Excerpt from Questia: Culture is an emblem of a people’s self-recognition in their own world and of their achievement of freedom in it. It is a people’s cumulative reception and negation of the world in their history — negation in the Hegelian sense, that is, the changing of the world in accord with one’s own … [Read More]
Booklist: Literature (page 6)
Understanding Korean Literature
This study examines the development and characteristics of various historical and contemporary genres of Korean literature. It presents explanations on the development of Korean literacy and offers a history of literary criticism, traditional and modern, giving the discussion an historical context. [Read More]
An Introduction to Classical Korean Literature: From Hyangga to P’ansori
From the publisher’s website: This work provides an introduction to some of the most important and representative genres of classical Korean literature. Coverage includes: Samguk sagi and samguk yusa as literature; Kuun mong and Unyongchon; the lyricism of Koryo songs; and the literature of Choson Dynasty Women. Contents What Is Korean Literature? The Mystery and … [Read More]
South Korea’s Minjung Movement: The Culture and Politics of Dissidence
From the publisher’s website: The minjung (people’s) movement stood at the forefront of the June 1987 nationwide tide that swept away the military in South Korea and opened up space for relatively democratic politics, a more responsible economy, and new directions in culture. This volume is the first in English to grapple specifically with the nature of … [Read More]
Han Sorya and North Korean Literature (+ Jackals)
This first and only study of North Korean literary history by a Western scholar deals with the crucial role played by Han Sōrya, chairman of the DPRK’s Federation of Literature and Art from 1948 to his purge in 1962, both in devising the iconography of Kim Il Sung’s personality cult and in defining the early … [Read More]
The Korean Singer of Tales
Publisher description: P’ansori, the traditional oral narrative of Korea, is sung by a highly trained soloist to the accompaniment of complex drumming. The singer both narrates the story and dramatizes all the characters, male and female. Performances require as long as six hours and make extraordinary vocal demands. In the first book-length treatment in English … [Read More]
Writing Self, Writing Nation: A Collection of Essays on “Dictee” by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha
Five Asian American women celebrate Dictée while offering reconstructions of ethnicity, feminism, and nationalism. Essays by Hyun Yi Kang, Elaine H. Kim, Lisa Lowe, Shelley Sunn Wong, and artwork by Yong Soon Min. Source: Goodreads [Read More]