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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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Gimbap Lover
Joined: 06 Mar 2011
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 Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Simon Winchester's "Korea, A Walk Through the Land of Miracles" is a good read too. He walked from Busan, went through Jeju and back up to the border. His book is truthful and funny at times as well. |
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brento1138
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
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| Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:37 pm Post subject: |
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| MacLean wrote: |
| I can't remember the name of the book. It was written by a Dutch merchant whose ship crashed on Korea's shores in the 1600s. He managed to escape back to the Netherlands, and wrote a book about his experiences in Korea. It's even available on the internet, I just can't recall the fella's name or the title of the book. It's a great read, because many of the things he noted about Korean society 350 years ago are still apparent today. The apple hasn't fallen very far from the tree. |
Hey, that book sounds really cool. If anyone knows the name, I am highly interested.
Also, there is a book I totally forgot about. It was written in the 1800s by a British explorer. He dedicated it to the Queen of England and basically describes every facet of Korea and Korean culture in 1890. It's called "Corea or Cho-sen" and you can start reading it at the link below. Fantastic read:
http://wiki.galbijim.com/Corea_or_Cho-sen
Here's a sample of what you're missing if you don't read it!!
Oh his journey into Seoul:
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he river Han makes a most wonderful detour between its estuary and this point. As the river was left behind, more habitations in the shape of miserable and filthy mud-huts, with thatched roofs, became visible; shops of eatables and native low drinking places following one another in continuation; and crowds of ponies, people, and oxen showed that the capital was now being fast neared; and sure enough, after winding along the dirty, narrow road, lined by the still dirtier mud huts for nearly the whole of the distance between Mafu, the place where the Han river was ferried, and here, a distance of about three miles, I found myself at last in front of the West Gate of the walled city of Seoul.
I could hear quite plainly in the distance, from the centre of the town, the slow sound of a bell; and men, women and children, on foot or riding, were scrambling through the gate in both directions. As I stopped for a moment to gaze upon the excited crowd, it suddenly flashed across my mind that I had been told at Chemulpo, that to the mournful sound of what is called the "Big bell" the heavy wooden gates lined with iron bars were closed, and that no one was thereafter allowed to enter or go out of the town. The sun was just casting his last glorious rays on the horizon, and the excitement grew greater as the strokes of the bell became fainter and fainter, and with the mad crowd of men and beasts mixed together upon it, the road might be compared with the tide entering the mouth of a running river. I threw myself into the thick of the in-going flow, and with my feet trampled upon by passing ponies; now knocking against a human being, now face to face with a bull, I finally managed to get inside. Well do I remember the hoarse voices of the gate-keepers, as they shouted out that time was up, and hurried the weary travellers within the precincts of the royal city; well also do I recollect, as I stood watching their doings from the inside, how they pushed back and ill-treated, with words and kicks, the last people who passed through, and then, out of patience, revolved the heavy gates on their huge and rusty hinges, finally closing the city until sunrise next day. Shouts of people, just too late, on the other side, begging to be let in, remained unacknowledged, and the enormous padlocks and bolts having been thoroughly fastened, Seoul was severed from the outer world till the following morning. Adjoining the gate stood the gatekeeper's house, and in front of the door of this, a rack with a few rusty and obsolete spears standing in a row, was left to take care of the town and its inhabitants, while the guardians, having finished the work of the day, retreated to the warm room inside to resume the game or gambling which the setting sun had interrupted, and which had occupied their day. With the setting of the sun every noise ceased. Every good citizen retired to his home, and I, too, therefore, deemed it advisable to follow suit.
There are no hotels in Seoul, with the exception of the very dirty Corean inns; but I was fortunate enough to meet at Chemulpo a Russian gentleman who, with his family, lived in Seoul, where he was employed as architect to His Majesty the King of Corea, and he most politely invited me to stay at his house for a few days; and it is to his kind hospitality, therefore, that I owe the fact that my first few nights at Seoul were spent comfortably and my days were well employed, my peregrinations round the town being also conducted under his guidance.
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Gimbap Lover
Joined: 06 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Hey brento, thanks for that reference. That does indeed seem like an interesting read. |
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MacLean
Joined: 14 Feb 2011
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| Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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Okay, I looked it up. The guy's name was Henrik Hamel. He and 30 other Dutch sailors got shipwrecked in Korea in the 1650s. They were forbidden to leave Korea (visa violations, I guess) but after 13 years managed to escape to Japan. Back home in Holland he penned his memoirs from journals he had kept. I'm looking for them on the net. Soon as I find them I'll post it.
Brento, thanks for the link to the other book. I'll be certain to give it a read.
Last edited by MacLean on Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:48 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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geldedgoat
Joined: 05 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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| I haven't gotten around to reading Myers' The Cleanest Race yet, but after watching his presentation a few months back, I've really been looking forward to it. If you're interested, you should check it out. It sounds like an incredibly fascinating read. |
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sharkey
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:44 pm Post subject: |
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| The Coldest Winter - David Halberstam - a good book about the Korean War |
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MacLean
Joined: 14 Feb 2011
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| Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Gimbap Lover wrote: |
| Simon Winchester's "Korea, A Walk Through the Land of Miracles" is a good read too. He walked from Busan, went through Jeju and back up to the border. His book is truthful and funny at times as well. |
Ive seen that book many times, and considered picking it up, but the title put me off. Anything about Korea that has "land of miracles" in its title is a red flag to me. I expect that every page is going to result in many of these ( ) from the reader. But if it's an honest account - of both the good and the not so good - maybe I'll pick it up. |
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toby99
Joined: 28 Aug 2009
Location: Dong-Incheon-by-the-sea, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 10:37 pm Post subject: |
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Korea's Place in the Sun
by UChicago Professor Bruce Cummings |
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Cedar
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
Location: In front of my computer, again.
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| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 1:05 am Post subject: |
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Cumings has one m (yep, it's unusual to spell that way, always trips me up)
Henrik Hamel's journal has been translated multiple times, the most recent English language version (sorry, too lazy to look up the name) that came out in around 2007 is far superior to the previous one. Speaking as someone who had to read both. |
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Squire
Joined: 26 Sep 2010
Location: Jeollanam-do
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| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 1:47 am Post subject: |
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| Charriere wrote: |
Also, if you have any interest in reading about the lives of North Koreans you should definitely try this one;
Nothing to envy - Barbara Demick
It was published last year and is a great read! I realise you asked specifically about the South, just thought i'd give it a mention. |
Excellent book! I read this and The Koreans (the book below) before I came here. Nothing to Envy was both depressing and uplifting at the same time, but overall a brilliant book. Very informative without diverging too much from the main characters stories. Reading about people's day to day lives, their escape stories and their impressions of the outside world when they got out was very eye opening. I'd recommend this book to anyone, not just someone planning to live here
| MacLean wrote: |
| "The Koreans" by Michael Breen. What I liked about it is that he made no attempt to cover over Korea's many deeply ingrained flaws. He refers to attending the 1988 olympics in Seoul as a scary thing. He compares it to the 1933 olympics in Hitler's Germany, given the organizers' obsession with 'race'. |
This was the other book I read, it was also excellent. A very balanced account, and so informative I had a load of good stories to pass onto people when I'd finished it. I got the impression the writer really knows Korean people, politics and history. Writing about a country must be quite a monumental task but it was very well done. A good balance of historical and contemporary life in Korea. If anyone wants to know how Korea went from a poor country (equivolent to SE Asian countries) to a G20 country in 50 years, this is the book to read. Very interesting from an economical point of view too.
I thought the Seoul olympics stories were hilarious! They wanted to introduce Honduras as a 'well known banana empire'  |
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Vimfuego
Joined: 10 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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| MacLean wrote: |
| Gimbap Lover wrote: |
| Simon Winchester's "Korea, A Walk Through the Land of Miracles" is a good read too. He walked from Busan, went through Jeju and back up to the border. His book is truthful and funny at times as well. |
Ive seen that book many times, and considered picking it up, but the title put me off. Anything about Korea that has "land of miracles" in its title is a red flag to me. I expect that every page is going to result in many of these () from the reader. But if it's an honest account - of both the good and the not so good - maybe I'll pick it up. |
Winchester's book is an honest account of Korea, well written and informative. Highly recommended. |
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MacLean
Joined: 14 Feb 2011
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| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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| I couldn't get into Cuming's book "Korea's place in the Sun" at all. I found it to be so unbalanced that I checked the back cover to see if it was published by Arirang TV. It gives a far too rosy picture of Korea, and all things Korean. A book I did enjoy was Troubled Tiger, about Korea's economic growth in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Interesting read. Also worth reading is Rogue Regime, a fascinating read about the realities of life in North Korea. |
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s10czar
Joined: 14 Feb 2010
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| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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come on people...
This Kind of War by T.R. Fehrenbach
...if you are a westerner in South Korea then you MUST come to understand the war and what it was all about. This book will leave you speechless. You simply will not believe the human drama...
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The company radio officer fired his rifle until it went dry, then used it as a club to beat off the Chinese swarming out of the dark. Then, as the Chinese split around him in the fire-prickled night, he crawled to his radio.
"We are overrun. We've had it. Cheerio." pg. 308
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What? You didn't know we were mostly fighting the Chinese there? Puts a lot of current events into perspective, no?
you're in the never-never land now... |
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ramyunmori
Joined: 21 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 10:45 pm Post subject: |
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I hated Winchester's book.
A good history book is Korea Old and New: A History. It's by Carter J. Eckert, Ki-Baik Lee, Young Ick Lew, Michael Robinson, Edward W. Wagner.
It has a lot of information on the history of Korea before the Choson Dynasty. Not a light read, but worth it. |
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Cedar
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
Location: In front of my computer, again.
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| Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 12:26 am Post subject: |
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Cumings book is, unapologetically, liberal. He doesn't disguise that.
The above mentioned book by Lee Kibaik et al, "Korea Old and New" is supposedly objective but in fact the authors are, for more than 3/4 of the chapters, hard-line conservative nationalist historians (esp. Lee Kibaik).
As someone who has read, studied and even written 20+ page reviews of both books, I urge you to read BOTH and then form your own opinion, or read more books that are targeted on the eras you're more interested in and then decide where Cumings or Lee et al was a little on or off the mark. |
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