The Quest for “Koreanness” in Theater: An Examinaon of Tradional Forms in Three Contemporary Korean Plays Öffentlichkeit

Abstract

Unlike China and Japan, the history of Korea’s dramatic literature begins in the 20th century, coinciding with the development of modern Korea. Interestingly, rather than pursuing the futuristic, hyper-capitalist modern Korea as a backdrop, playwrights have incorporated traditional elements, partly as a means to defy government appropriation of Korean tradition, and partly to legitimize a Korean theatrical tradion dang from older mes. Using the plays Oh Chang-gun’s Toenail (1974) by Pak Choyŏl, The Dummy Bride: Ceremony of Love (1993) Lee Yun-taek, and The Clowns (2000) by Kim Tae-woong, Pak observed and critiqued the playwrights’ use of traditional Korean performance forms in plays in their efforts to define “Koreanness” in plays, particularly with the elements of han , national pain and sadness, and hŭng , the joy and playfulness of the Korean kwangdae tradition. Pak concluded that just as the Korean peninsula remains divided and Korean society remains fractured, the playwrights were ultimately unable to find reconciliation between the past and present within their plays through theater, weighed down by the problems of society and the pain of the past. Still, hope remains as long as the art and experimentation continue with new generations and an increasingly wider variety of voices joining the theatrical world.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vi

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

Chapter 2 Kim Tae-woong’s The Clowns (2000) 20

Chapter 3 Pak Cho-yol’s Oh Chang-gun’s Toenail (1974) 33

Chapter 4 Lee Yun-taek’s The Dummy Bride (1993) 39

Chapter 5 Conclusion 50

Bibliography 54

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Theater Studies
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Asian American Studies Theater
Stichwort	Korean drama Korean theater
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Michael Evenden, Emory University
Committee Members	Sara Ward Culpepper, Emory University Jenny Wang-Medina, Emory University

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