East Asian Comparative Literature explores the drama of modern subject formation in East Asia through the lens of literature. This book examines modern literary works from the three linguistic spheres of Korea, China, and Japan, capturing how the drama of becoming a modern subject is expressed in East Asian literature. Faced with modernity as a violent outsider, the book seeks to trace the fleeting emotional expressions of East Asian individuals through literature. Through a historically ontological comparative lens, the book witnesses how collective historical experiences and personal ontological gaps come together. Capturing the drama produced by the overlapping of these two dimensions also means revealing the unique spatiality of modern East Asia. Furthermore, the intertwining and layering of these three distinct historical climates generate a shared humanistic context—this, in turn, becomes the very matrix and spatiality of the East Asian drama and shapes the content of modern subject formation.

Professor Young Chae Seo received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Korean Language and Literature from Seoul National University. He has served as an editorial board member for the literary quarterly Munhakdongne and previously taught in the Department of Creative Writing at Hanshin University. Since 2013, he has been a professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations at Seoul National University. His research focuses on theoretical inquiries into the ontological status of literature, with recent work exploring the entangled contexts of East Asian modernity across Korea, Japan, and China.

Presenter: Young Chae Seo (Seoul National University)
Discussants: Wondam Baek (Sungkonghoe University), Hyun-hee Choi (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)
Moderator: Jiyoung Seo (Center for Hallyu Studies, SNUAC)