/lit/ - Literature

>>13926035

>>13926679
making korean friends is probably the best way to get started. you can go at your own pace and a friend will be patient if you need time to learn the pronunciation.

i also built a lot of vocabulary just from copying dictionaries. i started with an essential dict of 1,000 words; then went to 5,000; then went to 20,000 which i'm working on at present

i also tried to memorize a little poetry just because it is beautiful and makes me feel like i'm experiencing the culture, not just cramming words in.

i also took some courses at the local school of continuing education. but the teacher was really lazy and just showed us Korean TV-shows all day, then took us out for Korean BBQ

>>13926715
I really liked The White Book as well. I have copies of Human Acts and The Vegetarian but i haven't finished them yet.

I think my overall favorite K-novel so far is Yi Kwangsu's The Soil, which is about an educated young teacher trying to improve the lives of villages in his hometown, while negotiating love and marriage and social development under Japanese occupation.

I also enjoyed Jang Jungil's When Adam Opens His Eyes. Jang is a little similar to Houellebecq in that he mixes observations on society and technology with pornographic humor. It's not exactly fine art but the intellectual and existential portraiture of Korean youth is enjoyable. Jang writes well about sex too; his descriptions are memorable and erotic but ultimately high-minded, beautiful rather than pornographic.

Have you ever read Park Wanseo? (Or Park Wansuh as it's sometimes written). Her memoir Who Ate All the Shinga is a touching depiction of a Korean childhood. And her novella That Girl's House is absolutely exquisite tragedy - it changed the way I think about Korean history.

Shin Kyungsook / Kyungsook Shin is best known for Please Take Care of Mom is also author of great coming of age novel about love and youth, I'll Be Right There. The coverage of life in a certain era, counterpoised to individual aspirations, to me felt redolent of Flaubert's Sentimental Education.

My favorite poets in no particular order are Kim Chunsu; Ko Un; Ku Sang; Seo Cheongju; An Dohyon; and Manhae Han Yongun.

I also like Korean cinema a lot. Both the popular stuff and the art-films have a lot to offer. Favorite of all films are Take Care of My Cat, and Lifting King Kong.

I wish I still lived in Korea. Due to mental health issues I lost my dream job (teaching at an elite, selective high school). I hope to do something for the Koreans nonetheless, in terms of promoting their culture or just participating in cultural life hee that turns people on to a civilization that gives a lot to those who show even a casual interest.

>>13926035
Yeah, I am a K-pop fan. I like Utada Hikaru and Izumi Sakai, but J-pop isn't as dynamic r sophisticated as a lot of current K-pop.

If only you knew how different I am from the stereotypical Koreaboo.