The Korean War, often invoked in American culture as “the forgotten war,” was fought between 1950 and 1953 and ended with an infamous stalemate and the construction of the Korean Peninsula’s Demilitarized Zone. Millions of Korean civilians and refugees were left behind, some of whom would go onto live in the United States. Minor Salvage … [Read More]
Archives: Books (page 44)
Mediating the South Korean Other: Representations and Discourses of Difference in the Post/Neocolonial Nation-State
Multiculturalism in Korea formed in the context of its neoliberal, global aspirations, its postcolonial legacy with Japan, and its subordinated neocolonial relationship with the United States. The Korean ethnoscape and mediascape produce a complex understanding of difference that cannot be easily reduced to racism or ethnocentrism. Indeed the Korean word, injongchabyeol, often translated as racism, … [Read More]
Redefining Multicultural Families in South Korea: Reflections and Future Directions
Redefining Multicultural Families in South Korea provides an in-depth look at the lives of families in Korea that include immigrants. Ten original chapters in this volume, written by scholars in multiple social science disciplines and covering different methodological approaches, aim to reinvigorate contemporary discussions about these multicultural families. Specially, the volume expands the scope of … [Read More]
Gold Rush (K-Fiction 030)
“Gold Rush” by Su-jin Seo, an epic of the cool end The 30th work of K-Fiction. Writer Seo Su-jin’s short story ‘Gold Rush’ tells the story of Seo-in and Jin-woo, a couple living in Australia. Writer Sujin Seo started her work after receiving the Hankyoreh Literary Award in 2020 for 『Korean Teacher』, and currently lives … [Read More]
Love in Sa Pa (K-Fiction special)
A love that has no beginning and no end. The story of Sapa’s ‘Love Market’ where unrequited love meets. A very special romance with the literary prototype of writer Bang Hyun-seok, who loves the world and cares for people. Bang Hyun-seok’s 『At Sapa』 was published as a K-Fiction special edition. His new work, the story … [Read More]
Cave Boys (K-Poet 22)
K-Poet series that meets both Korean and English at the same time. Poet Lee Seol-ya’s 『Cave Boys』 was published as the 22nd collection of poems. From his first collection of poems, We Decided to Get Darker, the poet’s poetry clock, who dictated the voices of the marginalized and the suffering, and never neglected to listen … [Read More]
Beginning the End (K-Poet 21)
Poet Kim Keun’s 『Beginning the End』 was published as the 21st collection of K-poet poems in Korean and English. Poet Kim Keun’s new poetry collection, who debuted in 1998 and published poems such as 『Bam Boy’s Outing』, 『See you at the Cloud Theater』 and 『When you wash your face in the dark』, is divided into … [Read More]
Tiger Swallowtail (K-Poet 20)
It is a collection of poems in the domain of Tiger Swallowtail by Hwang Gyu-gwan, the 20th collection of poems by K-Poet. In 1993, he began his work by winning the Jeon Tae-il Literature Award and published poetry books such as Cheolsan-dong Post Office, Water Goes its Way, defeat is My Power, Waiting for the … [Read More]
Suicide Parasite (K-Poet 19)
This is a new collection of poems by poet Kim Seong-gyu, who made his debut in 2004 and persistently looked into the other side of his life by publishing poetry books such as 『You flew by mistake』 and 『When will Heaven collect the broken ones』. As can be seen in the title song “Suicide Parasite”, … [Read More]
The Hard Road Out: Escaping North Korea
North Korea is an open-air prison from which there is no escape. Only a handful of men and women have succeeded. Jihyun Park is one of these rare survivors. Twice she left the land of the ‘socialist miracle’ to flee famine and dictatorship. By the age of 29 she had already witnessed a lifetime of … [Read More]
Women and Confucian Cultures in Premodern China, Korea, and Japan
Representing an unprecedented collaboration among international scholars from Asia, Europe, and the United States, this volume rewrites the history of East Asia by rethinking the contentious relationship between Confucianism and women. The authors discuss the absence of women in the Confucian canonical tradition and examine the presence of women in politics, family, education, and art … [Read More]
The Social Life of Inkstones: Artisans and Scholars in Early Qing China
An inkstone, a piece of polished stone no bigger than an outstretched hand, is an instrument for grinding ink, an object of art, a token of exchange between friends or sovereign states, and a surface on which texts and images are carved. As such, the inkstone has been entangled with elite masculinity and the values … [Read More]
The Borders of Chinese Architecture
An internationally acclaimed expert explains why Chinese-style architecture has remained so consistent for two thousand years, no matter where it is built. For the last two millennia, an overwhelming number of Chinese buildings have been elevated on platforms, supported by pillars, and covered by ceramic-tile roofs. Less obvious features, like the brackets connecting the pillars … [Read More]
Cine-Mobility: Twentieth-Century Transformations in Korea’s Film and Transportation
In 1916, a group of Korean farmers and their children gathered to watch a film depicting the enthronement of the Japanese emperor. For this screening, a unit of the colonial government’s news agency brought a projector and generator by train to their remote rural town. Before the formation of commercial moviegoing culture for colonial audiences … [Read More]
Across the Perilous Sea: Japanese Trade with China and Korea from the Seventh to the Sixteenth Centuries
Originally published as Le commerce extérieur du Japon des origines au XVIe siécle in 1988, this new edition of the landmark French study chronicles Japan’s transformation from an importer of continental luxury items, raw materials, and techniques to an exporter of high-quality merchandise over nearly a millennium. The vicissitudes of foreign trade policy, as well … [Read More]
Landlords, Peasants, and Intellectuals in Modern Korea
This volume introduces, for the first time in English, the work of one of the major schools of historiography in South Korea. Centered at Yonsei University, the school focuses on intellectual and socioeconomic history. A selection of studies illuminates the internal dynamics and historical roots of Korea’s transition to modernity and the division of the … [Read More]