ME Sharpe, 1997 Written in 1986 and expertly translated by Robert Fouser ten years later, this is a highly readable basic introduction to the wide variety of Korean literary forms. The scope of the work includes oral literature, literature written in Korean but using Chinese characters, and, perhaps controversially, literature written in classical Chinese, as … [Read More]
Category: Language & Learning (page 74)
Conference Report: Modern Encounters and Mutual Perceptions
Thanks to Grace Koh for organising the joint CKS / BAKS half day at SOAS on Wednesday. An interesting sharing of papers, with UK-based academics presenting papers on the British encounters with Korea, and Seoul based academics providing the opposite view. We started with early views of Western civilization as viewed from Korea through their … [Read More]
Korean language meet-ups
The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed a new type of event at the bottom of my “April Events” post. It’s a Korean language meet-up. It seems there’s a group of like-minded people — some native Korean speakers and some learners — who meet up once a month in the West End somewhere, and, (I’m … [Read More]
Upcoming Korea Discussion Group talk at Chatham House
Another talk has been arranged for lunchtime on 3 April, on the topic of Inside North Korea: Changes and Continuity. The speaker will be Dr Kongdan Oh. Biography, courtesy of the Korea Discussion Group: Dr. Kongdan (Katy) Oh is a Research Staff Member at the Institute for Defense Analyses and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at … [Read More]
The Japanese counter-wave
March’s edition of Seoul magazine has an interesting article discussing how cultural waves do not travel in just one direction. Supporters of Korean culture are keen to point out the unstoppability of the hallyu: Rain in the Philippines, BoA in Japan, Super Junior in China, TV Dramas everywhere (except the UK it seems). Back home, … [Read More]
Amnesty International on Human Rights in North and South Korea
Rajiv Narayan’s talk at Chatham House last week about Amnesty International’s activities and concerns on the Korean peninsula was timely but yet somehow seemed to miss the point. I was reminded about the story of a drunk who was found grovelling on the pavement underneath a streetlamp at 3am. A concerned passer-by asked him what … [Read More]
Two free talks this Friday (16 March)
Firstly, Chatham House Korea Discussion Group: 13.15-14.30 (Lunch 12.45-13.15 – £10 charge) Keeping the Flame of Human Rights in the Korean Peninsula: The Role of an International Human Rights NGO, Amnesty International in the Two Koreas Speaker: Rajiv Narayan Chair: Jim Hoare Further details on the Chatham House website. Secondly, SOAS Centre for Korean Studies … [Read More]
Loanwords in twentieth century Korean literature
The chosen specialist subject of Antonetta Bruno, from La Sapienza in Rome, is Korean shamanism. But she has an interesting sideline in linguistics. Her theme at SOAS’s Centre for Korean Studies last Friday evening (23 Feb) was the extent to which Korean has borrowed words from foreign languages, particularly in the first half of the … [Read More]
Feminism and women artists in Korean art
Lecture 5 in Jiyoon Lee’s Art & Society in Modern Korea course. Big caveat: a very simplistic and immature summary, prepared by someone with limited knowledge or understanding of these things, of a very brief lecture covering a huge topic. Treat with extreme caution. Posted here as a “stub” (in Wiki terms) which I might … [Read More]
Call for Papers: ISKS conference, SOAS, Aug 2007
제8차 코리아학국제학술토론회 The 8th ISKS International Conference of Korean Studies 일시(Dates) : 2007년 ８월 16일(목)-17일(금) August 16 (Thurs) ~ 17 (Fri), 2007 장소(Venue) : 영국 런던대학교 쏘아즈(아시아아프리카학원) School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK 언어(Language) : 한국/조선어, 영어 (Korean, English) 주최(Co-organized) : 국제고려학회, 런던대학 SOAS 한국학센타, 국제고려학회 유럽지부 International Society for Korean … [Read More]
Korean literature talk at SOAS: Loanwords in Korean novels
Antonetta Bruno (La Sapienza) will be talking on the theme of “Loanwords in Korean novels at the beginning of the 21st century” at SOAS on Friday afternoon 23 February, 5pm, in Room G52. Literature boffins will know better than me what the talk is all about. I’m assuming it’s nothing to do with APRs and … [Read More]
Hallyu and nationalism stories
A brief round-up of recent hallyu and nationalism stories. Rain’s producer, Park Jin-young, says the word “Korean” should be removed from “Korean Wave”. “I don’t understand why the Korean wave is taken as the rah-rah material,” Mr. Park said. “Now is the time to overcome nationalism, but instead we are intensifying that sentiment.” Park has … [Read More]
Event report: Korea Business Reception at London City Hall
By Peter Corbishley On Monday 15th January the glitterati of the Anglo-Korean business worlds were invited to network by Ambassador Cho and Mike Backhouse of Standard Chartered under the auspices of Ken Livingstone and Think London. Over 250 companies accepted invitations to an event originally scheduled to be part of Think Korea 2006, as the … [Read More]
Korea’s cute and funky cultural exports
Chatham House Korea Discussion Group China’s ‘Korea Wave’: National Branding, Piracy, Idols and Fans Speaker: Dr Rowan Pease, 6 December 2006, 1:15pm If ever you get the chance to hear Rowan Pease talk on her chosen subject of the hallyu in China, drop everything and go to it. Even if you’ve heard some of her … [Read More]
South Korean artist’s response to the Division of Korea
South Korean Artists’ Response to the Issue of Divided Korea Lecture by Jim Hoare and Jiyoon Lee Monday 11 December at Asia House 6.45-7.45pm The current exhibition at Asia House is producing much food for thought. This is now the third post devoted to the exhibition and is unlikely to be the last. In an … [Read More]
But is it Art?
Encounters with Painters in North Korea 5pm SOAS, 8 December 2006 Koen De Ceuster, Centre for Korean Studies, Leiden University “But is it Art”?: that was the question posed by Koen De Ceuster on Friday night at SOAS, as part of the series of talks held by the Centre for Korean Studies. The talk started … [Read More]