Korea

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, January 2017; written by Lisa Pearson.

Our Outreach librarian, George Pasley, had the opportunity to travel to South Korea last fall in his capacity as a Presbyterian minister. This Wednesday evening at 6 pm he will be presenting a slide show of his visit and talking about his experiences. If you would like to supplement the information he will be providing in his talk, or if you are unable to make the slide show but you are interested in the subject, we have a variety of materials here at the library to get you familiar with Korean history and culture.

“Cook Korean! : a comic book with recipes”, by Robin Ha, is a fun blend of graphic novel and cookbook. Ha offers a nice mixture of traditional dishes with the kind of modern cuisine that hip young Koreans would make at home, such as fried rice omelets and Korean tacos. Cocktails, comfort foods, Korean tapas (Anju) are also presented here, including an interesting recipe for Pine Nut Porridge. She begins the cookbook with an overview of Korean cooking techniques, and the place food holds in Korean culture. Since she uses a comic book format, you have to really pay attention when you are following the recipe, but it also makes for a fun atmosphere in the kitchen.

“The birth of Korean cool: how one nation is conquering the world through pop culture”, by Euny Hong, illustrates the many ways in which South Korea has become a major purveyor of all that is popular. She writes in an entertaining, funny style similar to Sara Vowell. Food, movies, cell phones and video games are all examined here, and she has many interviews with the movers and shakers in Korean pop culture. If you know what the term “K-pop” means, you will be interested Hong’s overview of the Korean music machine that brought us Psy and Gangnam Style.

And if you don’t know what K-pop is, you can get a taste by checking out some of our Korean pop music albums. We have a selection of both boy-bands and girl-bands, with monikers such as Royal Pirates, Super Junior M, SHINee, and BTS. The book “K-pop: Korea’s musical explosion”, by Stuart Kallen, covers the bands, songs, and styles associated with this musical genre. Although it is written for tweens, the information is helpful for adults who don’t want to look completely clueless when their daughters swoon over Zico, Crush & Dean.

For a look at more traditional Korean culture, we have a beautiful book that was donated to the library by the Korean Tourism Organization. “Korean Cultural Insights” is only 130 pages long, but the photos are lovely and it is a very thorough overview of the history, arts, and religions of Korea. This guide also includes chapters on gardens, dress, dance and the Demilitarized Zone. The part I found most interesting (as someone of Irish descent), was the chapter on dolmen sites in Gochang, Hwasun, and Ganghwa. These precisely-balanced Bronze Age slabs look exactly like the ones I saw in County Clare, and they have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

You can get a literary feel for Korea with “I'll be right there”, a novel by Kyŏng-suk Sin. This book was originally published in Korea in 2010 and was translated by Sora Kim-Russell in 2013. It follows the life of a young Korean college student during the political upheavels of the 1980’s, and her emotional ties to her mother and European literature. Shin is an award-winning author and one of the most popular novelists in South Korea.

We encourage everyone to come to the library Tuesday at 5 pm to meet the new Library Director, Pat Tully. We will be holding this informal Open House in the craft room, and refreshments will be served. Please stop by and welcome Pat to Ketchikan!