Chinese, Korean Modern Literature And Literary Thought

Culture had always been propagating in an East-to-West direction before modern times. The spread of the oriental civilization helped the Europe with its development. However, after they firstly entered the capitalist society, the Europe began to commit colonial aggression against the East. At the end of the 19^th century the doors of China and Korea were opened one after another by the imperialist countries and both countries started to take the tortuous road towards modernization. The development of their modern literature was going on in this historical background.In this article, the author, by means of the research into the modern literature and literary theory of the two countries, attempts to discover the similarities and differences between the two countries in this respect. The modern literature and literary theory of China and S.Korea is a huge system, therefore, it is impossible to conduct an overall and careful investigation in one or two theses. This article mainly makes an overall summary of the development and characteristics in the modern literature and literary theory of the two countries by analyzing the representative literary phenomenon and the representative scholars' literary theory in modem times. This thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter Ⅰ The preface.. This chapter gives the writing purpose of the thesis on the whole, and displays the similarities and differences in modern literature and literary theory of China and S.Korea as well as the reason for this. After these two countries entered modern times, their literature and literary theory began to modernize accordingly. During this process, men of letters in the two countries started to explore actively how to save the nation from subjugation and ensure its survival by means of literature in face of the national crisis of being colonized and the tremendous impact from western culture. Therefore both Chinese and S. Korean literature in modern times aimed to save the national calamity and enlighten people, which, to a great extent, determined some similarities in their literature. However, the awakening of the modern national consciousness made the two countries' literature possesses their own form of expression and inherent essence.Chapter II The background in which the Chinese and Korean modern literary theory cameinto being. After the door of China was opened by the UK in the Opium War of 1840, change happened in the fields of politics, economy and culture, etc. The intellectuals in Qing Dynasty were quite worried about the safety and danger of the nation, and they began to learn from the western countries actively in order to save national calamity. At the same time, Qing Government took the lead in proposing the opinion of reform and then the Westernization Movement was in full swing. However, Westernization Movement, this kind of unthoroughing reform measures, has not made the Qing Government extricate itself from a predicament. In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the defeating of China has declared the failure of Westernization Movement. After The International Protocol of 1901 is signed, China totally became semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. It was Chinese people's strongest wishes to save the nation from subjugation and ensure its survival. Intellectuals regarded enlightening people and saving the nation as their own duty. The group represented by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao who advocated constitutional reform and modernization and the revolutionary group who advocated the 1911 Revolution took the road of using literature to save the nation while they were carrying out the political reform. In this course, the obvious change and innovation happened in the content and the form of modern literature. S. Korea has entered modern period after the door was opened by the Western imperialist powers in 1860. The intellectuals and people in S. Korea who regarded saving the nation from subjugation and ensuring its survival as object, carried out a series of fight and struggles such as the 1884 coup d'etat, the Tonghak Movement and the 1894 Reform0 From the 1960s to the Anti-Japanese Movement of March 3rd, 1919, Korean people and intellectuals who were suffering from imperialist pillage and the ruling of feudalism, resisted tenaciously and sought the way of gaining independence, making the country rich and building up its military might. Within this period, the ideology and culture (including literary theory) also developed gradually towards the direction of modernization.Chapter III The evolution and structural improving of the literary theory.This chapter mainly probes into the development of modern literature in China and S.Korea from two aspects — the evolution and structural improving of the Chinese modernliterary theory and the characteristics of S.Korean literature and the germinal of its modem literary theory. Literature of this period has realized its transition from ancient times to modem times progressively on the basis of the development of traditional literature. The transition of modern literature was mainly manifested in the innovation of its form and the new development of its content. With regards to Chinese literature, classical Chinese was replaced by the writings in the vernacular and to S.Korean literature, Chinese by Korean. The change of this literary language is one of the decisive factors that improve modem literature. In the literature form, the new application of the old poetic form, preliminary test of the new poetic form, the rising literary position of the novel, the development of the modem prose,and the newly-fixed literary position of drama etc. are the important contents of the modern Chinese and S. Korean literary improvement in form. It was the new development of the modem literature content that went on in step with the reform of the form. Modem China and S. Korea both face the social crisis of internal corruption and the national crisis of imperialist invasion. Especially the more and more serious aggravation of the national crisis made the intellectuals of the two countries pay much closer attention to the relationship of literature with society and politics. Modem literary works reflected more about the current situation at that time and the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal ideological content. Literature performed the function of condemning dark social reality, objecting to the ruling of feudalism and carrying forward patriotism. The process of literary modernization is closely related to the development of literary theory.Chapter IV Researches into the ideology and theory of modem art and literature. The modem intellectuals are the leading force in national independence and social reform. For them, literature is undoubtedly the most effective means and tool of enlightening people and making reform. Comparing with the literary form, content became the modem intellectuals' greatest care. This phenomenon is compatible to the colonial social background of the two countries and the historical demand of saving the nation from subjugation and ensuring its survival.The literary phenomenon is closely related to the literary theory, therefore, the literary theory and ideology in this period can be said to be a kind of utilitarian literary view. In China, the representatives of Jingshi Group are in this way, so are the representatives of Constitutional Reformand Modernization and the Revolutionary group. In S.Korean Eastern Learning and the patriotism of Cui Nan-shan and Sin Chae-ho are no exception. Under the spring tide of this utilitarian literary view, the exploration of the form and artistic essence of literature is going on in a marginal form. Wang Guo-wei's aesthstic literary theory is one of the representatives.Eastern Learning is worth paying special attention. In the 1860s, the political and economic crisis in S. Korea was aggravated day by day, and Ch'oe Su-un has established Tonghak in conformity with people's psychology of resistance and the demand of the times. Tonghak is a native religious idea in S.Korea which appeared to resist the infiltration of foreign religions, save the declining national spirit and traditional spirit and arouse people's subjective consciousness and national spirit. After Tonghak has been established for more than thirty years, the Tonghak Rebellion broke out in 1894, in which the Tonghak believers played a key role. The two successive large-scale uprisings with distinctive color of anti-imperialist and anti-feudal modern revolution gave a heavy blow to the Korean imperial court and foreign invaders. The guidelines of Tonghak Movement of 1894 led by Quan Beng-zhun is inherited from the Tonghak of Cui Ji-yu and in return developed it to a great extent.Chapter V Conclusion. Under the impact and influence of foreign literature, Chinese and S.Korean modern literature developed into a typical literary form in transitional period on the basis of the development of national literature .Therefore, the modern literary theory must be a typical theoretical form which not only links what comes before and what goes after but also blends what comes from the East and what comes from the West. This chapter summarizes the similarities between China and S. Korea in their literary and artistic ideology from the shift of creative subjects, the change of literary language and literature design, the influence of western literature and its literary theory, and the utilitarian literary theory. Meanwhile, the literary and artistic ideology of the two countries are unavoidably different because of the continuity of development, the national characteristics in the change of writing, and the differences in the development of mass literary theory.