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.
• Artemov, Nikita, Elsa Küppers, Sebastian Reimann, Lina Rodenhausen, and Alexandra Wiemann. 2024. “Taking MIPVU Further Around the World—And Through the Ages: MIPVU for Religion-Related Texts: Challenges and Benefits.” Metaphor Papers 9. https://doi.org/10.46586/mp.299.
• 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://doi.org/10.25024/review.2023.26.2.9.

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.
• Küppers, Elsa and Vicky Ziegler: Conceptual Blending Theory. Comparative Analysis of Religious Metaphors (CARMe), 17.–21.03.2025, Bochum, Germany.
• Küppers, Elsa: Self–World Relations in Chosŏn Korean Ego-Documents. SFB 1475 Annual Meeting, 18.–20.09.2024, Much, Germany.
• Küppers, Elsa: Metaphors in Chosŏn Hanmun Ego-Documents: Analysis and Translation. 2nd European-Korean Conference on Korean Literature and Translation, 22.–23.07.2024, Bochum, Germany.
• Küppers, Elsa: Self–World Relations in Chosŏn Korean Ego-Documents. Religions and Rituals, 24.–28.06.2024, Erfurt, Germany.
• Küppers, Elsa: On the Conceptual Potential of Metaphors in Premodern Korean Literature. Conceptualising Horizons of Meaning, 26.–28.02.2024, Venice, Italy.
• Küppers, Elsa: Beyond the Inner Room: Records of (Imagined) Journeys by Chosŏn Korean Women. Articulation of Silence from a Gendered Perspective, 26.–28.09.2023, Oxford, United Kingdom.
• Küppers, Elsa: Self–World Relations in Chosŏn Korean Personal Narratives. SFB 1475 Annual Meeting, 20.–22.09.2023, Much, Germany.
• Küppers, Elsa: Does the Mind Wander Further than the Body? Concepts of Body and Mind and Their Relation to the Self in the Travelogues of Ŭiyudang Nam (1727-1823). GWIKS Graduate Student Research and Publication Workshop, 13.–14.01.2023, Washington, D.C., USA.
• Küppers, Elsa: Awe Experiences and Their Effects on the Self in Travel Records from Late Chosŏn Korea. CERES Colloquium, 30.05.2022, Bochum, Germany.