Mediating Gender in Post-Authoritarian South Korea focuses on the relationship between media representation and gender politics in South Korea. Its chapters feature notable voices of South Korea’s burgeoning sphere of gender critique enabled by social media, doing what no other academic volume has yet accomplished in the sphere of Anglophone studies on this topic. Seeking … [Read More]
Archives: Books (page 32)
On the Margins of Urban South Korea: Core Location as Method and Praxis
This book provides a rich and illuminating account of the peripheries of urban, regional, and transnational development in South Korea. Engaging with the ideas of “core location,” a term coined by Baik Young-seo, and “Asia as method,” a concept with a century-old intellectual lineage in East Asia, each chapter in the volume discusses the ways … [Read More]
The Making of Modern Subjects: Public Discourses on Korean Female Spectators in the Early Twentieth Century
Under Japanese colonial rule in the early 20th century, Korean women began to expand their realm from the domestic to the public sphere. Sung Un Gang examines how the women’s gaze was reimagined in public discourse as they began attending plays and movies, and investigates the complex negotiation process surrounding women’s public presence. As the … [Read More]
Afterlives of Letters: The Transnational Origins of Modern Literature in China, Japan, and Korea
When East Asia opened itself to the world in the nineteenth century, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean intellectuals had shared notions of literature because of the centuries-long cultural exchanges in the region. As modernization profoundly destabilized cultural norms, they ventured to create new literature for the new era. Satoru Hashimoto offers a novel way of understanding … [Read More]
Passcode to the Third Floor: An Insider’s Account of Life Among North Korea’s Political Elite
Thae Yong-ho was a leading North Korean diplomat to the United Kingdom and Northern Europe—until his dramatic defection to South Korea in 2016. In this gripping tell-all, he reveals the inner workings of the North Korean regime and shares the story of his decision to leave. Thae spent nearly three decades working under three generations … [Read More]
Sohn-mat: Recipes and Flavors of Korean Home Cooking
Sohn-mat is a master class in how to make this exceptional tofu soup at home, as well recipes for all of the other dishes you need to complete the meal, from banchan, to kimchi, to large-format dishes like bibimbap. Beyond its loyal customers, Beverly Soon Tofu was highly acclaimed. The restaurant was written about by Jonathan Gold and Ruth … [Read More]
Tale of Cinema
In the fourth title of our Decadent Editions series, Dennis Lim explores the oeuvre of South Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo via his 2005 film. ‘With Hong Sangsoo less is more. Less time to shoot, fewer explanations, fewer people on set – more inspiration, more cinema. Working with him (twice) counts among my most rewarding experiences as an actress. Every … [Read More]
The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre
At New Seoul Park, Korea’s greatest theme park, an enigmatic man tempts visitors with a mysterious jelly candy that promises an unbreakable bond. As the sun beats down on a muggy summer afternoon, a child separated from her disinterested parents, a single mother striving to create a memorable day on a shoestring budget, and a couple on the … [Read More]
The Healing Season of Pottery
A heart warming and irresistible novel about the rejuvenating power of pottery, for fans of Before The Coffee Gets Cold and What You Are Looking For Is In The Library. Jungmin is down on her luck. She’s worked tirelessly as a screenwriter her whole life, and has finally burnt out. But after months of isolation, she realises it’s … [Read More]
The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895-1910
What forces were behind Japan’s emergence as the first non-Western colonial power at the turn of the twentieth century? Peter Duus brings a new perspective to Meiji expansionism in this pathbreaking study of Japan’s acquisition of Korea, the largest of its colonial possessions. He shows how Japan’s drive for empire was part of a larger … [Read More]
Political Moods: Film Melodrama and the Cold War in the Two Koreas
Melodrama films dominated the North and South Korean industries in the period between liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 and the hardening of dictatorship in the 1970s. The films of each industry are often read as direct reflections of Cold War and Korean War political ideologies and national historical experiences, and therefore as aesthetically … [Read More]
Celluloid Democracy: Cinema and Politics in Cold War South Korea
Celluloid Democracy tells the story of the Korean filmmakers, distributors, and exhibitors who reshaped cinema in radically empowering ways through the decades of authoritarian rule that followed Korea’s liberation from Japanese occupation. Employing tactics that ranged from representing the dispossessed on the screen to redistributing state-controlled resources through bootlegging, these film workers explored ideas and practices … [Read More]
South Korea’s Grand Strategy: Making Its Own Destiny
Since the end of the Cold War, South Korea has taken on a greater role in global affairs. Ramon Pacheco Pardo provides a groundbreaking analysis of South Korea’s foreign policy from its transition to democracy in the late 1980s through the present day, arguing that the country’s approach to the world constitutes a grand strategy. … [Read More]
Phantom Pain Wings
Winged ventriloquy—a powerful new poetry collection channeling the language of birds by South Korea’s most innovative contemporary writer This book is about the realization of / I-thought-bird-was-part-of-me-but-Iwas-part-of-bird sequence / It’s a delayed record of such a sequence. An iconic figure in the emergence of feminist poetry in South Korea and now internationally renowned, Kim Hyesoon … [Read More]
Film Korea: The Ghibliotheque guide to the wonderful world of Korean cinema
Explore the magical, mysterious world of Korean cinema, in this new book from the authors of Ghibliotheque. From smash hits such as Parasite to cult favourites Oldboy, The Handmaiden and Train to Busan, Korean cinema is a hotbed of creative talent and the force behind the most exciting, captivating filmmaking in the world right now. In this essential guide to the country’s cinematic … [Read More]
Kim’s Convenience
Mr. Kim is a first-generation Korean immigrant and the proud owner of Kim’s Convenience, a variety store located in the heart of downtown Toronto’s Regent Park neighbourhood. As the neighbourhood quickly gentrifies, Mr. Kim is offered a generous sum of money to sell — enough to allow him and his wife to finally retire. But … [Read More]