An Introduction To Classical Korean Literature From Hyangga To P Ansori

This work provides an introduction to some of the most important and representative genres of classical Korean literature. Coverage includes: Samguk sagi and samguk yusa as literature; Kunmong and Unyongchon; the lyricism of Koryo songs; and the literature of Chosen Dynasty Women.

This study examines the development and characteristics of various historical and contemporary genres of Korean literature. It presents explanations on the development of Korean literacy and offers a history of literary criticism, traditional and modern, giving the discussion an historical context.

Preeminent scholar and translator David R. McCann presents an anthology of his own translations of works ranging across the major genres and authors of Korean writing--stories, legends, poems, historical vignettes, and other works--and a set of critical essays on major themes. A brief history of traditional Korean literature orients the reader to the historical context of the writings, thus bringing into focus this rich literary tradition. The anthology of translations begins with the Samguk sagi, or History of the Three Kingdoms, written in 1145, and ends with "The Story of Master Hô," written in the late 1700s. Three exploratory essays of particular subtlety and lucidity raise interpretive and comparative issues that provide a creative, sophisticated framework for approaching the selections.

This is a comprehensive narrative history of Korean literature. It provides a wealth of information for scholars, students and lovers of literature. Combining both history and criticism the study reflects the latest scholarship and offers a systematic account of the development of all genres. Consisting of twenty-five chapters, it covers twentieth-century poetry, fiction by women and the literature of North Korea. This is a major contribution to the field and a study that will stand for many years as the primary resource for studying Korean literature.

An easy to read, extensive exploration of premodern Korean literature. The work covers the beginning of Korean literature until the end of the nineteenth century and would be ideal for students in Korean or Asian literature classes.

Korean Literature Through the Korean Wave engages with the rising interest in both the Korean Wave and Korean language learning by incorporating Korean Wave cultural content, especially K-dramas, films and songs, to underline and support the teaching of Korean literature. It combines both premodern and modern texts, including poetry, novels, philosophical treatises, and even comics, to showcase the diversity of Korean literature. Particular care has been taken to include the voices of those marginalised in the often male, elite-dominated discourse on Korean literature. In particular, this book also distinguishes itself by extending the usual breadth of what is considered modern Korean literature up until the present day, including texts published as recently as 2017. Many of these texts are very relevant for recent discourse in Korean affairs, such as the obsession with physical appearance, the #MeToo movement and multiculturalism. This textbook is aimed at B1-B2 level and Intermediate-Mid students of Korean. On the one hand the textbook introduces students to seeing beyond Korean literature as a monolithic entity, giving a taste of its wonderful richness and diversity. On the other hand, it provides an entry point into discussions on Korean contemporary society, in which the text (and associated media extracts) provides the catalyst for more in-depth analysis and debate.

LITERATURE A WORLD HISTORY An exploration of the history of the world’s literatures and the many varieties of literary expression Literature: A World Historyencompasses all the world’s major literary traditions, emphasizing the interrelationship of local and national cultures over time. Spanning global literature from the beginnings of recorded history to the present day, this expansive four-volume set examines the many varieties of the world’s literatures in their social and intellectual contexts. Its four volumes are devoted to literature before 200 CE, from 200 to 1500, from 1500 to 1800, and from 1800 to 2000, with four dozen contributors providing new insights into the art of literature, and addressing the situation of literature in the world today. Organized throughout in six broad regions—Africa, the Americas, East Asia, Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, and West and Central Asia—Literature: A World History offers readers a clear and consistent treatment of diverse forms of literary expression across time and place. Throughout the text, particular emphasis is placed on literary institutions within different regional and linguistic cultures and on the relations between literature and a spectrum of social, political, and religious contexts. Features work by an international panel of leading scholars from around the globe, in Africa, the Middle East, South and East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, and the United States Provides a balanced overview of national and global literature from all major regions of the world from antiquity to the present Highlights the specificity of regional and local cultures throughout much of literary history, together with cross-cutting essays on topics such as different writing systems, court cultures, and utopias Literature: A World History is an invaluable reference work for undergraduate and graduate students as well as scholars looking for a wide-ranging overview of global literary history.

In this book, renowned Korean studies scholar Peter H. Lee casts light on important works previously undervalued or suppressed in Korean literary history. He illuminates oral-derived texts as Koryo love songs, p'ansori, and shamanist narrative songs which were composed in the mind, retained in the memory, sung to audiences, and heard but not read, as well as other texts which were written in literary Chinese, the language of the learned ruling class, a challenge even to the reader who has been raised on the Confucian and literary canons of China and Korea. To understand fully the nature of these works, one needs to understand the distinction between what were considered the primary and secondary genres in the traditional canon, the relations between literature written in literary Chinese and that penned in the vernacular, and the generic hierarchy in the official and unofficial canons. The major texts the Koreans studied after the formation of the Korean states were those of the Confucian canon (first five, then eleven, and finally thirteen texts). These texts formed the basic curriculum of education for almost nine hundred years. * The literati who constituted the dominant social class in Korea wrote almost entirely in literary Chinese, the father language, which dominated the world of letters. This class, which controlled the canon of traditional Korean literature and critical discourse, adopted as official the genres of Chinese poetry and prose. Among the works in literary Chinese examined, this book explores the foundation myths of Koguryo and Choson, which center on the hero's deeds retold and sung to music composed for the purpose. Works in the vernacular discussed in this book include Kory? love songs, which reveal oral traditional features but have survived only in written form. Lyrics were often censored by officials as dealing with "love between the sexes." They intensely affect today's listener and reader, who try to reimagine the role of a general audience assumed to have the same background and concomitant expectations as the composers. The book also illuminates the works of the shaman, who occupied the lowest social strata. Shamans had to endure suffering imposed by authority, but their faith and rites brought solace to many, powerful and powerless, rich and poor. Some extant written texts are riddled with learned diction-Sino-Korean words and technical vocabulary from Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian traditions. This study explores how the unlettered shamans of the past managed to understand these texts and commit them to memory, especially given the fact that shamans depended more on aural intake and oral output than on the eye. The Story of Traditional Korean Literature opens the window to the fusion--as opposed to the conflict--of horizons, a dialogue between past and present, which will enable readers to understand and appreciate the text's unity of meaning. The aim of crosscultural comparison and contrast is to discover differences at points of maximum resemblance. Lee's comparative style is metacritical, transnational, and intertextual, involving also social and cultural issues, and also paying careful attention to be non-Eurocentric, nonpatriarchal, and nonelitist. This book will provide critical insights into both the works and the challenges of the topics discussed. It will be an important resource for those in Asian studies and literary criticism.