What does it mean to be queer in a society often defined by its rigid traditions, colonial scars, and rapid neoliberal transformation? In this episode of Korea Deconstructed, we sit down with Dr. Samuel Perry from Brown University to challenge the common misconception that LGBT issues are a "new" or "Western" import to the Korean peninsula.
Through his new anthology, A Century of Queer Korean Fiction, Dr. Perry reveals a long-standing tradition of diverse sexualities and gender expressions that have navigated censorship, war, and dictatorship for over a hundred years. We explore the coding of literature during oppressive eras, the dangers of using Western yardsticks to measure Korean resistance, and how the rise of neoliberalism has impacted social visibility versus true acceptance. From figures like Yi Gwangsu to the gritty, three-dimensional characters of modern writers like Sang Young Park, we explore a literary history that is as complex but, at the same time, beautiful.
About the Guest: Samuel Perry is an Associate Professor of East Asian Studies at Brown University. A specialist in Japanese and Korean history, culture, and literature, he is the author of Recasting Red Culture in Proletarian Japan: Childhood, Korea, and the Historical Avant-garde. His most recent work includes the dual-language anthologies A Century of Queer Korean Fiction and 한국의 퀴어 문학: 한 세기 (2023).
Public Profiles
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emersonius/
Publications: https://sites.brown.edu/samuelperry/publications/
Brown Profile: https://vivo.brown.edu/display/sperry
Discussion Outline
0:00 Introduction
7:00 Queer Issues are Not Modern
13:30 Yi Kwangsu and Colonial Queerness
18:30 Does Modernity Oppress Queerness?
25:00 What is Korean Literature?
31:00 Sang Young Park
44:00 Yi Seoyoung
48:00 Changing Language
54:00 The Future of Queer Literature
Thanks to Patreon members: Bhavya, Roxanne Murrell, Sara B Cooper, Anne Brennels, Ell, Johnathan Filbert
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David A. Tizzard has a PhD in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He writes a weekly column in the Korea Times, is a social-cultural commentator, and a musician who has lived in Korea for two decades. He can be reached at datizzard@swu.ac.kr.
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