Since the 1960s, literary research has considerably expanded its scope to include cultural studies, and during the process has shed light on the alienated, the marginal and the excluded. Accordingly, students and scholars have embarked on literary studies exploring the possibilities of understanding and communicating with others who are different from us. As a result, professors of English literature now extensively cover minority studies, ethnic studies, women’s studies and gay/lesbian studies, examining the literary insights and the alteration of our consciousness these fields offer. These days, professors of literature also teach film studies, game studies and digital media studies, all of which were despised and degraded as non-authentic, inferior subgenres in the past. 

One example showing the diversity of the subjects explored in English literature and movies these days, and its connection to changing social trends, is the growing number of courses on autism and human rights in English departments. This past semester, while visiting American universities, I saw courses offered on such diverse subjects ranging in various English departments. Since the release of the Oscar-winning movie, “Rain Man,” people’s interest in autism has significantly grown. Raymond, the charming autistic savant, splendidly portrayed by Dustin Hoffman, inspired our concern in autistic people around us. As the movie progresses, the viewers, along with Raymond’s brother Charles (Tom Cruise), are amazed by the extraordinary mind of an autistic savant and come to understand his worldview which they once believed is radically different from theirs. In the aforementioned English literature course, students delve into the mysterious inner workings of autistic people’s obsessions and seemingly strange behaviors.

In today’s college classrooms, students also extensively tackle and discuss not only the violations of human rights in Third World countries, but also the violations of animal rights under the name of human rights. Weaving literature, politics and law together, current studies in human rights provide new perspectives on political repression and social injustice in the global community. Since this new approach to human rights denounces the traditional premises and assumptions such as “humans first, and then animals,” it is closely intertwined with eco-criticism and post-humanism, both of which call to shift our attention to the less privileged and the marginalized.

The new trend stated above has kindled people’s concerns for those who have been traditionally marginalized or labeled as inferior in hierarchical orders. Recently, Time magazine carried an intriguing article shedding new light on introverts. If you prefer to be alone and are reluctant to mingle at parties and social gatherings, you are an introvert. If you hate to be alone and feel alive among large crowds, you are an extrovert. Traditionally, people have thought that being a bold extrovert is more desirable than being a shy introvert. But that has changed now. As Dr. Mehmet Oz writes, “Big personalities may get the applause, but reserve can be a gift, and a little shyness can be O.K.”

Interestingly, the Time article labeled Mohandas Gandhi, Joe Dimaggio, Moses, Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Manmohan Singh and Mother Theresa as shy introverts. Then the article named Bill Clinton, Margaret Thatcher, Steve Jobs, Boris Yeltsin, Marie Antoinette, Muhammad Ali, Winston Churchill and George W. Bush as loud extroverts. Among Korean presidents, we could say Roh Tae-woo and Kim Dae-jung were introverts and Chun Doo-whan and Roh Moo-hyun were extroverts. But we have had other presidents who were both introverted and extroverted at the same time. Therefore, it may not be feasible or wise to force someone into one of two categories.

Shakespearean scholars argue that even Hamlet is a person who exhibits both elements of an introvert and extrovert; he seems extremely shy and speculative at times, and yet, often becomes tough and bold. In the black and white movie “Hamlet,” Lawrence Olivier played a shy, speculative man. In the 1990 version of “Hamlet,” however, Mel Gibson radically altered the traditional image of a quiet, pondering Hamlet into a tough guy who is loud and wields his sword at will. Watching the two different versions of “Hamlet,” we come to realize that we can be both Hamlet and Don Quixote as well.

Unfortunately, however, today’s Korean English departments still cling to conventional approaches to literature, offering old-fashioned courses such as “19th Century British Literature” or “20th Century American literature.” Likewise, today’s Korean society is still divided into two confrontational groups, with a dividing wall so high that you cannot possibly cross over. It never seems to occur to the Korean people that all boundaries are arbitrary and thus rapidly collapsing in this age of a borderless world. We cannot choose one of two extremes and endow it with ungrounded privileges. The world has changed now and we, too, should alter our age-old consciousness and abide by the changes. Otherwise, we will inevitably end up falling behind other rapidly rising nations who are not bound by traditional walls and categories, but free to expand politically, economically and culturally.

By Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor of English at Seoul National University and director of the Korea Literature Translation Institute. ― Ed.