Earticle

This article explores the relationship between South Korean national identity and the country’s patriotic landscape. It attempts to decipher the images and the codes that museums, memorial halls, and monuments transmit to the local audience in order to establish a sense of spatial and temporal sameness and unity among the members of the nation. The analytic tool which is employed for that purpose is the distinction between “mythology” and “memory,” which makes it possible to avoid the commonly metaphorical use of the latter term. The framework of the analysis is presented in the form of a historical survey of the interaction between governing mythology, i.e. the dominant narrative preferred and advanced by the state, and collective and personal memories in South Korea. This underscores the fact that the present-day natural image of a landscape, which is dominated by images of the colonial past, is actually a late development. Only in the 1980s, when new socio-political conditions allowed for governing mythology and memory to converge and place the colonial past at the forefront of national identity, was this demonstrated by a wave of constructing memorial sites for the colonial past. In this context, it is possible to analyze which images are transmitted and how, and why specifically those images are important. Both external and internal challenges have influenced the decision to base governing colonial mythology on the role of South Korea as the legitimate son, who is responsible for the commemoration of deceased patriots, by relying on a set of familiar cultural and religious images. A highly passionate patriotic language that echoes early twentieth-century rhetoric, not only assists in strengthening the connection between the post-colonial South and pre-divided Korea, but it also mirrors the ongoing concern for the stability of the country. Also, the patriotic landscape sanctifies the death of the patriots, though death as a value is not sanctified. This demonstrates the way through which the concept of patriotism, which forms the emotional linchpin of nationalism, is tied to the idea of civic consciousness and the fulfillment of daily national obligations.

This article explores Koryŏ-Song literary relations by conducting an extensive survey of the Tongmunsŏn, the largest literary collection of pre-modern Korea. The chronological distribution of contributions by outstanding Korean writers in the Tongmunsŏn follows a pattern that is hard to explain solely from the point of view of Korean internal political developments. Rather, the pattern reflects the historical and diplomatic contact between Korea and China and connects Koryŏ literature to the broad scope of Chinese literary trends. Yi Kyu-bo and Yi Che-hyŏn, widely known today as two of the best Korean hanmun writers from late Koryŏ, receive focus as being exemplars of Song influences on late Koryŏ literature. In general, Northern Song played an indirect role and Southern Song played a direct role in shaping late Koryŏ literature. The purpose of this study is to open up literary studies on Koryŏ Korea to comparative research and examine the wider civilization of East Asia in a pluralistic manner.

It is generally known that (private) academies are heavily concentrated in the so-called Andong cultural region, or in the upper reaches of the Naktong River. This region is the ancestral home of many yangban families that not only influenced the locality but also the whole country. From the Neo-Confucian perspective, there were many sites in the region suitable for studying Confucianism through self-reflection. The physical (topographical) conditions and the sage named T’oegye were responsible for the relative concentration of academies in the region. Depending on the spatial pattern of diffusion, the developmental process of academies in the region can be divided into three stages: the original, transformative and restorative. In the original stage, the main way to justify the location of an academy was to infuse the site with meaning by linking the famous scholars both in space and time. The geographical connections of the scholars to the sites of study or retreat often justified the location of academies. It is the enshrined scholars who added sacredness to the site. In the transformative and restorative stages, increasingly, lineage connection rather than geographical connection and scholarly achievement became an important factor in the foundation of academy shrines. In the construction of an academy, therefore, the religious and intellectual justification for shrine-building sometimes became a controversial issue. Instances of contention also occurred among different groups over the same site that eventually led to territorial division. Neo-Confucianism, as it has been practiced in academies in the Andong cultural region, seems to share characteristics in common with those religions that bind people firmly to a place. The academy has eventually turned from a place open to any lineage groups into a place only open to one or more lineage groups. Neo-Confucianism, which originally claimed to be a universal ideology, has been increasingly practiced as a particularism within regional and local boundaries. Neo-Confucianism is a place-bound religion that has encouraged love for one’s own lineage and hostility to others. The academy is a landscape of high visibility and public significance that has served to enhance a sense of lineage identity. It has encouraged the lineage’s loyalty to its own territory.