https://jurnal.ugm.ac.id/jurnal-humaniora HUMANIORA Vol. 31, No. 2 (June 2019) The Clash of Traditional and Modern Cultures in the Novels Samdae (Three Generations) by Yeom Sang Seop and Tetralogi Buru (Buru Quartet) by Pramoedya Ananta Toer Febriani Elfda Trihtarani Department of Language and Literature, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia Email: febrianielfda08@ugm.ac.id ABSTRACT This study analyzes Korean writer Yeom Sang-seop's colonial-era novel Samdae (Three Generations) (1931) and Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Tetralogi Buru (Buru Quartet). Although Korea and Indonesia have diferent cultures, they share a history of colonization by imperial countries. The purpose of this study is to analyze the writers' cultural diferences as they appear in these novels. Yeom Sang-seop’s Samdae (Three Generations) is shown to capture the confict of traditional and modern cultures. In this novel, characters who follow traditional culture consider customs and honor very important. Meanwhile, the characters in Pramoedya’s quartet consider honor to be important. In Yeom Sang-seop’s novel, those seeking modernity hold only modern ideas and ultimately fall victim to consumerism. On the other hand, in Pramoedya’s novels, while characters with modern ideas do exist, they are not trapped in a world of consumerism. Yeom Sang-seop seeks a solution to escape colonialism through one character who is not interested in traditional culture but also shows no signifcant interest in modern culture. He instead supports socialism, which can be considered an attempt to avoid the downsides of modernity. In the novels of Pramoedya, one character Minke faces a similar situation. Through his national organizing activities, he shows the possibility that Indonesia can break free of colonialism. Keywords: Yeom Sang-seop; Pramoedya Ananta Toer; cultural diference; cultural confict; modernity; traditional INTRODUCTION The process through which communities are built in new lands involves the erasure or reshaping of existing communities. This process, broadly speaking, may emerge as a result of trade, occupation, negotiation, war, genocide, slavery, or rebellion. Meanwhile, colonialism may be defned as a form of occupation or conquest, including the control of land and goods belonging to others (Loomba 1998). Korea and Indonesia are both countries with colonial pasts. Both experienced a time of Japanese occupation, and both obtained their independence in a similar time span. The Japanese occupation of Korea lasted 35 years (1910–1945), beginning with the fall of Korea’s Joseon Dynasty. Japanese occupation of Korea is described as a dark time in the country’s history, where the Japanese controlled almost all aspects of life and the Korean people sufered (Seth 2011). Meanwhile, Indonesia was occupied by Japan for three and a half years, between 1942 and 1945, following more than 350 years of Dutch colonialism. Based on the historical similarities between these two countries, despite having diferent cultures, it is interesting to compare and contrast colonial literary works from these countries. The important role of literature in colonial and anti-colonial discourse has been widely explored. Literature has served as a mediator of the real https://doi.org/10.22146/jh.v31i2.42797 page 188—198