Science Fiction in Korea

Guest lecture by Dr. Dennis Wuerthner from Ruhr-Universität Bochum

In early modern Korea, kwahak sosŏl, Science Fiction, arose and flourished through the channeled Korean reception and subsequent creative appropriation of Western literature. Tales of marvelous adventures, unknown creatures and fantastic technologies by authors such as Jules Verne or H.G. Wells streamed into the country from abroad in the early twentieth century, an era marked by many young Koreans’ thirst for new, Western knowledge. Yet Science Fiction works not only provided Korean readers with information essential in a rapidly changing world, but also served as a means for their intellectual authors to address and tackle historical or political issues as Korea moved towards becoming the subject of colonial rule. After liberation, the genre was steadily developed in North Korea, yet only few works dealing with science and human kind’s future trials or endeavors were produced in South Korea until the late 1980s. Since then, however, new outlets, new foci, as well as some established authors’ turn towards the genre have resulted in Science Fiction breaking free from its niche and reaching wider audiences. While putting a slight emphasis on the foundational phase, in this EPEL lecture I will introduce representative examples of the different developmental stages and try to discuss the origins, changes and specifications of Science Fiction literature in modern and contemporary (South) Korea.