Korean as Proletarian: Ethnicity and Identity in Chang Hyŏk-chu's “Hell of the Starving”

Abstract

Land of bald mountains, land of red earth" -this is usually how people who have been to Korea describe it in their travel accounts. These descriptions, in other words, suggest its poverty and its degeneration. Seeing Korean farmers with long pipes in their mouths and working at a leisurely pace, they call the Koreans a lazy race. -Chang Hyȏk-chu (1933) Nothing is more stereotyped than the critique of the stereotype. -Terry Eagleton (2001) Chang Hyȏk-chu's 1932 story "Hell of the Starving" begins with a "Kaboom!" and the image of rock flying up into the air, threatening a group of farmers who barely escape the force of the blast. 1 These men have dirty topknots and tattered white coats and appear to be taking a break from work.positions 14:2