Category: Non-fiction

LKL book database logo

Selected publications

Review: Na Man’gap – the Diary of 1636

posted updated 7 Apr 2021 by Philip Gowman 4 minute read

Na Man’gap’s Diary of 1636, as George Kallander explains in his informative introduction, is the longest known private account of the second Manchu invasion of Korea. Na (1592 – 1642) was a senior scholar-official who was with the King and court inside Namhansanseong – he was in charge of military rations – throughout the siege […]

Book review: Paek Nam Nyong – Friend

posted updated 7 Apr 2021 by Philip Gowman 4 minute read

When faced with a translation of a book written by a North Korean, based on past experiences you might expect material that’s hostile to the regime. Texts that have been rendered into English tend to be either defector testimonies or an occasional collection of short stories or poems by a dissident writer that have apparently […]

Book review: Christopher Lovins on King Chŏngjo

posted updated 5 Jan 2021 by Philip Gowman 6 minute read

Thus far this year I’ve been focusing on literature in translation. As I wait for the next major wave of publications to hit the shops, I’ve turned my attention to non-fiction. And the first title I reached for was Christopher Lovins’s King Chŏngjo: An Enlightened Despot in Early Modern Korea, which came out in paperback […]

Online lecture: Samsung Rising

event date Tue 07 Apr 2020 posted

Let’s hope there are more of these to keep us interested while stuck at home. Instructions for joining this free Zoom conference can be found on the RASKB website. And while you’re there, join as a member if you haven’t already. Geoffrey Cain will be talking about his book Samsung Rising which was published last […]

Review: JM Lee – The Boy who Escaped Paradise

posted updated 7 Apr 2021 by Philip Gowman 2 minute read

The Boy Who Escaped Paradise J.M. Lee, translated by Chi Young Kim Pegasus, 2016, 288pp Originally published as 천국의 소년, Seoul, 2013. A fifty-year-old North Korean is found shot to death in a flat in Queens, New York; beside him is a wounded man, the presumed killer. On the floor around the bodies are mysterious […]

Whose Comfort? – book launch at the KCC

event date Fri 21 Feb 2020 posted

Friday 21 February 2020, 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm Korean Cultural Centre UK | Grand Buildings | 1-3 Strand | London WC2N 5B Admission free | Register via Google Docs Join World Scientific Publishing at the Korean Cultural Centre UK to celebrate the launch of Whose Comfort? The issue of sexual violence against civilian ‘comfort […]

Recently published books on Korean film

posted by Philip Gowman 4 minute read

Having done my list of upcoming fiction titles, I’ve been working on a similar list of upcoming non-fiction. But in compiling the non-fiction list I’ve identified several titles that slipped under the radar towards the end of last year. Three of them relate to film. No doubt, following all the buzz about Parasite, there will […]

Brief review: Samuel Hawley — The Imjin War

posted updated 13 Nov 2020 by Philip Gowman 2 minute read

Samuel Hawley: The Imjin War – Japan’s Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China 2nd Edition, Conquistador Press 2014 Originally published by Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch, Seoul, 2005 How is it that a 664 page book only merits a brief review? Well, because as an historical book a proper review should only […]

Book review: Min Kym — Gone

posted updated 14 Nov 2020 by Philip Gowman 3 minute read

Min Jin Kym: Gone — A Girl, a Violin, a Life Unstrung Viking, 2017, 256pp When Min Jin Kym’s Gone came out, I mentally heaved a sigh of relief. Here’s one Korea-related book, I thought, among the dozens that will be published this year, that I don’t need to read. The story of how her […]

New and upcoming non-fiction titles for 2019

posted updated 7 May 2021 by Philip Gowman 12 minute read

Unlike my list that attempts to compile upcoming literature and fiction titles, here I’ve had to be selective in what to include, otherwise the length of this post would be unmanageable. Nevertheless I’ve almost certainly missed out some titles that I’d want to have on my bookshelf. I’ve divided the list into seven sections: Literature […]