Book chapter
The sonic unconscious and the wartime radio novel in colonial Korea
Routledge Handbook of Modern Korean Literature, pp.275-291
Routledge, 1
2020
DOI: 10.4324/9781315622811-25
Abstract
Scholars such as Jonathan Sterne challenge contemporary literary and media analysis' tendency to treat texts merely as inscribed and read by bringing renewed attention to sound not only as a narrative medium but also as an enduring "artifact of the messy and political human sphere." In the same vein, I use this chapter to call attention to a pivotal moment in Korean history when literature, sound, and modern sound technology became inescapably intertwined under the force of Japanese total war mobilization in my analysis of an example of a sonic narrative, Kim Tongin's radio novel "Nanjing Treaty" (1943).
This chapter draws attention to listening in order to shed new light on modern Korean literature. Sound has been an undeniable aspect of both oral and written literatures in modern Korea, although it has often been overlooked in textual studies. Mass media, including film, radio, and of course print, played a pivotal role in encouraging, if not coercing, Koreans to participate in the Japanese colonialist project, especially after bunka seiji (cultural policy) was set into motion in response to the March First Movement, or Independence Movement, by the Japanese government-general of Korea. Although Japan ultimately surrendered at the end of World War II, an uncanny parallel can be drawn between the Opium Wars and the Second Sino-Japanese War. As Walter Ong writes, oral performances highly depend on mnemonics to convey their message.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The sonic unconscious and the wartime radio novel in colonial Korea
- Creators
- Jina E. Kim
- Contributors
- Yoon Sun Yang (Editor)
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- Routledge Handbook of Modern Korean Literature, pp.275-291
- Edition
- 1
- Publisher
- Routledge
- DOI
- 10.4324/9781315622811-25
- Number of pages
- 17
- Alternative title
- Sonic unconscious and wartime radio novel
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2020
- Academic Unit
- Communication Sciences and Disorders
- Record Identifier
- 9984721220402771
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