ABSTRACT
Modern Korean literature has been searching for a wholeness and identity that have been denied the Korean people by history. The literature of the period from the end of the 19th century through the early years of the 20th century, frequently called "enlightenment literature," constitutes the first of these stages. The most ironic formative experience of the 20th century for Korean literature began with Liberation on August 15, 1945. The half-century of literature since Liberation can itself be grouped into several stages according to the thrust of its ideas. The literature of the 1950s was fraught with a sense of estrangement, reflecting the barrenness of the aftermath of the Korean War. South Korean literature came to embody the Zeitgeist of the 1970s, grasping its significance and giving form to the national experience. Therefore, many Koreans saw the 1945 Liberation as the first opportunity in history to be truly Korean in their own land.
