The Posthuman and Transboundary Imagination in Contemporary Korean Literature: Considering the Works of Pae Myŏnghun and Yun Ihyŏng

Abstract

Abstract Literature limited to the eyes of “humanity” as created by humanism is insufficient to explore the conditions faced in the twenty-first century. The posthuman forms prevalent in contemporary South Korean literature, such as cyborgs, humanoids, and artificial intelligence, go beyond reflecting scientific developments; they operate as critical, political rhetoric with regard to discourses of modernity. This article focuses on the posthuman forms and also future time and space in Pae Myŏnghun’s and Yun Ihyŏng’s short stories in relation to critical posthumanism. Although Pae’s allegorical approach may seem somewhat simplistic, the posthuman forms that are brought to life in his works are highly innovative and effectively criticize modern systems. In contrast to Pae, Yun uses the futuristic subject to concentrate on humans, through narratives of coexistence where nonsynchronism is in operation. Yun’s narratives focus on a performative posthuman discourse that traverses gender, age, and class-based dualisms. With hybrid, multilayered, and performative identities and the transgression of boundaries, the two writers undermine the modern notion of linear, progressing time and cast doubt on notions of objectivity or totalized knowledge, urging a rethinking of the “here and now.”