Essay on Eastern Sentiments
Eastern Sentiments is the book written by Yi T’aejun on his experience as Korean intellectual living in the country occupied by the foreign superpower, Japan, which had taken the tight control over the nation but still Koreans had preserved the opportunity to develop their culture and maintain their traditions, in spite of the occupation. The book involves the broad scope of different aspects of life described by the author. He shifts from the personal experience to national and regional ones describing the life of the nation and East Asian region under Japanese control. In such a way, the book is a valuable primary source of information on the colonial era and the life of Korean people and East Asia under the Japanese rule. The experience described by Yi contributes to the better understanding of the colonial policy conducted by Japan on occupied territories and how the population of occupied countries responded to the Japanese rule. Yi reveals the colonial perspective on the life of Korean people under the Japanese rule and how the colonialism affected the life of Korean society and culture, individuals and East Asian region at large.
The author narrates the story from the perspective of Korean intellectual, who holds the position in the upper-class in Korean society. Yi was the scientists, who dedicated his life to his scientific work, although he was never sure whether it was work at all. At any rate, in his book he clearly states that he does not really view his actions as the work. Nevertheless, he does his best to describe in details his personal experience of Korea in the time of the Japanese colonization. The colonization was the most significant event that can be clearly traced throughout the book, while Yi seems just to record his experience and makes his observations in the anecdotal form. More important, he does not just narrates the story of colonization but, instead, he gives the retrospection to the Korean past allowing readers to compare how he and Koreans lived before and during the colonization.
At the same time, the author uncovers the position of Korean upper-class under Japanese occupation. As a representative of the upper-class he is not involved in any manual labor. Instead, he dedicates all his life to scientific works and whatever he likes to do, including gardening, cultural studies and performing other activities which are interesting and important for him in person. His lifestyle and activities were the characteristic of the lifestyle of the representative of the upper-class in Korean society. In this regard, the Japanese occupation and colonization of Korea did not have a considerable impact on the lifestyle of the upper-class of Korea. Instead, they led the same lifestyle. The only change the colonial policy had on the upper-class of Korea was the limitation of access of representatives of the class to the political power of the country and the supremacy of Japan that held the full political authority and power over Korea. On transmitting the political power to Japan, Koreans still preserved their economic privileges and cultural autonomy as long as they remained within their community which Yi defines as the interior space of Koreans during the colonization. Naturally, the Japanese got political and economic preferences as the country that occupied and colonized Japan but the Japanese did not eliminated Korean upper-class or changed the balance of power in the Korean society. The upper-class remained in the privileged position, while lower-classes born the major burden of the occupation which though referred to political and economic fields mainly, while cultural effects were dubious since Koreans had managed to preserve their culture, while Japanese colonists were respected and Japanese cultural norms and traditions were manifested and supported publicly but it was rather showing-off attempts or manifestations of the respect to Japanese culture than the true admiration and acceptance of Japanese culture by Koreans.
The book provides the detailed description of the Korean culture focusing on specific issues which are the characteristic of Korean culture, such as calligraphy. For instance, Yi describes calligraphy is one of the major achievements of Korean culture, which though may be unusual for the western audience, but still it helps to understand better Korean culture of that time and reveals the development of cultural traditions of Korea. Yi writes different anecdotal stories which uncover cultural norms and traditions of Korean people which Koreans preserved, regardless of the Japanese occupation and colonization of the country by the foreign power. In such a way, the writer uncovers the power of Korean culture and impact of traditions on the lifestyle of Koreans. In fact, the book shows that Koreans had preserved their cultural identity during the colonization and Japan had failed to ruin or change the cultural identity of Koreans.
At this point, it is possible to refer to the personal experience of Yi, who apparently regrets about the past of Korea and he feels nostalgic about the past, when the Choson dynasty ruled Korea. His regrets are the result of his position of a scholar, who held the honorable position in the Korean society (Uchida 2011). He was free not to do any manual labor and was a highly respected person. In such a way, he could focus on his scientific research and explorations. As a representative of Korean intellectual elite, Yi had preserved his cultural identity throughout the occupation and colonial time. He remained Korean all his life and the Japanese occupation had never changed his identity. Therefore, the author implies that other Koreans also had preserved their cultural identity during the colonial time. Such a preservation of the cultural identity of Koreans proves that Japan has proved to be either unable or unwilling to set absolutely new ideology in the colonized territories (Randall188). The author describes the colonial experience of Koreans as the ‘mild’ colonization that may be unusual for western readers, who have the reading experience related to the colonial experience during the Nazi rule in Europe, when Nazi Germany imposed the fascist ideology on occupied territories eliminating any forms of opposition or difference (Uchida 2011). Even though Japan also enhanced fascist ideology, its impact was not overwhelming in Korea and the local population had preserved the cultural identity that was different from that of Japan.
The author describes traditions and lifestyle of Korean people focusing on the life of representatives of the upper-class mainly, although he includes the description of other classes too (Wells 4). The theme of the life of a scientist in Korea of the 1930s is one of the main themes of his book. The life of the scientist in Korea was the life of the representative of the upper-class, who was free of the manual labor and had plenty opportunities to conduct his scientific studies as was the case of Yi.
At the same time, Yi is not a narrowly nationalist in his writing concerning the socio-cultural environment he lived in. Instead, he has elaborated a broader view on the development of Korean and East Asian culture. In fact, he conducts the exploration of East Asian culture focusing on Chinese poetry, Japanese literature and culture. The broader view on the colonial policy and occupation of East Asian countries by Japan allows revealing the essence of colonial policies of Japan on occupied territories. The author views the colonization not as a mere occupation of Korea by Japan but as a part of the large scale expansionist policy conducted by Japan which was driven by its imperialist ambitions, while fascism served as the ideological ground for the territorial expansion of Japan and occupation of Korea and other countries in East Asia. In such a way, Yi viewed Korea and Korean culture in the context of the East Asian culture. Therefore, he has managed to overcome national boundaries and has had a broader view on Korean culture in the context of East Asian one. Yi has managed to show the cultural development of East Asian countries under the Japanese rule. Yi estimates that other countries also tended to share Korean experience of colonization and Japan conducted similar policies in other countries of the East Asian region.
In this regard, the colonial impact of Japan played probably an important part in the development of the worldview of the author because the occupation of Korea by Japan opened new broader perspectives on Korean and East Asian culture. Hence, the Japanese occupation contributed to the broadening of the eyesight of the author. As a result, he viewed the historical and cultural development of East Asia not from the sheer Korean perspective but from the East Asian or universal one.
At the same time, the author uncovers the considerable impact of Japanese culture on Korea and population of occupied countries but this impact was basically limited to the political control and economic privileges of Japanese on occupied territories. In addition, the population of occupied territories viewed Japanese culture as mainstream but still they preserved their cultural identity and maintained their cultural norms and traditions. However, the experience of the life of Korean people under the Japanese occupation reveals a number of noteworthy facts which reveal the substantial difference of Korean occupational experience with that of European countries during World War II, for example.
Along with the profound attention to the cultural life of Korean and East Asian society, he focused on the broader scope of his description of social and cultural life of his time. In fact, his narrative is the detailed description of people living in his time, their problems, issues that were important for them. In such a way, his narrative reveals the modernity which Yi describes in details and readers feel the spirit of his epoch and the life of people living in Korea and East Asia in the 1930s.
Yi also conducted the study of literature during the 1930s, which also saw the rise of Japanese fascism. The author uncovers the transformation of Japanese literature during the 1930s reveal clearly the trend to the emergence of fascism in Japan. The trend to the rise of faschism in Japan grew stronger along with the aggressive foreign polices of Japan. In such a way, the author gives insights into the essence of colonial policies as impersialist ones, while the occupation and colonization of new territories were justified by the fascist ideology which laid the foundation to expansionist policies of Japan.
At the same time, he manifested his opposition to Japan publishing some avant-garde writers, although he had never openly opposed to Japan or criticized it publicly. In such a way, he remain devoted to his Korean cultural norms and traditions, assisted the development of Korean literature and culture but formally or publicly remained loyal or, at the most, indifferent, to Japan.
Social inequality was beneficial for the wealthy, upper class and even the occupation of Korea by Japan did not have absolutely destructive impact on their position (Yi, 185). In such a way, social inequality becomes one of the main themes of his books, which though is not always intentionally presented by the author. On the contrary, the social inequality becomes obvious from the context, as Yi uncovers his own life, as the life of the representative of the upper-class. On conveying his personal experience, Yi shows how different was his life from the life of the average people in Korea as well as other East Asian countries.
At the same time, the author pays attention to the theme of the life and work of a scientist in Korean society of his time. He uncovers this theme because it is apparently close to him as a scientist. Being scientist himself, Yi shows that he did not suffer the severe oppression during the colonial time. Even though he regrets about the past, he does it just because he regrets about the Korean dynasty which he considered to be better for him because he liked their policies better than Japanese one, although such preferences may be the result of his patriotism rather than the quality and effects of policies conducted by the Japanese (Uchida 2011).
However, one of the main themes of the book is the theme of occupation. At this point, it is quite noteworthy to compare the occupation of Korea by Japan and the occupation of western countries. For instance, the occupation of western countries is traditionally depicted as the severe oppression and full suppression of national movements, elite, and cultures. The Japanese occupation was milder than western one judging from the book written by Yi, who depicts the Japanese occupation of Korea as the ‘mild’ occupation compared to western perception of occupation. Yi reveals the fact that, in spite of suppression from the part of Japanese, the local, i.e. Korean, upper-class still maintained its position.
At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that Yi distinguishes private and public spaces in colonized countries. Referring to the Korean experience, he insists that colonized nations tend to develop interior spaces, where they maintain their cultural norms and traditions. At the same time, there is the public sphere controlled by colonizer. More important, there was no direct suppression of Korean culture by Japanese one as was the case of European occupational policies conducted by the Nazi Germany, for instance, which imposed German culture and rules on occupied territories (Wells 17). In contrast to Japan the Nazi attempted to control all spheres of social life suppressing any manifestation of opposition or devotion to non-Nazi norms and traditions (Wells 17).
Furthermore, Yi uses anecdotal essays as a popular form of narration which attracted the audience and made the book interesting for the large audience, including not only those, who are interested in Korea and Asia studies, but also the average readers, who want to explore new horizons and learn more about different countries of the world. In such a way, the author uncovers the impact of the colonization through anecdotal stories which depicted different episodes from the life of Yi and life of other people.
Thus, the book Eastern Sentiments by Yi T’aejun reveals the experience of the writer, who depicts his life and the life of Koreans under Japanese occupation. At the same time, the author offers a broad view on the colonial policy of Japan and its impact on East Asian countries. In this regard, the author reveals the fact that Koreans had preserved their cultural identity, in spite of the colonization, but they had to develop dubious models of behavior. On the one hand, they retained their interior space, where they remained fully devoted to their Korean traditions, cultural norms and standards. On the other hand, there was the public domain, where Koreans had to manifest their loyalty to the Japanese and Japanese culture. Nevertheless, Korean culture and the upper-class maintained their pre-colonial position mainly, while the colonization had had the most significant impact on the political and economic life of occupied territories.
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