The Confucian gentleman scholars of the Choson dynasty 13921910 oftenpublished short anecdotes exemplifying their values and aesthetic concerns. Inmodern Seoul ... » 

The Confucian gentleman scholars of the Choson dynasty 13921910 oftenpublished short anecdotes exemplifying their values and aesthetic concerns. Inmodern Seoul one scholar in particular would excel at adapting this style to acontemporary readership Yi Taejun.Yi Taejun was a prolific and influentialwriter of colonial Korea and an acknowledged master of the short story andessay. He also wrote numerous novels and was an influential editor of culturalnews. Born in northern Korea in 1904 Yi Taejun settled in Seoul after arestless youth that included several years of study in Japan. In 1946 he movedto Sovietoccupied northern Korea but by 1956 a purge of southern communistsforced him into exile. His subsequent whereabouts cannot be confirmed thoughrumors claim Yi returned to Pyongyang only to be exiled once more. It isbelieved Yi Taejun passed away between 1960 and 1980 but his works were notmade available until 1988 when South Korean censorship laws concerning authorswho had sided with the north were eased. The essays in this collection reflectYis distinct voice and lyrical expression revealing thoughts on a variety ofsubjects from gardens to immigrant villages in Manchuria from antiques tocolonial assimilation and from fishing to the recovery of Koreas past. Yilaments the passing of tradition with keen sensibility yet at the same timecelebrates human perseverance in the face of loss and change. Most importanthis essays recount the authors attempt to reexperience the past and keep italive against absorption into the Japanese nation. Janet Poole faithfullyreproduces Yis complex craft retaining his idiosyncratic tone and narrative.A brilliant introduction to a remarkable prose stylist Eastern Sentimentseloquently complicates the historical political and aesthetic concerns ofOrientalism. «