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…
WAR AND SEPARATION (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 VIII: Themes & Approaches to Fiction VIIII: The Colonial Era Several…
First things first.^^ Over at the excellent London Korean Links you can find Philip’s review of Yi Mun-yol’s Our Twisted Hero.It’s a book I really loved, but Philip has a different view saying, in part: Our Twisted Hero is rather a chore to read, though it is interesting for its balanced assessment of the rights…
So, here’s the problem… Somebody goes to check out a piece of Korean literature on Amazon and they’re not sure what they want to do. They need a bit of convincing (or unconvincing!) so they look around the page to try to figure the book out. They look for a couple of things: a good…
Early Spring, Midsummer, may be the best book out of the Si-sa-yongo-sa Modern Korean Short Stories 10 book series. It contains couple of meditations on change, particularly Early Spring, Mid-Summer by Yi Munyol, a couple of historical/metaphorical tales of the cost of war, including Kim Won-il’s The Spirit of Darkness, and a couple of stories…
WHAT IS IT? An awesome opportunity for those of you among KTLIT readers and Catch the Wave (Arirang International Radio) Listeners who are into Korean Literature. Early Spring, Mid-Summer is one of the 10 excellent collections published in the Modern Korean Short Stories series by Si-sa-yong-o-sa Publishing and the Korean National Commission for UNESCO. And…
Tae Hung Ha’s Life of a Rainhat Poet is a “drama,” or what we would more normally call a play. And I should say from the outset that it is primarily of interest to those who are already interested in Kim Sakkat (or Kim Satgat as local Romanization has it). It is volume “IX” of…
Our Twisted Hero is both the story of a new student dealing with a classroom bully and a political allegory with hints of Orwell’s Animal Farm, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and even a bit of Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The political allegory, of course, is intended to refer to Korea and its recent…
Me on TBS eFM’s 1013 Main Street. In honor of Teacher’s Day and the upcoming anniversaries of the Gwangju Rebellion and Massacre, we discussed Yi Mun Yol’s brilliant Our Twisted Hero, which manages to pack a ton of political-allegorical punch into a slight novella obstensibly about boys in a classroom in rural Korea. https://www.ktlit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1205120515_charles.mp3 for…
A COUPLE OF THINGS I FOUND INTERESTING 1) Daesan Foundation Grant-For-Translation Deadline: 31 May 2012 The DAESAN FOUNDATION, which promotes the “enrichment of Korean culture” and the “globalization of Korean culture,” supports the translation, research, and publication of Korean works to foster the globalization of Korean culture and to advance cultural exchange. The Foundation’s Translation…