Representations of Femininity in Contemporary South Korean Women's Literature

This book analyses the cultural values that define femininity in the context of the Korean cultural imaginary.
The 1990s witnessed the emergence of a remarkable new group of South Korean women writers, including Ŭn Hŭigyŏng, Chŏn Kyŏngnin and Ha Sŏngnan, whose selected works are discussed in this study. These authors achieved wide popularity arguably because of their distinct focus on issues that resonated with the everyday concerns of their readership: domestic discontent, maternal dissatisfaction and women's sexual subjectivities.
This book discusses these contemporary representations of femininity and the extent to which they succeeded in challenging the traditional association of the feminine with domesticity, passivity and the maternal.