The conception of the Korean cult of nature in Western travel literature of the 19th - early 20th centuries

The conception of the Korean cult of nature was formed in Western travel literature discourse of the 19th - early 20th centuries on the basis of a mixture of Romantic and Imperialistic worldviews. According to the observations by Western travelers, the category of the cult of nature was a unique trait of Korean mentality that determined the way of life of the whole society. Western writers came to the conclusion that veneration to nature was an important component of the Korean system of values and social life. In the Koreans' perception nature and human beings were parts of a harmonious spiritual complex. Dealing with the cult of nature in the light of Romanticism, Western authors created the image of Korean people as an ecological society that directed efforts to the comprehension and preservation of the environment. The Korean cult of nature included such elements as traveling for the contemplation of natural beauty, search of aesthetic impressions and inspiration for creative work through an intercourse with nature, tendency of the imitation of natural laws in arts and landscape gardening, worship of local spirits at private and governmental levels, respect to agricultural work, asceticism in everyday life. Many travelogues portrayed Korean peasants as noble half-savages, who lived in concord with nature in their secluded world, not corrupted by Western civilization. At the same time the Imperialistic approach showed in the criticism of the Korean way of life and justified the cultural expansion of the West in Korea. Koreans' consideration for beautiful landscapes and nature on the whole did not conform to the conception of Oriental peoples as backward and deficient of the true morality. Therefore, some writers tried to depreciate the cult of nature. Koreans' modesty and indifference to material wealth were shown as the indications of the primitiveness of Korean industry and stagnation in the economy. These features of Korean people were regarded by Westerners as obstacles to the introduction of Korea into the global capitalistic system. Also, the natural way of the Koreans' life in some aspects contradicted to Christian morals. Western travelers argued that the Koreans needed supervision, instruction and evangelization by progressive countries. Attention to the category of the Korean cult of nature was an important step to the understanding of the Korean national identity by the Westerners. Analysis of the Western perception of this category helps to have a deeper insight into the impact of the ideologies of the past on the modern comprehension of Korean culture in the Western world.

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