Marion Eggert

During the decades around 1900, Koreans experienced a world falling apart and the need to quickly build a new one. Intellectuals naturally took centre stage in this era of epistemic paradigm change. This book is devoted to the study of the life and ideas of some of these intellectuals, focussing on how they dealt with the challenges of their times. Where did their respective moral and intellectual stances lead them, and what were the social, economic, and political constraints that bounded their trajectories? Their life stories provide micro-historical insights into a period that has been formative for modern and contemporary Korea, and illustrate the intellectual ferment inherent in an era of crisis and transition.

Die eigentliche Form der chinesischen Prosa stellt der Essay dar, der sich als meisterliche literarische Form am Ende des Mittelalters herausbildet. Neben dem Gedicht war der Essay die Ausdrucksweise des chinesischen Geistes. Im Lauf der Zeit entwickelte er sich von einem moralischen Instrument zu einem Mittel des Lebensgenusses, die muige Betrachtung der Welt ist bis in die Moderne sein besonderes Wesen.