Blog Posts by "eastern writer"

Two posts I see by a new to me, blogger named "eastern writer"..

1) "The Character of Korean Literature" (from www.asianinfo.org)
2) "Private Life of a Nation by Lee Eung-joon" (from koreatimes)

The blogger links them, does not write them

First one ok, second one "nice-uh!"

"The Character of Korean Literature"

I dunno.. it seems to try to cover too much thought and history in too few thoughts and words.

Perhaps another way to think about it is as a Sijo....

Still, it attempts to include influences of religions, countries, and different alphabets, so it is at least worth a look.

I guess once I get past the fact that Shamanism is glossed over in this passage:

Korea's classical literature developed against the backdrop of traditional folk beliefs of the Korean people; it was also influenced by Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Among these, Buddhist influence held the greatest sway, followed by enormous influences from Confucianism - especially Song Confucianism - during the Choson period.

I actually like it?

I'm a fickle bitch

Private Life of a Nation by Lee Eung-joon

A nice review of a book I will have to chase down and read.

And Now For Something Completely Different: Expat Community

Saturday was the first 2S2 (Second Saturday, 2:00PM) meetup near Anguk Station. For those who don't know, this is an attempt to build to build some community and camaraderie between expats and, we hope, to create a stronger support system for incoming English teachers and professors. For more information you can contact Rob at his blog, Roboseyo. Here's what it looked like at one point:

left to right: Shannon Heit, Roboseyo, Chris Backe, Jo, Joy Iris-Wilbanks, Hayley who came in from Jeollanamdo, Yvonne from Daejon (Not pictured: Joe McPherson, Dan Gray)

This is also associated with a website, the Chatjip expat site which I urge all expats to check out and join. This site has information about 2S2 and is working to create the best online events calendar in Korea for English speakers. It also aggregates headlines and blog posts.

We were extremely lucky to have Shannon Heit, from the Seoul Global Center, attend the meeting and talk to us about what the Global Center offers expats and what she hopes to do in the future. In the past, the Center has focused on business initiatives, but now it is branching out in an effort to support all expatriates. In addition, Shannon hopes to expand the Center's support impact on the web. Shannon can be reached by email at shannon.sgc@gmail.com.

Everyone had a great time, and we will do it all again in a month.

Stay tuned...

Anyone in New Zealand: KIM SEON WU COMES TO WELLINGTON AS WRITER IN RESIDENCE

From Beattie's Book Blog

The New Zealand Centre for Literary Translation at Victoria University, Wellington, will host its first writer in residence in September and October this year.
It is noted Korean poet and essayist Kim Seon Wu. Ms. Kim is being sponsored by the Korean Literature Translation Institute, a Korean government organization designed to introduce Korean literature to the world.

Ms. Kim's books of poetry include If My Tongue Refuses to Stay Locked Inside My Mouth (2000), I Fall Asleep Under the Peach Blossoms (2003) and Who Sleeps Inside Me (2007).
She has also written several collections of essays and a book of fables for adults entitled Princess Bari (2003). She has received the Contemporary Literature Prize and the Chun Sang-byung Poetry Prize.
In her works Ms. Kim treats themes of the karmic chain of being in Asian philosophy and the dignity of life. Her compassionate, world-embracing and ecologically aware viewpoint has made her representative of a new generation of feminist poets in Korea.

For further information, please contact Stephen Epstein (stephen.epstein@vuw.ac.nz).

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words...

I'm doing the rare (first time, actually) cross post with info from my scraps blog.

And it has nothing to do with literature, but it is an amazing photo-essay on Daejeon (Then "Taejeon") after the Civil War.

From here on out is a duped post.....
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Wow


Yvonne, the rare blogger at bulgogi (and, of course, my fiancee) found a slide-show of pictures of Daejeon in 1951, after the Civil War had left town. They are farking amazing pictures if you have ever been to modern Daejeon.



Boggling..



I'm not sure war left Dresden this flat?