Worm-Time - by We Jung Yi (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Worm-Time traces diversifying cultural practices in South Korea to redress the violent subjection of people to the Cold War order. Characterizing their traumatic survival and warped growth in the wake of the Korean War as "wormification," Yi throws into relief the potential of transformative living embodied by Northern refugees, leftist partisans, and their broken families"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

Worm-Time challenges conventional narratives of the Cold War and its end, presenting an alternative cultural history based on evolving South Korean aesthetics about enduring national division. From novels of dissent during the authoritarian era to films and webtoons in the new millennium, We Jung Yi's transmedia analyses unearth people's experiences of "wormification"--traumatic survival, deferred justice, and warped capitalist growth in the wake of the Korean War.

Whether embodied as refugees, leftists, or broken families, Yi's wormified protagonists transcend their positions as displaced victims of polarized politics and unequal development. Through metamorphoses into border riders who fly over or crawl through the world's dividing lines, they reclaim postcolonial memories buried in the pursuit of modernization under US hegemony and cultivate a desire for social transformation. Connecting colonial legacies, Cold War ideologies, and neoliberal economics, Worm-Time dares us to rethink the post-WWII consensus on freedom, peace, and prosperity.

Review Quotes

Ambitious in scope and analytically rigorous, Worm-Time is a thought-provoking intervention in the study of haunting memories of the Korean War that have persisted in South Korean cultural production over the span of almost seven decades.

-- "Seoul Journal of Korean Studies"

About the Author

We Jung Yi is Assistant Professor of Asian Studies at Vanderbilt University. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Korean Studies, the Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, and positions.