Reading English Literature and Korean Scholars' Search for "Authentic Subjectivity"

Abstract

In his article "Reading English Literature and Korean Scholars' Search for 'Authentic Subjectivity'" Jonggab Kim discusses the ambivalence of Korean scholars toward the reading and analysis of English-language literature because of its perceived threat to Korean national identity and a route to internationalization. Kim's study is an attempt to evaluate a dual strategy of reading, one that involves both sympathy and antipathy. Kim postulates that what Korean scholars need is not a national practice of reading, but the type of reading that takes into account Korea's historical situation with the knowledge of the field or period of the text. Based on the notion of the Korean concept of "authentic subjectivity" (주체성 juchesung), Kim examines the growing confidence of Korean scholars on the one hand and their insecurity and sense of anxiety over asserting their subjectivity in the production of scholarship.