Literary | Arts | Table

The Red Room: Stories of Trauma in Contemporary Korea

Details: Category: Literary

red_room_icon

Join The Korea Society for a candle-lit evening of literary reflections on the persistence of trauma in everyday life. Translators Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton read from The Red Room, with highlights from Pak Wan-So’s “In the Realm of the Buddha,” O Chong-hui’s “Spirit on the Wind,” and Im Ch’or-u’s “The Red Room.” A literary bookend to The Korean War Today conference, this Book Cafe takes place in The Korea Society Gallery. As space is limited, advance registration is required.

Monday, September 13
6PM Reading and Light Refreshments

Shamans, Nostalgias and the IMF: South Korean Popular Religion in Motion

Details: Category: Literary

Among the space-age cityscapes of Korea's deeply wired and trend-setting population centers, Koreans maintain the vibrant Shamanic traditions of their ancestors according to anthropologist Laurel Kendall. In her latest book, Shamans, Nostalgias and the IMF: South Korean Popular Religion in Motion (University of Hawai'i Press), Kendall, chair of the Anthropology Division at the American Museum of Natural History, argues that Korean Shamanism remains a vital force in Korean spiritual life, and offers lively accounts of how ancient Shamanic traditions help Korean professionals navigate the anxieties of modern life.

Thursday, May 6, 2010
5:45 PM Check-in
6:00 PM Presentation

Book Cafe and SPECIAL RECEPTION: The Old Garden

Details: Category: Literary

2009_10_29_Hwang_Sok_yong_bookcover On October 29, 2009 The Korea Society held a special reception with prize-winning author Hwang Sok-yong to mark the release of his major novel, The Old Garden, in English translation. During the reception, Mr. Hwang discussed the literary life and his new book with Theodore Hughes, Assistant Professor of Modern Korean Literature, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University.

Hwang Sok-yong is one of Korea’s most revered novelists, and The Old Garden, published in translation by Seven Stories Press, is his masterwork. A sweeping history of modern Korea, The Old Garden was published in anticipation of the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War. In it, Hwang expresses timeless themes—the endurance of love and the price of commitment to a cause—while depicting a singular generation that sacrificed youth, liberty, and often life, for the dream of a better tomorrow.

“Hwang Sok-yong is undoubtedly the most powerful voice of the novel in East Asia.” - Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe

Thursday, October 29, 2009
6:30 PM-7:00 PM ♦ Reception
7:00 PM-8:30 PM ♦ Reading, Q&A & Reception

Book Café - Studies in Colonialism and Popular Memory: The Imperial Cruise

Details: Category: Literary

Author James Bradley's new book The Imperial Cruise weighs in on the debate surrounding the Taft-Katsura Agreement of 1905, widely seen as entree for Japan's colonial occupation of Korea. In the summer of 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt dispatched Secretary of War William Howard Taft across the Pacific, where Taft negotiated a series of secret agreements laying the groundwork for the U.S. Pacific engagement. Bradley marshals evidence that could "reshape conventional wisdom about Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency," according to the New York Times, America's role at the time and Korean popular memory.

2010_03_10_imperial_cruise2_by_kelly_campbell

photo by Kelly Campbell

Wednesday, March 10, 2010
6:30pm Reception
7:00pm Reading

Book Cafe: Ch'oe Yun's "There a Petal Silently Falls"

Details: Category: Literary

Please join us for a book launch reception and discussion on There a Petal Silently Falls and meet prize-winning Korean author Ch’oe Yun as she explores history, trauma, and the vagaries of remembrance in her collection of three stories. Elegantly crafted and quietly moving, Ch’oe's work portrays the psychological and spiritual reality of contemporary Korea against a backdrop of past state-sanctioned violence, hope for reconciliation, rampant consumerism and academic rivalries.with