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Gunsam Lee’s The Eternal Thread as a Tragedy

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Global Perspectives on Korean Literature
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Abstract

Based on a recently discovered typescript of his first play, The Eternal Thread, this chapter aims to situate Gunsam Lee (in Korean, Yi Geun-sam) as a playwright of tragedy rather than a playwright of comedy, as he has been commonly regarded. The play Lee wrote in English in the United States in 1958 clearly shows that he was interested in tragedy, at least in his earliest career as a playwright. Even his later plays are strongly tinged with a tragic sense of life, thus making his whole work a tragicomedy.

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Kim, WD. (2019). Gunsam Lee’s The Eternal Thread as a Tragedy. In: Global Perspectives on Korean Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8727-2_8

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