In the Grotto and on the Surface

Abstract

This thesis includes analyses of three poems from the poetry collection ​An Anxiety of Words: Contemporary Poetry by Korean Women (2006)​, translated by Don Mee Choi. The collection deals with the themes of abjection and marginalization. This thesis has selected one poem from the three poets in the collection, Ch’oe Sung-ja, Kim Hyesoon, and Yi Yon-ju to perform a close reading on. These three Korean poets have made waves within the Korean literary industry by fighting against institutionalised discrimination and through defying the gender norms that are ascribed to female poets. This thesis employs the literary concept of the female grotesque to answer the question on how the collection ​An Anxiety of Words​ portrays the themes of abjection and marginalization. The female grotesque is seen as a feminist concept that focuses on using the female body and experience as a way of addressing problems in society. The main theories used in this thesis come from Mary Russo and Jane Ussher who talk about the female grotesque in regards to its literary history and its cultural consequences. In answering the thesis question this thesis argues for an analysis of the collection, and collections similar to ​An Anxiety of Words​, without an emphasis on the historical and national contexts because of its universal themes, marginalization and abjection.