[KS] Re: Public awareness of homosexuality in South Korea

[Stephen Epstein]

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>> Well, the *concept* of "homosexuality" seems to have been a relatively
>> recent western invention.  My guess is that if you found a Koreanist who
>> was a scholar in gay/lesbian studies, and asked them whether
>> homosexuality existed in Korea before westernization, instead of
>> answering your question they would start deconstructing the world
>> "homosexuality."
>
>I'm not sure I would completely agree with that. There is a Korean word
>for
>"homosexuality" that is a string of Chinese characters. It's basically
>"same
>gender love person," or something to that effect. And hasn't
>homosexuality
>been referred to in literature going back to the ancient Greeks and the
>Biblical Hebrews? That doesn't seem to me to be a "recent" western
>invention, but I may be missing your point.
>
A few points/questions here: 

1)   Does  anyone know when the term "tongsOngyOnaeja" was first used in
Korean?  I assume it arrived via Japanese based on the Chinese
characters; does anyone know of first usages in either Chinese or
Japanese?  Does it predate the 20th century?

2) If I can put on my classicist's hat here a moment, a few words about
the issue of the homosexuality as a modern concept: this idea basically
stems from Foucault's _History of Sexuality_ in which he argues that the
concepts of heterosexuality and homosexuality as innate sexual
preferences (note: *not* sexual activity with/ or attraction to a member
of the same sex, which is very well documented) are modern bourgeois
Western concepts.  Foucault's theories were elaborated by a classicist
named David Halperin who wrote a well-known book entitled _One Hundred
Years of Homosexuality_.    Their claims are, however, highly
problematic for many reasons, which aren't worth detailing here.  You
can find a good review of Halperin's book by Amy Richlin, herself an
influential specialist on ancient sexuality, on the Bryn Mawr Classical
Review (which incidentally is what provided the initial inspiration for
the Korean Studies Review) at
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1991/02.01.08.html

3) Does anyone know of any stories in Korean literature that deal
specifically with gay or lesbian protagonists? The topic is treated
peripherally in O ChOng-hUi's "Morning Star," Kang SOk-kyOng's "Days and
Dreams" and the late Hwang Sun-wOn's "Doctor Chang's Situation," but
that's all I can think of off the top of my head.  I know Walter Lew has
an article on homoeroticism in Yi Sang, but I'm curious if there's
anything more concrete than that.

Stephen