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.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
(2)
(1)
