Naturalistic Sensibility and Modern Korean Literature

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the origin of the naturalistic sensibility in modern Korean literature. To this end, this study focuses on the Korean writer Kim Tongin and his analogous relationship with his western forerunners of naturalism. An established opinion is that Korean naturalism is nothing but another name for fatalism, and that Korean naturalists misunderstand the nature of Euro-American naturalism. However, Kim's choice of subject matter, deterministic themes, and literary techniques typical of western naturalists, demonstrate his intellectual and artistic affinities with his western predecessors. After tracing the historical and cultural contexts of the early twentieth century in Korea through the sustained discussion of Kim's life, the dissertation explores the model writings of Émile Zola and Frank Norris, the canonical naturalists. Then, the following chapters are devoted to a discussion of Kim's canonical works, "A Sorrow of the Weak," "The Seaman's Chant," "Potatoes," "Frenzied Sonata" and "The Story of Kim Yŏnsil." Examining the three short stories and two novellas, this study highlights the ways in which this author achieves his ultimate goal of depicting the human animal governed by heredity, environment and chance development. The study concludes by claiming that Kim finds a great medium for capturing a realistic picture of colonial Korea in the style and method of literary naturalism.