Thesis Advisor: Ghalya Saadawi

Augustus 2022

Abstract

About writing, which is about several other written works, it is. However, what writing can write about is only the hereafter or the before of writing, and thus, what this writing achieves when it attempts to be itself can only be that of a tragic failure. There are some 소설 (novels) written in Korean that try to be those precise novels, where the protagonist is the personal pronouns that dissolve into the verbs. The explicit application of the first person and the third person in these novels unmasks the convention of Korean grammar that affirms the omission of the speaking or narrating subject. 나 (I), 그 (he), and 그녀 (she) are the unfitting fit, accused of being the residues of the colonial past entangled with the imposed modernity. However, 소설 lies beside me with an abundance of personal pronouns as its established convention. If so, where should “I” go from now? The “|” heads toward the beginning of 소설 meandering around its unquestionable correspondence—the novel. However, “She” has always dreamed of writing a 소설 herself. Hence, here is where it begins. Between the novel and its convention, between the universality of language and the “injuries from the alphabets,”between one 1 solid purpose and the unstoppable hands devouring the pages. Left to right,

from top

to

a line

below. 

Author: Miyoung Chang