Korean literature

1. 1. KOREAN LITERATURE
2. 2. ABOUT KOREA  Located in EAST ASIA  Called the “Land of the
morning calm”  Modern spelling of “COREA” a name attested in English as
early as 1614, “KOREA” 19th century  84, 616 sq. mi the area of Korea  2.8
% is the rate of water in Korea
3. 3. GEOGRAPHY  Amnok River – The river that separates Korea from China
and to the north east  Duman River – The river that separates Korea from
China and Russia  Peninsula - surrounded by the Yellow Sea to the west, the
East China Sea and Korea Strait to the south, and the Sea of Japan
4. 4.  Mount Paektu (2,744 m) - The highest mountain in Korea through which
runs the border with China  Dadohae-jin - Southern and south western
coastlines of Korea form a well- developed Ria coastline
5. 5. RELIGION  Confucian tradition has dominated Korean though, along with
contributions by Buddhism, Taoism, and Korean Shamanism  Has competed
with Buddhism in South Korea, while religious practice has been suppressed in
North Korea  The influence of traditional beliefs of Korean Shamanism,
Mahayana Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism have remained an underlying
religion of the Korean people as well as a vital aspect of their culture; all these
traditions have coexisted peacefully for hundreds of years up to today despite
strong Westernisation from Christian missionary conversions in the South
Korea
6. 6. DIVIDED INTO TWO DISTINCT SOVEREIGN STATES:
7. 7. SOUTH KOREA or REPUBLIC OF KOREA NORTH KOREA or
DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
8. 8. SOUTH KOREA  Seoul – Capital and the Largest City  51 million –
Population  Korean pop (Kpop) and Korean series and movies  Jeju Island,
Mount Seorak and Gyeongbokgung palace  Famous with their products like
Samsung etc. and cosmetic products popularized by the Korean stars/ actress
9. 9. EDUCATION SYSTEM  Consists of six years in elementary school, three
years in middle school, and three years in high school  Students are required
to go to elementary and middle school, and do not have to pay for their
education, except for a small fee called a "School Operation Support Fee" 
The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the
OECD, ranks South Korea's science education as the third best in the world 
South Korea ranks second on math and literature and first in problem solving
10. 10. NORTH KOREA  Pyongyang – Capital City  25 million – Total
population  Korean descent and small communities of ethnic Chinese and
Japanese are also found in North Korea  The world's 4th tallest flagpole flying
 a 270kg. flag. It's 160m in height, over Kijŏng-dong "Peace village", near
Panmunjom in the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
11. 11. EDUCATION SYSTEM  Children go through one year of kindergarten,
four years of primary education, six years of secondary education, and then on
to universities  Consists primarily of universal and state funded schooling by
the government.  The national literacy rate for citizens 15 years of age and
above is over 99 percent  The most prestigious university is Kim Il-sung
University
12. 12. LANGUAGE  Korean is the official language of both North and South
Korea  Worldwide, there are up to 80 million speakers of the Korean language
 Korean has borrowed much vocabulary from the Chinese or created
vocabulary on Chinese models.  Korean is written almost exclusively in the
script of the Korean alphabet (known as Hangul in South Korea and Chosungul
in China and North Korea)
13. 13.  While Hangul may appear logographic, it is actually a phonemic alphabet
organised into syllabic blocks  (jamo) – 24 Hangul letters, at least one each of
the 14 consonants and 10 vowels at least one each of the 14 consonants and 10
vowels.
14. 14. HANGUL
15. 15. CUISINE  Believe that the taste and quality of food depend on its spices
and sauces the essential ingredients to making a delicious meal  Soybean
paste, soy sauce, gochujang or red pepper paste and kimchi are some of the
most important staples in a Korean household  Influenced by the geography
and climate therefore there are many fermented dishes and hot soups and stews
16. 16. KIMCHI
17. 17. COMMON DINNER TABLE IN KOREA
18. 18. SPORTS  Football remains one of the most popular sports in South Korea
 Baseball is popular in Seoul and they have three teams  Taekwondo is one
of Korea's most famous sports  Hapkido is a modern Korean martial art with a
grappling focus that employs joint locks, throws, kicks, punches and other
striking attacks like attacks against pressure points  Ssireum is a traditional
form of wrestling that has been practiced in Korea for thousands of years, with
evidence discovered from Goguryeo of Korea's Three Kingdoms Period
19. 19. MUSIC  Traditional Korean music includes combinations of the folk,
vocal, religious and ritual music styles of the Korean people.  Korean music
falls into two broad categories. The first, Hyangak, literally means The local
music or Music native to Korea of which example is Sujecheon, a piece of
instrumental music as old as 1,300 years. The second, yangak, represent a more
Western style.
20. 20. TRADITIONAL KOREAN DANCE JINJU GEOMMU
21. 21. - A traditional dress for a woman is called a hanbok - A hanbok has a short
jacket called a jeogori and a long skirt called a chima
22. 22. - Men also wore a jeogori, but much longer - Men wore baggy pants, which
were comfortable to wear when farming and sitting on the floor
23. 23. TRADITIONAL HOUSE
24. 24. KOREAN DYNASTY
25. 25. GORYEO or KORYO DYNASTY  Founded in 918 founded by Emperor
Taejo  It replaced Silla as the ruling Dynasty of Korea  Goryeo land was at
first what is now South Korea and about 1/3 of North Korea  Goryeo is a short
form of “Goguryeo” and first used during the time of “King Jangsu”
26. 26. CHOSON DYNASTY  Yi-seong-gye founded the “Choson Dynasty” and
moved the capital from “kaesong to Hanseong” formerly HANYANG, Modern
day SEOUL and built “Gyeongbokgung Palace”  It was founded aftermath of
the overthrew of the Goryeo Dynasty  Most notable among them was “Sejong
the Great” who promote (Hangul) – Korean Alphabet
27. 27. KOREAN WAR  In 1945, with the surrender of Japan, the United Nations
developed plans for a trusteeship administration, the Soviet Union
administering the peninsula north of the 38th parallel and the United States
administering the south  Politics of the Cold War resulted in the 1948
establishment of two separate governments North Korea and South Korea
28. 28.  During the Korean War (1950–53) more than one million people died and
the three years of fighting throughout the nation effectively destroyed most
cities. The war ended in an Armistice Agreement at approximately the Military
Demarcation Line
29. 29.  The Korean War led to the development of literature centred on the
wounds and chaos of war. Much of the post-war literature in South Korea deals
with the daily lives of ordinary people, and their struggles with national pain.
The collapse of the traditional Korean value system is another common theme
of the time.
30. 30. LITERATURE
31. 31.  Korean literature written before the end of the Joseon Dynasty is called
"Classical" or "Traditional"  Literature written in Chinese characters (hanja),
was established at the same time as the Chinese script arrived on the peninsula
 Korean scholars were writing poetry in the classical Korean style as early as
the 2nd century BC , reflecting Korean thoughts and experiences of that time
32. 32. Early Korean Literature
33. 33.  Classical Korean literature has its roots in traditional folk beliefs and folk
tales of the peninsula, strongly influenced by Confucianism Buddhism and
Shamanism
34. 34.  Begin as an oral tradition  Good was rewarded and evil was punished.
Values like loyalty to the king, respect for elders, true friendship and chastity
were emphasized  Korean poems were called Hyangga  A new form of poem
developed after the Goryeo dynasty and was called shijo a three- line poem
written in Hangul and gained wide acceptance
35. 35. Modern Korean Literature
36. 36.  The first period of the modern Korean literature is often called
“Enlightenment”  Introduced the Western-style schools and newspaper
emerged  Many biographical works were published, the main character was
often depicted as a hero
37. 37.  Jayusi is the formation of modern free verse poetry  The first printed
work of fiction in Korea was John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress or Cheonno-
yeokjeong 1893  The first complete edition of Bible in Korean was published
in 1910  Often linked in the development of Hangul which helped increase
working class literacy rate  Sinsoseol was a novel that was written in hangul
38. 38. CONTEMPORARY KOREAN LITERATURE
39. 39.  During the Colonial Korea 1910 – 1945 free speech and press were
restricted, thus influencing the literature  Literature focused on self discovery
and increasingly on concrete reality  Many novelist experimented with new
literacy style and techniques  In 1919, Kim Tong-in and Kim Hyok founded a
literary magazine “Changjo”
40. 40.  The literary magazine appeared during 1920’s and 1930’s were the basis
for the future development of Modern Korean Literature  Almost all the
magazine were ordered to discontinue publication in the 1940s as the Japanese
tightened the grip with the spread of their aggressive war to the Pacific  Many
novels of the 1920s centred around themes of the suffering of intellectuals 
The Korean literature was directly affected by the Japanese government
strengthening ideological coercion during 1930s