Domesticity in the trilogies of Sean O’Casey and Yu Ch'i-jin

Abstract

This article examines Sean O’Casey and Yu Ch’i-jin’s portrayal of the domestic realm in the Dublin Trilogy of the 1920s and Nongchon Trilogy of the 1930s, respectively. Yu is indebted to O’Casey for his themes and style in playwrighting, for he saw O’Casey’s works as models for his own dramatic depictions of colonial Korea. A close study of Yu’s approach and the two trilogies reveal that his “deep-rooted admiration” for O’Casey does not indicate Yu’s aims to Westernize Korean theatre, but rather reveals his desire to impact the Korean audiences with realistic depictions of their everyday struggles. Using Lionnet and Shih’s idea of “minor transnationalism,” I argue that this lateral relationship is an instance of transcolonial solidarity in which Yu echoes O’Casey’s methodology to contribute to establishing a national theatre and drama tradition as did O’Casey to the Abbey Theatre.