[KS] Choson Dynasty Sexuality

[dmccann at fas.harvard.edu]

Oops.  Not wishing to set loose any groundless rumors, let it be noted that
"snese of refinement" should have been "sense of refinement" in the quoted
passage.

DM


uoting dmccann at fas.harvard.edu:

> MP gets it right, as often happens.
>
> "In the eye of the beholder," maybe?
>
> Which is the point, is seems, in the opening to Kim Tong In's 1925 short
> story
> "Kamja," "Pototato," where the ironically named female character Pongnyô,
> "Fortunate Woman," recalls her innocent village childhood.  The passage seems
> almost exactly a paraphrase of MP's remarks:
>
> Pongyô, who had grown up in this environment, considered it perfectly normal
> to
> bathe naked in the stream in summer with the girls from the other houses and
> to
> run around the district with nothing but trousers on; still, when she did,
> she
> carried in her heart a sort of vague snese of refinement in regard to what is
> called morality.
>
> (Modern Korean fiction: an Anthology.  Columbia University Press)
>
> DM
>
>
>
> Quoting Mark Peterson <markpeterson at byu.edu>:
>
> > Greetings all,
> >
> > Some say there is more to so-called genre painting than meets the
> > eye.  The voyeurs here are not just the naughty boys behind yonder
> > rock, but rather all who are looking at this painting.  They say.  But
> > I wouldn't know.  Looks all innocent to me!  There are no explicit
> > depictions of any kind in this kind of prudish painting, now are
> > there?  Nope.  I don't see anything.
> >
> > It's kind of like the emperor's new clothes, maybe.  If you happen to
> > see something,  just turn your heads or close your eyes.  "It just
> > couldn't be .... "  Or could it.
> >
> > If you do see it, well... you just ought to be embarrassed.  And you
> > certainly shouldn't tell anyone else.
> >
> >
> > innocently yours,
> > MP
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
>