I first reviewed The Last of Hanako in the collection Land of Exile for Acta Koreana, and at the time I gave it too slighting a consideration, and then I reviewed it again as part of the LTI Korea Jimoondang Collection here, where I liked it better. Now, on the third time, I think I like it even more, and over…
Ch’oe Yun’s short story The Last of Hanak’o is published bi-lingually by Asia Publishers. Ch’oe has been described by critics as an author who focuses on the internal state of her characters rather than the external events that may have shaped them. The original Korean title “하나코는 없다” (literally Hanak’o isn’t here) might some insight into…
Deconstructionalogists! (As usual, I welcome disagreements and corrections^^) Previously: I) Hyangga and Koryeo Kasa II) Sijo & Kasa III) Classical Fiction IV) Pansori V) Introduction to Modern Literature VI: Enlightenment VII: Background to Colonial Lit VIII: The History of Korean Modern Literature IX: Themes & Approaches to Fiction X: The Colonial Era XI: War and Separation Era XII:…
Miracles! (As usual, I welcome disagreements and corrections^^) Previously: I) Hyangga and Koryeo Kasa II) Sijo & Kasa III) Classical Fiction IV) Pansori V) Introduction to Modern Literature VI: Enlightenment VII: Background to Colonial Lit VIII: The History of Korean Modern Literature IX: Themes & Approaches to Fiction X: The Colonial Era XI: War and Separation Era 1970s…
The following are the stories I will focus on in second section of my upcoming presentations. The first presentation will be at 10 AM on February 7th. I will be presenting at the International Islamic University in Kuala Lumpur. Then, on March 31st, I will be doing an updated (and road-tested!) version of the presentation…
Wayfarer: New Fiction by Korean Women is edited by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton, which is typically an indication that the contents will be of high value and quality. The introduction, which is uncredited but sounds like the work of the Fultons, is a quick gloss of the historical position that women writers inhabited; to put…
The Korea Herald notes that Asia Publishers has just put out a 15-volume bilingual Korean literature series, titled Bi-lingual Edition Modern Korean Literature. But it seems to feature all the usual suspects and previously translated works. Really? This is getting past ridiculous. I suppose the defense will be that this volume is for “Korean Studies” courses,…
This is post four of a multi-post series on Korean GLBT Literature, featuring a Q&A with Gabriel Sylvian, the founder of The Korea Gay Literature Project. You can find post one, discussing the history of gays and lesbians in pre-modern literature here; post two discussing gays and lesbians in modern Korean literature here, and; post…
I’m currently somewhere in between working on pages for the Wikipedia Project and writing a review of the University of Hawai’i’s publication of Questioning Minds, a collection of female writers who span the entire modern history of Korean modern literature. For the purposes of the Wikipedia Project I also have the Who’s Who in Korean…
This is another way (other than that link you see on the right: Where to Start in Korean Modern Fiction) to gain a quick understanding of Korean Modern Literature. That way is to collect the books in the excellent LTI Korea / Jimoondang collaborative series The Portable Library of Korean Fiction. These books are now,…