Literature and Film in Cold War South Korea: Freedom's Frontier

Korean writers and filmmakers layered literary and visual cultures in numerous ways under Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945). Taking advantage of new modes and media that emerged in the early twentieth century, these artists sought and utilized subtle strategies for representing the realities of colonialism and global modernity. Theodore Hughes begins by unpacking the interactions among literature, film, and art during this period, paying particular attention to the emerging proletarian movement, literary modernism, nativism, and wartime mobilization. He then demonstrates how these developments informed the efforts of post-1945 writers and filmmakers as they confronted the aftershocks of colonialism, war, and the formation of separate regimes in North and South Korea.