An suitable non-fiction introduction to modern Korea
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1gregtmills
Hi!
I realized the other day I know nothing about South Korea, and I'd like to do something about that.
Poking around on Amazon, I wasn't able to find any good general cultural overviews of South Korea. Could anyone point me to a suitable reference? Thanks!
Travelogues are okay.
I realized the other day I know nothing about South Korea, and I'd like to do something about that.
Poking around on Amazon, I wasn't able to find any good general cultural overviews of South Korea. Could anyone point me to a suitable reference? Thanks!
Travelogues are okay.
2kidzdoc
This may not be exactly what you're looking for, but last year I read Who Ate Up All the Shinga? by Park Wan-Suh an "autobiographical novel" about the author's life in South Korea during the Japanese occupation, World War II, the Korean War, and its aftermath, which I enjoyed. My review is on the book's LT home page.
Columbia University Press, which published Who Ate Up All the Shinga?, has a large selection of books about Asia:
Columbia University Press: Korea
Columbia University Press, which published Who Ate Up All the Shinga?, has a large selection of books about Asia:
Columbia University Press: Korea
3Trismegistus
Hi gregtmills!
Are you looking for references that focus on South Korean culture specifically? Unfortunately (South) Korean studies aren't as popular in the West as are Japanese or Chinese studies, so not only are there not any "canonical" introductory books, but most of what might come close focuses more heavily on politics and history (peninsular relations, democratisation, etc.) or economics (jaebol business conglomerates, the Asian Financial Crisis, and so on) than on pure culture.
That said, Clark's Culture and Customs of Korea and Connor's The Koreas: a global studies handbook aren't bad; they also have the benefit of having been published after the financial crisis, and are thus a bit more up to date. Another option is Korea Journal, which is published quarterly and available free online. Hope this helps.
Are you looking for references that focus on South Korean culture specifically? Unfortunately (South) Korean studies aren't as popular in the West as are Japanese or Chinese studies, so not only are there not any "canonical" introductory books, but most of what might come close focuses more heavily on politics and history (peninsular relations, democratisation, etc.) or economics (jaebol business conglomerates, the Asian Financial Crisis, and so on) than on pure culture.
That said, Clark's Culture and Customs of Korea and Connor's The Koreas: a global studies handbook aren't bad; they also have the benefit of having been published after the financial crisis, and are thus a bit more up to date. Another option is Korea Journal, which is published quarterly and available free online. Hope this helps.
4gregtmills
#3 -- Hi, Trismegistus
Yep, I'm running up against a whole lotta nothin'.
I will check out Culture and Customs of Korea, however.
Your advice has been, uh, "thrice-great". Couldn't resist.
Yep, I'm running up against a whole lotta nothin'.
I will check out Culture and Customs of Korea, however.
Your advice has been, uh, "thrice-great". Couldn't resist.
5walbat
I recognize your focus here is on cultural history, but if you are interested in a good summary of modern Korean political and economic developments, I can recommend Bruce Cumings' Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History.
6Trismegistus
gregtmills: Glad I could help (and the joke is appreciated)! Clark's book is probably your best bet in this case. Another idea--many general books on South Korea also have one or two chapters devoted to Korean culture (as do travel guides like Lonely Planet). It might be worth your time to browse through those and see what you can pick up.
walbat: Cumings can't be beat for scope, but he's often a little too emotional for my tastes. I almost prefer Don Oberdorfer's The Two Koreas as an introduction, although there are problems with his text as well.
walbat: Cumings can't be beat for scope, but he's often a little too emotional for my tastes. I almost prefer Don Oberdorfer's The Two Koreas as an introduction, although there are problems with his text as well.
7walbat
Tris: Fair enough; Cumings is a passionate guy. He's been a fervent champion of New Left diplomatic historians like Williams, LaFeber, and Gardner, and in the past has not been adverse to scathing attacks on more "orthodox" diplomatic historians like John Lewis Gaddis (see his 1993 article on "revising postrevionism" - the irony is intended - in Diplomatic History 17, no. 4). But his scholarship is impeccable and he generally looks deeper than most English-language observers of Korean history. I haven't read Oberdorfer's book, though I respect his journalism. I'll have a look.
8gregtmills
Yeah, I keep looping back to Cumings and I have to say his "North Korea" definitely has its distracting idiosyncrasies. I appreciate his valiant efforts to critique received wisdom, but in that book it sometimes it feels like he's doing semantical gymnastics to justify his heterodoxy.
9gregtmills
On a side note for any of you -- Walbat, Trismegistus or Kidzdoc -- any thoughts on Brian Myers' book The Cleanest Race?
10Trismegistus
walbat: I agree with your statement that Cumings' scholarship is impeccable and he generally looks deeper than most English-language observers of Korean history; my misgivings about him arise more from the fact that he makes it easy for others to dismiss his substance by focusing on his style. Thank you also for the reference to the Gaddis article--looks like it will make for interesting reading.
gregtmills: I feel North Korea: Another Country is much more of an op-ed piece than anything else. Yes, dismissals of Kim Jong-il as "merely" a madman are overly simplistic, but that doesn't make the DPRK any less of a garrison state.
I haven't read Myers yet, but it's on my shortlist along with The Hidden People of North Korea.
gregtmills: I feel North Korea: Another Country is much more of an op-ed piece than anything else. Yes, dismissals of Kim Jong-il as "merely" a madman are overly simplistic, but that doesn't make the DPRK any less of a garrison state.
I haven't read Myers yet, but it's on my shortlist along with The Hidden People of North Korea.
11edwinbcn
Korea. A walk through the land of miracles
Finished reading: 30 December 2012
Simon Winchester launched upon his career as an writer, after retiring as a journalist. His first three books all dealt with experiences he had gathered during his years as a journalist, describing his travels in the Southern States, Northern Ireland and his POW Diary during the Falkland War. Following those books, he wrote three travelogues, situated in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Korea, and a failed science-fiction novel. He is best known for his science biographies.
In 1988, Winchester published Korea. A walk through the land of miracles. The Leitmotiv of the travelogue is the story of Hendrick Hamel, whose journal Verhaal van het vergaan van het jacht de Sperwer, En van het wedervaren der schipbreukelingen op het eiland Quelpaert en het vasteland van Korea (1653-1666) met eene beschrijving van dat rijk (Transl. Hamel's Journal and a Description of the Kingdom of Korea, 1653-1666 is the earliest Western description of Korea.
Hamel's journal is worthy of attention by readers who enjoyed David Mitchell's recent novel The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet, which describes a similar series of historical exploits of the Dutch in the Far East. In 1653, on their way to Dejima, the Dutch vessel 'De Sperwer' (the Sparrowhawk), was shipwrecked on the south coast of Korea. The 36 surviving Dutchmen were marched off to the imperial palace in Seoul. They spent 13 years in Korean custody, before Hamel and seven crew mates managed to escape to Dejima. According to Winchester, Koreans with blond-streaked hair and blue eyes, found in the southwest of the Korean peninsula are descendants of these Dutch prisoners.
Simon Winchester set out to walk the same route as the Dutch sailors used when they were marched to the capital. Each chapter starts with an excerpt from Hamel's journal. Originall, Winchester planned to walk the whole length of the peninsula, crossing the demilitarized zone and into North Korea, up to the Yalu river, from whence he intended to cross over into China. However, the epic trail finishes at the DMZ, as Winchester find the prospect of crossing over too daunting.
The first chapter of Korea. A walk through the land of miracles very muddled, describing ponderously about his plans, and rather distracting to-and-fro-ing between his previous visits to both Koreas. Subsequent chapters are written in a journalistic style, reporting experiences with local informers. It isn't clear whether Winchester spoke Korean. The description of Korea is marred by the many technical details of Winchester's kit, preparations:
I bought myself a stout Lowe rucksack and one of those canvas-and-velcro purses in which you keep all your valuables suspended from your neck. I dug my New Balance boots (last used a year before to clamber along the Crib Goch ridge in North Wales, and thus well worn in) out of a cupboard. I bought bars of Cadbury's Fruit-and-Nut chocolate and sachets of instant coffee and the inevitable slabs of Kendal Mint Cake (brown, not white).
This goes on for a page or so, and seems rather wordy, full of unnecessary details. During the trek, most details and descriptions are also of glass, concrete and glitter, describing modern Korea, as it was emerging in the 1980s, more than anything else.
Winchester's Korea. A walk through the land of miracles is probably attractive reading to readers who like the style of the Lonely Planet Guides, very hands-on and very close to the local population.
Other books I have read by Simon Winchester:
Pacific nightmare. How Japan starts World War III
The map that changed the world. A tale of rocks, ruin and redemption
Outposts
The meaning of everything. The story of the Oxford English Dictionary
A crack in the edge of the world. America and the great California earthquake of 1906
Krakatoa. The day the world exploded. August 27, 1883
Finished reading: 30 December 2012
Simon Winchester launched upon his career as an writer, after retiring as a journalist. His first three books all dealt with experiences he had gathered during his years as a journalist, describing his travels in the Southern States, Northern Ireland and his POW Diary during the Falkland War. Following those books, he wrote three travelogues, situated in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Korea, and a failed science-fiction novel. He is best known for his science biographies.
In 1988, Winchester published Korea. A walk through the land of miracles. The Leitmotiv of the travelogue is the story of Hendrick Hamel, whose journal Verhaal van het vergaan van het jacht de Sperwer, En van het wedervaren der schipbreukelingen op het eiland Quelpaert en het vasteland van Korea (1653-1666) met eene beschrijving van dat rijk (Transl. Hamel's Journal and a Description of the Kingdom of Korea, 1653-1666 is the earliest Western description of Korea.
Hamel's journal is worthy of attention by readers who enjoyed David Mitchell's recent novel The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet, which describes a similar series of historical exploits of the Dutch in the Far East. In 1653, on their way to Dejima, the Dutch vessel 'De Sperwer' (the Sparrowhawk), was shipwrecked on the south coast of Korea. The 36 surviving Dutchmen were marched off to the imperial palace in Seoul. They spent 13 years in Korean custody, before Hamel and seven crew mates managed to escape to Dejima. According to Winchester, Koreans with blond-streaked hair and blue eyes, found in the southwest of the Korean peninsula are descendants of these Dutch prisoners.
Simon Winchester set out to walk the same route as the Dutch sailors used when they were marched to the capital. Each chapter starts with an excerpt from Hamel's journal. Originall, Winchester planned to walk the whole length of the peninsula, crossing the demilitarized zone and into North Korea, up to the Yalu river, from whence he intended to cross over into China. However, the epic trail finishes at the DMZ, as Winchester find the prospect of crossing over too daunting.
The first chapter of Korea. A walk through the land of miracles very muddled, describing ponderously about his plans, and rather distracting to-and-fro-ing between his previous visits to both Koreas. Subsequent chapters are written in a journalistic style, reporting experiences with local informers. It isn't clear whether Winchester spoke Korean. The description of Korea is marred by the many technical details of Winchester's kit, preparations:
I bought myself a stout Lowe rucksack and one of those canvas-and-velcro purses in which you keep all your valuables suspended from your neck. I dug my New Balance boots (last used a year before to clamber along the Crib Goch ridge in North Wales, and thus well worn in) out of a cupboard. I bought bars of Cadbury's Fruit-and-Nut chocolate and sachets of instant coffee and the inevitable slabs of Kendal Mint Cake (brown, not white).
This goes on for a page or so, and seems rather wordy, full of unnecessary details. During the trek, most details and descriptions are also of glass, concrete and glitter, describing modern Korea, as it was emerging in the 1980s, more than anything else.
Winchester's Korea. A walk through the land of miracles is probably attractive reading to readers who like the style of the Lonely Planet Guides, very hands-on and very close to the local population.
Other books I have read by Simon Winchester:
Pacific nightmare. How Japan starts World War III
The map that changed the world. A tale of rocks, ruin and redemption
Outposts
The meaning of everything. The story of the Oxford English Dictionary
A crack in the edge of the world. America and the great California earthquake of 1906
Krakatoa. The day the world exploded. August 27, 1883
