In his review of Kang Sok-kyong’s The Valley Nearby (Found over at London Korea Links) Philip Gowman says: The synopsis on the back of the book suggests a more action-packed plot than is the case and quotes the synopsis: Living in the country, Yun-hee is engaged in a solitary struggle. Her two worlds, that of…
Here’s a cool looking blog (Korean American Readings), apparently by a woman in the United States (I’m guessing from info and twitters on the site). She doesn’t post a ton, but when she does it is quality stuff. She’s apparently been at it for a while as the list of reviews on the right side…
A review of the history of Korean Literature, by Kim Hunggyu here and a similarly brief review of Kyung Ran Jo’s Tongue Finally a review of a book about the Great Admiral Yi (he of the Turtle-boats) which I will include as partially fictive in that he has now become a legend. It is worth…
I am lucky enough to be reviewing three recent books of translated Korean Literature. Because I am reviewing them for journals, I can’t really tip my hand here, but I can say that if you are interested in Korean Lit, and you want to see how Korean Lit may be passing through the end of…
Wandering around the intarwebs I came across this site (UNFORTUNATELY MR KIM SEEMS TO HAVE LEFT THE INTERNET) by Kim Hunyoung, who seems to have led quite an active life, both politically and in literature. He has written a great deal of critical prose, and three of his essays are reproduced on the site: The Korean Novel…
This is a link directly to the PDF of “Twentieth Century Korean Literature.” Less than 100 pages long, written by Yi Man-ho, U Ch’ange, Yi Kwangho and Kim Mihyeon (Edited by the irreplaceable Brother Anthony, the link is also to a document on his brilliant site) this work broadly covers Korean Literature from 1900 to…
UPDATE “Inside Cloud Cuckoo Land: The Voice of Korea,” is NOT available for readers to purchase. The author has informed me that due to publishing problems,the book has been withheld from distribution. The publisher, however, says that the book will be re-issued at a later date–a year from now! When I contacted the publishers they…
Here’s a review of a book that looks worth reading. This is stolen whole fromcuidadocomodalmat (I don’t think I’m going to let that bother me as that seems to be stolen whole from another website. ;-)) a site which seems to be primarily in Spanish, but has an English page. Looks like another book to…
Via an article over at the Korea Times I find a collection of works by a man who must surely be one of the true pioneers of Korean modern literature, and also seems to have been quite interesting entirely on his own account. The review begins: The new book, “Inside Cloud Cuckoo Land: The Voice…
than another collection of horror-stories? From an article on the website of the University of Hawai‘i Press: Modern Korean fiction is to a large extent a literature of witness to the historic upheavals of twentieth-century Korea. Often inspired by their own experiences, contemporary writers continue to show us how individual Koreans have been traumatized by…