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Korean Gothic Imaginary

Today has been such a huge day for me, even though I haven't left the house and have just done work all day long. I went forward with emailing my prospective advisor about my dissertation topic on Korean literature, and he agreed to supervise this dissertation. Korean literature, and Hallyu 1.0, topics so important to me, will be legitimated as part of my scholarly identity. I feel like today is a kind of spiritual wedding day for my scholarly career (although the dissertation defense will more literally be that). My goal is to become a professor of Korean literature and that dream, as of today, is much closer.


Almost fatefully, I happened to see this Soom Super Gem Girl sculpt that the vendor posted on Den of Angels. I was not in any danger of forgetting the elements of Korean imaginaries that make my blood run cold and my heart drop into the pit of my stomach. "Gross beauty," I have called it, but I really mean it in the nicest way. 

A number of Edgar Allan Poe's attempts to describe the kind of beauty that moved him comes to mind for me, but in particular, “There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion," is applicable in my love for particular Korean gothic aesthetics. 



Comments

Xanadu said…
It's interesting Amanda, that you should quote Edgar Allan Poe, I have always thought of his writing as rather dark and somewhat morbid, but you have found beauty in in.

She's a gorgeous doll, especially in the last photo. :)
Big hugs,
X
January 30, 2020 at 10:46 PM
Amanda said…
Thanks for your comment! I agree with you that Poe's writings are dark and quite morbid. I treasure a number of his stories, such as "Ligeia" and "The Fall of the House of Usher."

Snow White the Huntsman is beautiful. I am not really familiar with Soom dolls, even though they seem to be really popular on Den of Angels. This is the first one that's caught my eye.
January 31, 2020 at 12:10 PM
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