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A Critical Discussion on the Transition of ‘Pre-modern’ to ‘Modern’ Korean Literature. In the field of Korean literature studies, it is often argued that the translation of the concept of individualism from the West was a pivotal change that modernized Korean literature. When one takes the writings of the Korean intellectuals active in the late 19^th and early 20^th century at face value, it may indeed look like a new way of thinking was happening in the way literature was understood. Such an argument, however, makes it seem as if the change from pre-modern to modern in the field of literature could only have arisen from its borrowing from the West, and that the concept of individualism was non-existent in East Asia before. This also sets up a narrative in which the pre-modern period is characterized by collectivism, and the modern period by individualism. The aim of this discussion is to do away with describing Korean literature with such dichotomies, and to realize that the reason for the Korean intellectuals of the 19^th and early 20^th century to use the concept was to create the illusion of a clear break with the past and the present. Their usage of the concept shows many similarities with how pre-modern intellectuals saw literature as a didactic tool, with the only difference being that now literature had the aim to create an image of the nation to which its readers should become loyal.