Literary negotiataions with western science in post-confucian korea

Abstract

Korean literature found a source of knowledge and inspiration for its advancement toward modernity in the theories and discoveries of Western science. Darwin’s theory of evolution was among the most influential examples of that scientific thinking in early-twentieth-century Korea. Major writers such as Pak Unsik, Pyon Yongman, Yi Kwangsu, and Yom Sangsop paved the way for the formation of modern Korean literature as they negotiated with the theories of Darwin and his followers while calling Confucian orthodoxy into question. Pro- and anti-Darwinist positions found passing but remarkable expressions in a wide-ranging intellectual spectrum between neo-Confucianism and anarchism and forecasted the opposition of science and poetry that would come to dominate Korean literature with the ascendancy of Marxist materialism. © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Yoon Sun Yang; individual chapters, the contributors.