Korea’s Premier Collection of Classical Literature


Book Description

This is the first book in English to offer an extensive introduction to the Tongmunsŏn (Selections of Refined Literature of Korea)—the largest and most important Korean literary collection created prior to the twentieth century—as well as translations of essays from key chapters. The Tongmunsŏn was compiled in 1478 by Sŏ Kŏjŏng (1420–1488) and other Chosŏn literati at the command of King Sŏngjong (r. 1469–1494). It was modeled after the celebrated Chinese anthology Wen Xuan and contains poetry and prose in an extensive array of styles and genres. The Translators’ Introduction begins by describing the general structure of the Tongmunsŏn and contextualizes literary output in Korea within the great sweep of East Asian literature from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries. The entire Tongmunsŏn as well as all of the essays selected for translation were written in hanmun (as opposed to Korean vernacular), which points to a close literary connection between the continent and the peninsula. The Introduction goes on to discuss the genres contained in the Tongmunsŏn and examines style as revealed through prosody. The translation of two of these genres (treatises and discourses) in four books of the Tongmunsŏn showcases prose-writing and the intellectual concerns of the age. Through their discussions of morality, nature, and the fantastic, we see Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian themes at work in essays by some of Korea’s most distinguished writers, among them Yi Kyubo, Yi Saek, Yi Chehyŏn, and Chŏng Tojŏn. The translations also include annotations and extensive cross-references to classical allusions in the Chinese canon, making the present volume an essential addition to any East Asian literature collection.




Tales of the Strange by a Korean Confucian Monk


Book Description

One of the most important and celebrated works of premodern Korean prose fiction, Kŭmo sinhwa (New Tales of the Golden Turtle) is a collection of five tales of the strange artfully written in literary Chinese by Kim Sisŭp (1435–1493). Kim was a major intellectual and poet of the early Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1897), and this book is widely recognized as marking the beginning of classical fiction in Korea. The present volume features an extensive study of Kim and the Kŭmo sinhwa, followed by a copiously annotated, complete English translation of the tales from the oldest extant edition. The translation captures the vivaciousness of the original, while the annotations reveal the work’s complexity, unraveling the deep and diverse intertextual connections between the Kŭmo sinhwa and preceding works of Chinese and Korean literature and philosophy. The Kŭmo sinhwa can thus be read and appreciated as a hybrid work that is both distinctly Korean and Sino-centric East Asian. A translator’s introduction discusses this hybridity in detail, as well as the unusual life and tumultuous times of Kim Sisŭp; the Kŭmo sinhwa’s creation and its translation and transformation in early modern Japan and twentieth-century (especially North) Korea and beyond; and its characteristics as a work of dissent. Tales of the Strange by a Korean Confucian Monk will be welcomed by Korean and East Asian studies scholars and students, yet the body of the work—stories of strange affairs, fantastic realms, seductive ghosts, and majestic but eerie beings from the netherworld—will be enjoyed by academics and non-specialist readers alike.




The Penguin Book of Korean Short Stories


Book Description

‘An ever-surprising and stylistically diverse anthology that will surely stand as the touchstone collection of Korean literature for decades to come’ Literary Review This eclectic, moving and wonderfully enjoyable collection is the essential introduction to Korean literature. Journeying through Korea's dramatic twentieth century, from the Japanese occupation and colonial era to the devastating war between North and South and the rapid, disorienting urbanization of later decades, The Penguin Book of Korean Short Stories captures a hundred years of Korea's vibrant short-story tradition. Here are peddlers and donkeys travelling across moonlit fields; artists drinking and debating in the tea-houses of 1920s Seoul; soldiers fighting for survival; exiles from the war who can never go home again; and lonely men and women searching for connection in the dizzying modern city. The collection features stories by some of Korea's greatest writers, including Pak Wanso, O Chonghui and Cho Chongnae, as well as many brilliant contemporary voices, such as P'yon Hyeyong, Han Yujoo and Kim Aeran. Curated by Bruce Fulton, this is a volume that will surprise, unsettle and delight. Edited by Bruce Fulton With an introduction by Kwon Youngmin




A Korean Confucian’s Advice on How to Be Moral


Book Description

Tasan Chŏng Yagyong (1762–1836) is one of the most creative thinkers Korea has ever produced, one of the country’s first Christians, and a leading scholar in Confucian philosophy. Born in a staunchly Neo-Confucian society, in his early twenties he encountered writings by Catholic missionaries in China and was fascinated. However, when he later learned that the Catholic Church condemned the Confucian practice of placing a spirit tablet on a family altar to honor past generations, he left the small Catholic community he had helped found and ostensibly returned to the Neo-Confucian fold. Nevertheless, the Christian ideas he studied in his youth influenced his thinking for the rest of his life, stimulating him to look at Neo-Confucianism with a critical eye and suggest new solutions to problems Confucian scholars had been addressing for centuries. A Korean Confucian’s Advice on How to Be Moral is an annotated translation of Tasan’s commentaries on the Confucian classic Zhongyong (usually translated as The Doctrine of the Mean) in which he applies both Confucianism and Christianity to the question of how to best develop a moral character. Written as a dialogue with King Chŏngjo (r. 1776–1800), these texts reveal how Tasan interpreted his Confucian tradition, particularly its understanding of how human beings could cultivate morality, while the king’s questions illustrate the mainstream Neo-Confucianism Tasan was reacting against. Tasan challenged the non-theistic standard, insisting that living a moral life is not easy and that we need to be motivated to exert the effort necessary to overcome our selfish tendencies. He had abandoned his faith by the time he wrote these commentaries but, influenced by Catholic works and determined to find a more effective way to live a moral life than non-theistic Neo-Confucianism provided, Tasan constructed a Confucian philosophy of moral improvement centered on belief in God. This translation, helpfully annotated for context and analysis, is an exploration of early Korean engagement with the West and a powerful guide to all those interested in Confucianism, Christianity, and morality.




A Korean Scholar’s Rude Awakening in Qing China


Book Description

Two years after Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations was published in 1776, Pak Chega’s (1750–1805) Discourse on Northern Learning appeared on the opposite corner of the globe. Both books presented notions of wealth and the economy for critical review: the former caused a stir across Europe, the latter influenced only a modest group of Chosŏn (1392–1897) Korea scholars and other intellectuals. Nevertheless, the ideas of both thinkers closely reflected the spirit of their times and helped define certain schools of thought—in the case of Pak, Northern Learning (Pukhak), which disparaged the Chosŏn Neo-Confucian state ideology as inert and ineffective. Years of humiliation and resentment against the conquering Manchus blinded many Korean elites to the scientific and technological advances made in Qing China (1644–1911). They despised its rulers as barbarians and begrudged Qing China’s status as their suzerain state. But Pak saw Korea’s northern neighbor as a model of economic and social reform. He and like-minded progressives discussed and corroborated views about the superiority of China’s civilization. After traveling to Beijing in 1776, Pak wrote Discourse on Northern Learning, in which he favorably introduced many aspects of China’s economy and culture. By comparison, he argued, Korea’s economy was depressed, the result of inadequate government policies and the selfishness of a privileged upper class. He called for drastic reforms in agriculture and industry and for opening the country to international trade. In a series of short essays, Pak gives us rare insights into life on the ground in late eighteenth-century Korea, and in the many details he supplies on Chinese farming, trade, and other commercial activities, his work provides a window onto everyday life in Qing China. Students and specialists of Korean history, particularly social reform movements, and Chosŏn-Qing relations will welcome this new translation.




Sinography: The Borrowing and Adaptation of the Chinese Script


Book Description

In the more than 3,000 years since its invention, the Chinese script has been adapted many times to write languages other than Chinese, including Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Zhuang. In Sinography: The Borrowing and Adaptation of the Chinese Script, Zev Handel provides a comprehensive analysis of how the structural features of these languages constrained and motivated methods of script adaptation. This comparative study reveals the universal principles at work in the borrowing of logographic scripts. By analyzing and explaining these principles, Handel advances our understanding of how early writing systems have functioned and spread, providing a new framework that can be applied to the history of scripts beyond East Asia, such as Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform.




Record of the Seasonal Customs of Korea


Book Description

Record of the Seasonal Customs of Korea (Tongguk sesigi) is one of the most important primary sources for anyone interested in traditional Korean cultural and social practices. The manuscript was completed in 1849 by Toae Hong Sŏk-mo, a wealthy poet and scholar from an influential family. Toae, with his keen interest in the habits and customs of both courtiers and commoners, compiled in almanac form (he divided his book into chronological sections by lunar and intercalary months) a comprehensive record of seasonal palace events, rituals, entertainment, and food and drink consumed on high days and holidays, as well as information on farm work and traditions. Nineteenth-century Korean intellectuals possessed a deep understanding of Chinese history and culture together with a growing awareness of the distinctiveness of Korea’s past and traditions. Toae’s work reflects this in the many comparisons he makes between the habits and customs of the two countries, quoting literary and philosophical sources to note similarities and contrasts. Knowledge of the seasonal traditions he describes was largely forgotten over the generations as Korea rapidly modernized, but in recent years much effort has been made to recover this wisdom: Tongguk sesigi is now widely read and referenced as a popular source for details on traditional food, customs, and entertainment. While an ever-increasing number of books introducing Korean culture written by non-Koreans or Koreans researching their roots is now available, Record of the Seasonal Customs of Korea contains information “from the source” that also reveals the mindset and penchants of a premodern Korean intellectual. Readers will thus be confronted with many concepts, names, and ideas not readily understandable so extensive notes are provided in this translation. Those studying other Asian cultures with some Chinese influence will also find valuable insights here for cross-cultural comparison and research.




This Kind of War


Book Description

Updated with maps, photographs, and battlefield diagrams, this special fiftieth anniversary edition of the classic history of the Korean War is a dramatic and hard-hitting account of the conflict written from the perspective of those who fought it. Partly drawn from official records, operations journals, and histories, it is based largely on the compelling personal narratives of the small-unit commanders and their troops. Unlike any other work on the Korean War, it provides both a clear panoramic overview and a sharply drawn you were there account of American troops in fierce combat against th.




The Encyclopedia of Daily Life


Book Description

This volume is a fully annotated translation of an early nineteenth-century encyclopedia, the Kyuhap ch’ongsŏ (The Encyclopedia of Daily Life). Written by Lady Yi (1759–1824) as a household management aid for her daughters and daughters-in-law, the work is a treasure trove of information on how women of higher status in the late Chosŏn (1392–1910) ran their households and conducted their daily lives. The encyclopedia opens with lengthy sections on making beverages and brewing a wide array of liquors (as well as remedies for the overconsumption of alcohol) and contains dozens of recipes for dishes ranging from numerous types of kimch’i to confections and rice cakes. The second part of the translation concerns prenatal care, childbirth, childrearing, and first aid for a large number of afflictions and medical conditions. An extensive introduction will help readers understand the times in which Lady Yi wrote her encyclopedia and the influences that fostered her love of scholarship. The work demonstrates the full sweep of her authority in the domestic sphere and the many aspects of day-to-day life that women needed to prepare for and manage. Her mastery of East Asian cosmology comes across clearly in her use of this knowledge to account for the workings of the world, the processes required to take care of one’s body, and interactions between humans and the natural world. The Encyclopedia of Daily Life will be an important reference for those studying medicine, botany, and the preparation of foodstuffs in premodern East Asian societies. It will also be a valuable linguistic reference to the Korean language during the late Chosŏn.




The Master from Mountains and Fields


Book Description

The Master from Mountains and Fields is a fully annotated translation of the prose texts from the “collected works” of Sŏ Kyŏngdŏk (1489–1546), an influential Confucian scholar from the early Chosŏn period (1392-1910). A native of Songdo (also known as Kaesŏng) in present-day North Korea, Sŏ has loomed large in the Korean cultural imagination and appeared as an exceptional sage and popular hero in numerous tales, dramas, and films, yet his writings are little known outside the academic milieu. Also called Master Hwadam, Sŏ embodied an archetype of the secluded scholar who remains hidden in “mountains and forests” to devote himself to his studies. Held in esteem in both South and North Korea today (a notable exception in contemporary studies on Chosŏn Neo-Confucianism), Sŏ and his ideas about Vital Energy influenced the great Korean Neo-Confucian debates of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries surrounding the psychophysiological origins of morality as well as various non-orthodox intellectual trends in the late Chosŏn. His thought is fundamentally rooted in the cosmology based on the exegesis of the Book of Changes and follows the teachings of various early Chinese Neo-Confucian thinkers; it presents a vivid example of the eclectic nature of ideas and intellectual trends coexisting within what is generically called Neo-Confucianism out of convenience. This volume presents the first English translation of all prose writings attributed to Sŏ and most of the peritexts from his posthumously published collection Hwadam chip. It reflects the importance of literary compilations (munjip) in the intellectual history of Chosŏn and the complex process of the making of Confucian masters in Korea. Sŏ’s prose works are concise and diverse and offer a glimpse at an author who thwarts stereotyping; an introduction and annotations provide further context. The lengthy endnotes that accompany each text make this a useful handbook for anybody interested in Chosŏn Korea and Confucianism, from students in East Asian and Korean studies to specialists in literary Chinese (hanmun) or East Asian intellectual history.