society and how they coped with socio-political problems by accepting religion (Buddhism in particular) as the fundamental solution to them. My close investigation presents how their literary and religious narratives provided new and alternative views of significant events in colonial society, from nation-building to pro-Japanese collaboration. These literary sources also intimate a more richly nuanced colonial experience and a more complex response to colonialism than does the dominant scholarship on colonial Korea.