Date of Award

Spring 6-5-2024

Document Type

Thesis (Undergraduate)

Department

Comparative Literature

First Advisor

Michelle R. Warren

Second Advisor

Nancy Canepa

Abstract

This thesis retells the folktale of the Korean shaman goddess 바리데기’s (Paridegi) as my journey through Korean literature. It follows Korean feminist poet Kim Hyesoon’s typology of the three deaths that 바리데기must experience to become a shamanic goddess and mediator with Death. I map these three deaths (the Death of Losing Your Name, the Death of Diaspora, and the Death of Immortal Crossings) onto the three stages of my development as a second-generation Korean American literary scholar, translator, and artist. Through connecting my personal journeys with the disciplinary concerns facing comparative literature, Asian American studies, Asian area studies, and Korean Studies, I create a shared shamanic space for future generations of scholars to create their own stories of the 여성 시인 (pr. “yosongsiin,” trans. femme-ish-poem-person). This thesis also contains a supplementary anthology, Loving 바리데기: A Traveler’s Anthology of the 여성 시인 , in the form of appendices attached to each chapter. These appendices demonstrate my creative attempts to translate between the realms of scholarly criticism and artistic creation through “enacting” the methods of each chapter with a short story, a collection of translated poems and their commentary, and a shamanic photographic archive, respectively.

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