Proletarian Melodrama: Censorship, Popularization, and Consumerism in Colonial Korea Sangmi Bae Proletarianization of Melodrama This article examines the adaptation of melodramatic motifs in colonial Korean proletarian literature in the early 1930s, specifically through the serialized novel After the Doll’s House (Inhyŏngŭi chipŭl nawasŏ 人形의 집 을 나와서, 1933) by Ch’ae Mansik, a representative “fellow traveler” of the Korea Artista Proleta Federacio (KAPF), whose mission was to produce agitational literature promoting the international proletarian revolution. 1 My central propositions are twofold: (1) the material conditions in colo- nial Korea pushed proletarian authors to adopt melodrama to deliver their socialist messages, and (2) these conditions led to melodrama becoming the primary literary form for criticizing contemporary society in colonial Korea. At first glance, this type of melodrama would appear to have little in common with proletarian literature, given that the latter was used to spread positions 32:3 doi 10.1215/10679847-11164465 Copyright 2024 by Duke University Press Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/positions/article-pdf/32/3/489/2131665/489bae.pdf?guestAccessKey=fbb0f37f-ccc1-4de9-8f33-27f251a788d9 by guest on 07 August 2024