바로가기메뉴

본문 바로가기 주메뉴 바로가기

The Review of Korean Studies

ISSN : 1229-0076

Article Contents

Prev Next
e-Submission

Vol.7 No.1
Citation Share

Representing Korea as the “Other”: Ernst J. Oppert’s A Forbidden Land: Voyages to the Corea

The Review of Korean Studies / The Review of Korean Studies, (P)1229-0076; (E)2773-9351
2004, v.7 no.1, pp.145-164

(2004). Representing Korea as the “Other”: Ernst J. Oppert’s A Forbidden Land: Voyages to the Corea. The Review of Korean Studies, 7(1), 145-164.
  • Downloaded
  • Viewed
PDF Download

Abstract

This paper endeavors to analyze A Forbidden Land: Voyages to the Corea (1880), a text written by a Jewish-Prussian by the name of Ernst J. Oppert. I focus on Oppert’s representation of Korea mirrored by China and Japan because his discovery of Korea was mediated by that of the other two empires. In the first place, I argue that the biography of Oppert, merely known as a “traveler” or “ethnographer” (or merchant), should be taken into re-consideration as an author and must be more complexly reevaluated in light of the nineteenth century European colonial projects in Asian countries that he actively participated in during his stay in Shanghai. The text, in this sense, must be positioned as one of the early Westerners’ writings on Korea in which discourses on the “forbidden land” were being constructed in comparison with China and Japan whose doors were already open. While the text, according to the author, was intended to attract the Western public’s attention and subsequently to commence with trade and commerce, it in fact reflected Oppert’s “colonial” desire to open a “sealed book” (Oppert 1880:3). The text can be divided into two parts. The first contains chapters one to six that introduce almost all aspects of Korea but rely on European research achievements and their translations of Chinese and Japanese historical sources. The second part, chapters seven to nine, cover Oppert’s three voyages allegedly designed to arrange trade partnerships with the Joseon government, yet which I posit into “encounters” between the two heterogeneous worlds. In this part, different worldviews between Oppert and the native officials were dramatically expressed in relation to the then priority of the “pening of the ports.” By perceiving the “hermit kingdom” mainly in the dialogues with and references to China and Japan who opened their doors earlier, Korea was represented as “in-between” and “uncivilized.”

keywords
Korea, China, Japan, discovery, encounter, in-between, uncivilized, forbidden, representation, post(-)colonialism.

Reference

1.

(1882) 1911. 9th ed. Corea The Hermit Nation.New York,

2.

(1999) 9segihuban 20segicho seoyanginui Hangukgwan sangdaejeok jeongcheseong ron, jeongchi sahoe bupae ron, tayuljeok gae- hyeok bulgapi ron:(WesternersPerceptions of Korea in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuryheses of relative stagnation, corruption of the political realm and the inevitability of reform by Japan),

3.

(1998) 9segimal-20segicho seoyangin yeohaengjadeului nune bichin hangukui sahoesang(Western TravelersImages of Korea in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century):Wollye Balpyohoe Nonmun (presented at the 84th monthly confer-ence of the Association of Korean Society and History),

4.

(1996) okil jegukjuui wa jungguk chimryak(GermanImperialism and Expansion into China),

5.

(1999) 鹿Eundun ui wangguk Hangukhakui maengawa seongu-jadeul(he Hermit Kingdom Sprouts and pioneers of Korean Studies),

6.

(1997) 100nyeonjeon yureopini yureope jeonhan Joseon wang-guk iyagi (Europeansaccounts of the Joseon kingdom one century prior ), Seoul: Seomundang

7.

. In Geumdan ui nara Joseon voy-ages to the Corea trans. and ed. by Shin Bok-ryong and Jang U-yeong.2000,

8.

(1998) eoyangui yugyo ihaee daehan damronhakjeok bun-seok(The analysis on Western discourse of Confucianism):162 The Review of Korean Studies,

9.

Colonialism/Postcolonialism, New York: Routledge

10.

Voyages to the Corea.New York Reisen nach Corea.1880. Leipzig,

11.

Jeguk juui: shinhwa wa hyeonshil(Imperialism: Myth and Reality), Seoul: Seoul daehakgyo chulpanbu

12.

(2003) Ilgeureojin geundae(Twisted Modernity). , Seoul: Pureun yeoksa

13.

(2003) 9segimal ilboninui Joseon yeohaengie natanan Joseonsang(The Joseon image reflected in Japanese travelogues of Korea in the late nineteenth century),

14.

(1999) Hamel pyoryugi(Narrative and description of the kingdom of Korea. H. Hamel), Seoul: Jipmundang

15.

(1999) Joseon jeon(Kingdom of Corea in the general history of China. P. Du Halde), Seoul: Jipmundang

16.

(1999) Jeseon seohae tamsagi (Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea. B. Hall), Seoul: Jipmundang.

17.

(2000) Geumdanui nara joseon(A Forbidden Land: Voyages to the Corea). , Seoul: Jipmundang

18.

(1978) Other materials related to E. J. Oppert. in contents and biography Forscher und Entdecker in Tibet,

The Review of Korean Studies

e-Submission OA Policy