Pages 107-118 – Joanna Elving-hwang – ‘The Improper Desire for Knowledge- De-gendering Curiosity in Contemporary Korean Women’s Literature’

Female curiosity is here discussed in the context of traditional and modern Korean folktales and proverbs, and the ways in which these conceptualise the issue. These traditional ways of perceiving female curiosity are then juxtaposed with the way it is re-imaged in a contemporary feminist fairy tale. The aim of such comparison is to show how patriarchal ideology is being subverted in contemporary...