James Church reviews a new novel set in North Korea – The Orphan Master’s Son (http://t.co/pmm4ujv4) and raises many caveats at 38North.org http://t.co/7jByBVCN [Read More]
Books and literature (page 31)
Directory of World Cinema: South Korea launched
I see that @ColetteBalmain‘s Directory of World Cinema: South Korea is up for preorder on Amazon.co.uk (http://t.co/0LpRIp2s) No pressure then, Colette. [Read More]
FT interviews with author Krys Lee
Small talk: interview with Korean American writer Krys Lee in the FT http://t.co/VN4wRXzT (via @rjkoehler). Her first book, Drifting House, a collection of short stories set in North Korea, South Korea and the US, is now available on Amazon. [Read More]
Shin Kyung-sook on MAN shortlist
Congratulations to Shin Kyung-sook, whose Please Look After Mother (translated by Kim Chi-young) is shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, announced yesterday: http://t.co/hORsoPB9 (Photo: Korea Herald) Update 8 March 2012: the title has also been included in the longlist for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012 – an award established by the Independent newspaper … [Read More]
The London Korean Links Awards 2011
The sixth of LKL’s annual unscientific and very personal recognition of the best things of last year. And in the field of film, books and CDs what is encouraging is that there is so much to choose from. There were also plenty of good Korean cultural events in London, Edinburgh and elsewhere, but there was … [Read More]
A new Kyung Hyun Kim book hits the stores soon
I confess that I didn’t much enjoy Kyung Hyun Kim’s first book – The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema – but I’ll still be getting his new one, Virtual Hallyu – Korean Cinema of the Global Era, which is available from Amazon later this month. [Read More]
Thomas the Tank engine wins Korean hearts
Thomas the Tank engine is second only to Pororo the Penguin in the hearts of Korean kiddies, according to a survey: http://t.co/BGeJONhD. There’s even an exhibition in Seoul right now. [Read More]
I’m six pages in to Seopyeonje, and already I’m crying
By contrast to the glacial pace of T’oji, I’m six pages in to Yi Cheong-jun’s Seopyeonje (http://t.co/Z32AGY0p | US: http://t.co/tjQBtaAD) and already I’m crying. [Read More]
I’m one volume in to T’oji, and nothing’s happened yet
Why Park Kyung-ni’s epic novel “Land” is like the long-running BBC radio soap opera “The Archers”. And why someone should create a Reader’s Digest version. [Read More]
Book review: Richard E Kim — The Martyred
Richard E. Kim: The Martyred First published by George Braziller, 1964 Published in Penguin Classics 2011, with introduction by Heinz Insu Fenzl and Preface by Susan Choi. 199 pp Fourteen North Korean priests are rounded up by the communists just before North Korea invades the South in June 1950. Twelve of the priests are shot, … [Read More]
The depiction of famine in North Korean comics
A reminder of this Friday’s talk at SOAS: A New Deal: comic story representations of food issues in post-famine North Korea Speaker: Martin Petersen (University of Copenhagen) Date: 25 November 2011, 5:00 – 7:00 PM Venue: Russell Square, College Building, Room G50 Abstract In the mid to late 1990s North Korea went through a famine … [Read More]
Book Review: Martin Limón — G.I. Bones
Martin Limón: G.I. Bones Soho Crime 2009 G.I. Bones is the sixth in Martin Limón’s excellent series featuring George Sueño and Ernie Bascom, detectives from the US military based in 1970s Seoul. The first in the series, Jade Lady Burning, was published nearly 20 years ago in 1992, but our investigators are still in their … [Read More]
Sergeants Sueño & Bascom return with Mr Kill
Sergeants Sueño & Bascom return in December with Mr. Kill – the 7th in Martin Limón’s excellent detective series set in 70s Seoul. So far, on Kindle only. http://t.co/WvNAx8eT It’s reviewed by LKL here. [Read More]
Book review: Land of Scholars (Kang Jae-eun)
The Land of Scholars: Two Thousand Years of Korean Confucianism by Kang Jae-eun (translated from Japanese to Korean by Ha Woo-bong, then from Korean into English by Suzanne Lee) Homa & Sekey Books 2006; original Japanese version published in 2003. 515 pp Students of Korean history, and particularly of the Joseon dynasty, will inevitably at … [Read More]
Chinese hordes and human waves: Korean War talk at the KCC
News of an upcoming book launch event at the KCC: Chinese Hordes and Human Waves: A Personal Perspective of the Korean War 1950-1953 By Brigadier (Retd.) Brian Parritt CBE Thursday 10 November 2011 6.30pm – 9.30pm (Pre-talk Drinks at 6pm) Venue: Korean Cultural Centre UK, 1-3 Strand, Grand Buildings, London WC2N 5BW (Location) Admission is … [Read More]
Tim Beal’s Crisis in Korea launched
Tim Beal’s new book “Crisis in Korea – America, China and the Risk of War” (Pluto Press) will be launched at Arthur Probsthain Bookshop, 41 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3PE on 25 October, 6.30-8.30 pm. RSVP: [email protected] Tel: 0207 636 1096. Available on Amazon.co.uk now. [Read More]