The Gateless Barrier is one of the most cherished yet also one of the most enigmatic Chan or Zen texts of East Asian Buddhism. Compiled by the Chinese Chan master Wumen Huikai in 1228, it contains forty-eight Zen stories of spiritual awakening called “public cases” or gong’ans (known as kōans in Japanese and kongans in Korean). This book presents a new English translation … [Read More]
Booklist: Non-Fiction (page 9)
Polarizing Dreams: Gangnam and Popular Culture in Globalizing Korea
Anyone genuinely curious about what makes South Korean pop culture tick should look no further than Gangnam. Celebrated in a song by an unlikely K-pop superstar named Psy in 2012, Gangnam is the epicenter of Hallyu, the Korean Wave. It is an exclusive zone of privilege and wealth that has lured pop culture industries since the 1980s … [Read More]
International Aid and South Korea: Experience from Recipient to Donor
This book explores South Korea’s experience as an aid recipient, as an aid donor, and as an inter‑Korea aid provider. Analysing case studies of international aid both received and dispensed by South Korea, from the end of the Korean War until the present day, this collection provides a novel lens through which to explore South … [Read More]
Worm-Time: Memories of Division in South Korean Aesthetics
Worm-Time challenges conventional narratives of the Cold War and its end, presenting an alternative cultural history based on evolving South Korean aesthetics about enduring national division. From novels of dissent during the authoritarian era to films and webtoons in the new millennium, We Jung Yi’s transmedia analyses unearth people’s experiences of “wormification”—traumatic survival, deferred justice, and warped … [Read More]
Korean Nuclear Diaspora: Redress Movements of Korean Atomic-bomb Victims in Japan
Korean Nuclear Diaspora: Redress Movements of Korean Atomic-bomb Victims in Japan comprehensively explores the history of Korean victims of the 1945 atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Following the bombings and Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, these Korean atomic-bomb victims dispersed across Japan, South Korea, and North Korea, and have often been left without any … [Read More]
Art, War, and Exile in Modern Korea: Rethinking the Life and Work of Lee Qoede
This book celebrates the life and works of Lee Qoede (1913–1965), who focused on art’s social purpose and representation of civilians. He believed “art must be an integral part of the struggle in reality. It cannot simply be a still-life of apples, flowers, or scenery.” Born in South Korea, he was a prisoner of war, … [Read More]
From Eternity to Eternity: Memoirs of a Korean Buddhist Nun
From Eternity to Eternity is the story of Bulpil Sunim, arguably the most respected female Seon (Zen) master in Korea. Written with candor and an unpretentious sense of humor, her memoir provides both a fascinating record of her life and a deeply accessible window into Buddhist thought and spirituality. Describing and reflecting on her own experience … [Read More]
Lapwing: The Life Of Bishop Richard Rutt
Richard Rutt led an extraordinary life. He was Bishop of Daejeon in South Korea from 1968 – 1974 and first moved to South Korea to work as a priest a year after the end of the Korean War, in 1954. After he and his wife, Joan, returned to the UK in 1974, he served as … [Read More]
Monks and Literati: The Transformation of Buddhism in Late Chosŏn Korea
Scholars have long debated the relationship between Buddhist monks and Confucian literati during the late Chosŏn (1700–1850), when the Korean state adopted anti-Buddhist policies. On the one hand, it is understood that literati openly displayed hostility toward monks and engineered their persecution; on the other, they were known to have privately supported Buddhism, helping the … [Read More]
I Decided to Live as Me
The million-copy Korean bestseller read by BTS’s Jungkook on Bon Voyage, the hit reality TV show following K-pop sensation BTS! Don’t be kind to those who aren’t kind to you. Remember that no one lives a perfect life. Don’t be swayed by what others say. Don’t try too hard to get along with everyone. As soon as … [Read More]
Bong Joon Ho
Successful cult films like The Host and Snowpiercer proved to be harbingers for Bong Joon Ho’s enormous breakthrough success with Parasite. Joseph Jonghyun Jeon provides a consideration of the director’s entire career and the themes, ambitions, techniques, and preoccupations that infuse his works. As Jeon shows, Bong’s sense of spatial and temporal dislocations creates a hall of mirrors that challenges … [Read More]
Cinema under National Reconstruction: State Censorship and South Korea’s Cold War Film Culture
Cinema under National Reconstruction calls for a revisionist understanding of state film censorship during successive Cold War military regimes in South Korea (1961–1988). Drawing upon primary documents from the Korean Film Archive’s digitized database and framing South Korean film censorship from a transnational perspective, Hye Seung Chung makes the case that, while political oppression/repression existed inside … [Read More]
North Korea’s Nuclear Cinema: Simulation and Neoliberal Politics in the Two Koreas
North Korea’s Nuclear Cinema examines why and how North Korea has transitioned to an image-based nuclear power in the changing context of a post-Cold War world. What exactly is the North Korean nuclear threat? Why is North Korea engaging in hostilities when its erstwhile adversaries have offered a diplomatic exit ramp? Chapter by chapter, it explains how … [Read More]
I’m Not Lazy, I’m on Energy Saving Mode
The charming Korean bestseller which highlights how resting and ‘being lazy’ shouldn’t be seen as a weakness but as an important part of recharging. Lying on the floor scrolling through social media; wrapped up in bed taking your second nap of the day; lounging on the sofa watching TV. You are not lazy, you are … [Read More]
Stepping in the Madang: Sustaining Expressive Ecologies of Korean Drumming and Dance
Site-specific expressive ecologies sustain Korean folk culture in a globalizing world The madang is a key space and concept for Korean drummers and dancers. Literally a village circle, the madang is also a metaphor for an expressive occasion or cultural space of embodied participation. Korean performers step in the madang as a means of bringing … [Read More]
Korean Pop Culture beyond Asia: Race and Reception
Showcases the dynamism of cross-cultural engagement with Korean media Korean media has exploded in popularity across the globe in the past decade: BTS and other K-pop groups have packed stadiums, Parasite garnered record-breaking critical success, The Masked Singer and Single’s Inferno became viral TV hits, and multiday KCON fan events have highlighted not only media but Korean food, cosmetics, and fashion. … [Read More]