Sinyǒja: The Quest for Women’s Emancipation in Colonial Korean Feminist Literature

Abstract

This thesis examines the history of the sinyǒja (new women) and how Korean women writers under Japanese colonial rule used the new concept to reflect feminist ideology within their stories. Korean women faced harsh, strict gender roles as a result of hundreds of years of rule under Neo-Confucian patriarchy. However, the annexation of Korea by Japan would open opportunities for the modernization of Korea. This allowed Korean women to pursue education and potentially discard traditional collective identities forced upon them under Korean patriarchy. Thus, the concept of the sinyǒja would be created as the “new women” would discard the traditional collective identity to discover their own individual personalities and reject the old customs that had limited their freedom. Korean women writers during the time would take the concept of the sinyǒja and reflect its values within their own work. This thesis seeks to analyze how the definition and concept of the sinyǒja were reflected by the early Korean women writers of the two time periods of the 1920s and 1930s. The first period of the early 1920s follows the pioneers of Korean women’s literature. By analyzing the works: “Kyǒnghŭi” by Na Hye-sǒk (1918) and “Awakening” by Kim Wǒn-ju (1926), one can see how these authors reflected the early concepts of sinyǒja and the characteristics needed for women emancipation. The second time period of the early 1930s follows the later Korean socialist women writers. In analyzing sections from Kang Kyǒng-ae’s “The Authoress” (1932), From Wonso Pond (1934), “Salt” (1934), “Manuscript Money” (1935), and “The Underground Village” (1936), one can see how Kang Kyǒng-ae defines the sinyǒja while offering her own insight on what she believed true emancipation of women meant.