Seoulites' Daily Living Spaces Reflected in Park Tae-won's Novels of the 1930s

Abstract

This study aims to analyze living spaces as depicted in Park Tae-won's various fictional works set in Seoul in the 1930s, and thus to understand better the lives of citizens in those days. To clarify the significance and necessity of the study, it first examined the trends of similar studies overseas. Second, it analyzed previous studies related to urban and architectural spaces that appear in Korean literature. Lastly, it derived a differentiation by analyzing the existing researches of Park Tae-won's works. The analysis of residential and commercial exchange spaces used by a wide range of people in Seoul, in which modern culture was introduced, helps our understanding of the changed lifestyles and lives of people. The emergence of new types of space with Western and Japanese influences could also be found. These spaces served as the background to a variety of changes, such as changes in roles and self-consciousness, gender discrimination and hierarchical conflicts associated with political and economic characteristics at that time.