Ann Choi Wan, professor and scholar of Korean literature, will introduce audiences to Korea’s literary traditions at The Korea Society on February 17, 2011. The lecture will consider the genres that flourished before the modern period, the role of Confucianism in establishing the value of social harmony and collectivity, and reach into the twentieth century, when romantic love became a new value associated with individualism and the driving theme of the first “modern” Korean novels.

This lecture series is supported by a grant from the


Thursday, February 17 @ 6:30 PM

BUY TICKET

Choi will examine the break from traditional literature to that created under Japanese rule, when progress also came to be seen as alienation, and writers examined the human cost of modernity and colonialism. The discussion of modern Korean literature begins with Yi Kwangsu’s “Mujeong” (“The Heartless”) and Yi Sang’s seminal and Kafka-esque work “Wings”—works that represent these two contending forces of modernity associated with the emergence of the autonomous self. The presentation also contains a discussion of the literature of the Korean War and its aftermath, which focuses on the trauma and the possibilities of healing a divided self and nation. The talk will conclude with an examination of the impact of South Korea’s prosperity and globalization on the creation of the “postnational” self by a new generation of well-traveled writers.

All lectures will be held at

The Korea Society
Samsung Center for Cultural Exchange
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10022

All lectures will be in English, except for the final lecture, which will be delivered in Korean (English interpretation will be provided).

Each of the first five courses will be two hours long, with a ninety-minute lecture and thirty-minute Q&A period. The hour-long final lecture with thirty-minute Q&A on March 17 will be followed by a short end-of-series program.

Members, $20 per lecture. Non-members, $30 per lecture. Enroll in all six lectures, and pay only $100 (members) and $125 (non-members—one-year membership included). Student discount available ($5 per lecture).