Subproject B02

Beyond Self-Cultivation: Moments of Transcendence in Ego-Documents of Korean Confucian Provenance

The religious dimension of Confucianism is frequently being sought in self-cultivation, understood as a quest for self-transcendence. The project aims at testing the validity of this assumption for Korean Confucians of the Chosǒn era (focussing on the 16th to the early 19th century) by studying the metaphors employed in expressions of transformative experiences as found in self-expressive texts such as travel essays, dream records, and study diaries, thus mapping the notions of and expectations towards the “beyond” current among members of the literati class.

Publications

• Eggert, Marion. 2018. “Dreaming about the Dead in Premodern Korea (17th – 19th ct.).” Extrême-Orient, Ex-trême-Occident 42: 43–72. https://doi.org/10.4000/extremeorient.1074.
• Eggert, Marion. 2021. “Practicing Forgiveness in Chosŏn Korea. With Some Observations on Confucian Normative Discourse” (with an appendix by Heiner Roetz). In Guilt, Forgiveness, and Moral Repair. A cross-cultural Comparison, edited by Maria-Sybilla Lotter and Saskia Fischer. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 249–284. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-84610-7_13.
• Eggert, Marion, and Elsa Küppers. 2023. “Metaphorical Figurations of Transcendence in 16th Century Literati Gasa.“ The Review of Korean Studies 26 (2): 9–44. https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/landing/article.kci?arti_id=ART003020058.
• Eggert, Marion, and Volkhard Krech. 2025. Wohnworte: Schreiben und Lesen als Wohnen und Aufbruch. Metaphor Papers 23. https://doi.org/10.46586/mp.420.
• Eggert, Marion. 2025 (with contributions by Elsa Küppers). “‘Heart’ in Sino-Korean Materials of Confucian Provenance.” In A Multitude of Hearts: Conceptualizations of ’Heart’ Across Religious Traditions, edited by Nikita Artemov and Marion Eggert. Metaphor Papers 29. https://doi.org/10.46586/mp.438.525.
• Eggert, Marion. Forthcoming. “Jianghu (kangho) als Raum und als Wassermetapher im koreanischen Langgedicht 'Kwandong pyŏlgok' (ca. 1580).“ In Die vielen Gesichter der Flüsse und Seen: Untersuchungen zum chinesischen Jianghu, edited by Clemens v. Haselberg. Münster: LIT.

Presentations

• Eggert, Marion: Metaphors of Transcendence in Korean Neo-Confucian Personal Narratives (16th–18th ct.). XXIII IAHR World Congress, 24.–30.8.2025, Krakow, Poland.
• Eggert, Marion: Das Yijing als kosmische Schrift im vormodernen Korea. Vom Skriptorium zum Cyberspace. Interdisziplinäre Zugänge zu Schrift und Schriftlichkeit, 11.–13.03.2025, Bochum, Germany.
• Eggert, Marion. Kangho 江湖 and the Immanence-Transcendence Distinction in Kwandong Pyŏlgok. Premodern Korean Studies in Europe, 24.–27.04.2024, Zagreb, Croatia.
• Eggert, Marion. Finding One's Place in Between Gender, Religion and Conflicting Norms in Yulgok's Yi-ssi Kamch'ŏn Ki. International Workshop Confucian Heritage: Decoding Writings of Chosŏn Literati, 08.–09.12.2023, Berlin, Germany.
• Eggert, Marion and Heiner Roetz. Metaphorical expressions of crisis and their role in the legitimation of dissent in Sinic thought: Materials from premodern China and Korea. Metaphors We Live By, 29.–31.03.2023, Potsdam, Germany.