Abstract

This thesis mainly aims to examine colonial masculinity, especially focusing on the national fighters for Korean independence during the Japanese colonial period. As China was a place that Korean exiles moved to, through an examination of Korean short stories by Chu Yosŏp, Sim Hun, and Kim Kwangju, this thesis traces back to the rise and fall of Korean exiles in China who participated in political movements during the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1920s, male intellectual characters in stories by Chu Yosŏp, and Sim Hun expressed their pride as national fighters while participating in Korean exile groups in Shanghai. The male character’s identity as an aggressive fighter was based on gender disparity between men as national leaders and women as objects belonging to the male leaders. Following China's declaration of war against Japan in the 1930s, in the stories of Kim Kwangju, the previous activists disappeared. The failed dream converted revolutionaries from fierce nationalists and socialists into opium addicts, gamblers, and prisoners. A subsequent generation, younger than the previous fighters, decried the moral collapse of their fathers and teachers and lamented the hopeless period. Along with following Korean colonial men’s revelation of masculinity, considered to be their most important identity, this thesis also focuses on how it was suspended, contaminated, and extinguished as Japanese imperialism expanded to China.

Committee Chair

Ji-Eun Lee

Committee Members

Lingchei Letty Chen, Rebecca Copeland

Comments

Permanent URL: https://doi.org/10.7936/8gfn-m681

Degree

Master of Arts (AM/MA)

Author's Department

East Asian Studies

Author's School

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Document Type

Thesis DLA

Date of Award

Spring 5-17-2019

Language

English (en)

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