This dissertation re-examines select works of sinsosŏl by Yi In-jik (1862-1916) to proffer a new approach to transnational literary studies that questions the very premise of the nation itself. Yi’s oeuvre has been considered foundational to the modern Korean literary canon ever since Im Hwa (1908-1953), one of the foremost critics and anti-colonial activists in Korea under Japanese rule, first presented it as such in his influential history of Korean literature. I argue that extant approaches to literary transnationalism are intimately tied to national literary studies by showing how the logic upholding Im’s literary history—and by extension, Korean literary studies—is also found in world literature and postcolonialism. I thereby reveal how this logic—which construes the modern nation as a fully autonomous Self at the expense of objectifying its others as less developed Others—has resulted in transnational literary comparisons that remain centered on the nation. I contest this logic in world literature, postcolonialism, and national literary studies with a new mode of reading in what I call postnational time, which I derive from showing how Ŭnsegye (“Silvery World”), Ch’iaksan (Mt. Ch’iak), and the “Hyŏl ŭi nu” (“Tears of Blood”) series undermine the nation in literary form. I claim that reading in postnational time gives rise to a new politics of resistance that enables the formation of diverse communities against colonialism in toto, across national divides. I demonstrate one such possibility by comparing Yi’s sinsosŏl works to Mirages de Paris (Mirages of Paris) by Ousmane Socé Diop and Un Nègre à Paris (An African in Paris) by Bernard Dadié, francophone African novels by writers from colonial Africa.