| In the Area Studies sub-field of modernization studies, Asia's "Four Little Dragons"---Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan---have been much celebrated for their rapid postwar development. Yet, their status as ex-colonies of England and Japan has rarely been considered and the narrative of their model Third World development rarely challenged. In this dissertation, I argue that literature brings into representation the contradictions and struggles which underlie their achievements and complicates the simple story of "successful" development. Rather than consider their urban and industrial growth examples of "East meets West" or "Confucian Capitalism," I read the literature of this region through the lens of postcolonial studies, paying particular attention to global capitalism, nationalist discourses and identity formation.; The dissertation focuses on the novels, short stories and poetry from "New Asian Cities" of South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan during the period of economic take-off, the 1960s-80s (Hong Kong warrants separate study due to its unique colonial/postcolonial configuration). In all three countries, I discover a common literary aesthetic which reveals and contests the legacies of colonialism, manifested here as rushed industrialization, neocolonial power structures, uneven development, patriarchy and authoritarian rule. Drawing on my training in architecture, I show how various genres, from proletarian novels to nativist and feminist literature, evince an anxiety over inhabiting the new spaces of development and refract the contradictions of postcolonial society by foregrounding architectural transformation.; My transcolonial perspective allows me to engage with literatures and regions normally studied separately, while my reading practice---which gives attention to the architectonic shapes of language---allows me to interrogate the struggles and conflicts over postcolonial modernization. My project thus places work by Edwin Thumboo, Catherine Lim (Singapore), Yi Sang, Kang Soˇk-kyoˇng, Cho Se-huˇi (Korea), Huang Chun-ming, Hou Hsiao-hsien (Taiwan) and others in conversation with the fields of postcolonial studies (Fanon, Mbembe, Spivak, Young) and Marxist cultural and spatial theory (Benjamin, Williams, Lefebvre, Jameson). I interpret experiences of "new" spatial technologies (the department store, high-rise apartment block, expressway and factory) to present a clearer understanding of the intertwined discursive and material processes constituting Asia-Pacific modernity. |
