The Apotheosis of Mountains: Sacred Space, Symbolic Landscape, and National Consciousness in Ch’oe Namsŏn’s T’aebaek Poetry

Abstract Ch’oe Namsŏn was a key figure in the introduction of geography into the print media culture of early twentieth-century Chosŏn. Ch’oe used geography as a tool, creating a new territorial consciousness for national cohesion, and this article explores how this greatly shaped his poetic landscape. Locating itself between the boundaries of literary studies and cultural geography, this work looks at Ch’oe’s underexplored T’aebaek poetry, in which his interests in geography, history, and national identity significantly converge. Drawing on “Mount Taebaek” of Korea’s past, Ch’oe fashions the mountain into a pseudo-religious icon of nationhood. A symbolic landscape, evocative of a uniquely Korean past yet rising as a global icon going into a modern world, Ch’oe’s poetry creates a godlike figure for the Korean people to look to in a changing time of imperialism, nationalism, and modern progress. Through various iterations of T’aebaek—benevolent deity, bringer of modernity, omnipotent ruler of the world—one sees the mountain play a vital role in the shaping of Ch’oe’s nationalist project, which would have continued influence on his writings later in life.