Breaking Boundaries in Literature : The Nobel Prize and Korea’s Untold Stories

Breaking Boundaries in Literature : The Nobel Prize and Korea’s Untold Stories

Author: Yeong Hwan Choi

Publisher: 최영환

Published: 2024-10-21

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13:

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"Breaking Boundaries in Literature: The Nobel Prize and Korea's Untold Stories" is a journey that transcends the familiar boundaries of literary critique. In this bold narrative, I delve into the heart of a question that has long troubled me: why does a prestigious award like the Nobel Prize often recognize works that fail to capture the full spectrum of the human experience, let alone the complex cultural sentiments of nations like Korea? At first glance, it may seem as though this is a book about literary criticism—a questioning of how one-sided perspectives come to dominate global recognition. But at its core, this work is much more than a critique of literary bias. It is an exploration of the multiverse itself, a challenge to the idea that the Nobel Prize, or any human-made institution, can truly grasp the depth of experience that exists beyond anthropocentric narratives. In a world defined by quantum uncertainty and the principles of relativity, why do we still cling to the notion that a singular "truth" or "universal" story can represent all of us? I ask this as someone who has spent years observing the increasing polarization in literature—where binary thinking, political ideologies, and human-centered concerns dominate. But the natural world, the cosmos in which we exist, operates on principles far beyond our limited comprehension. Could it be that in seeking to capture a singular "universal human experience," we are ignoring the more profound and chaotic truths that surround us? As you read this book, I invite you to consider a new perspective: one where the significance of a literary work is not measured by its political or social resonance, but by its ability to reflect the chaos, the order, and the vastness of the natural world. The Nobel Prize, once a symbol of human accomplishment, may have lost its way by focusing too narrowly on human ideologies. In doing so, it misses the greater, more profound narrative that unfolds in the universe—one that includes but is not confined to the human condition. Ultimately, "Breaking Boundaries in Literature" asks more questions than it answers, and that is precisely the point. The story of Korea—its division, its pain, its resilience—is not one that can be told from a single perspective, nor can it be understood within the limits of binary thinking. It is, in fact, a story that belongs to the cosmos, to the chaotic interplay of forces that shape not just human lives, but the very fabric of reality itself.


Breaking Boundaries in Literature : The Nobel Prize and Korea's Untold Stories

Breaking Boundaries in Literature : The Nobel Prize and Korea's Untold Stories

Author: Yeong Hwan Choi

Publisher: epubli

Published: 2024-10-21

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 3818700559

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"Breaking Boundaries in Literature: The Nobel Prize and Korea's Untold Stories" is a journey that transcends the familiar boundaries of literary critique. In this bold narrative, I delve into the heart of a question that has long troubled me: why does a prestigious award like the Nobel Prize often recognize works that fail to capture the full spectrum of the human experience, let alone the complex cultural sentiments of nations like Korea? At first glance, it may seem as though this is a book about literary criticism—a questioning of how one-sided perspectives come to dominate global recognition. But at its core, this work is much more than a critique of literary bias. It is an exploration of the multiverse itself, a challenge to the idea that the Nobel Prize, or any human-made institution, can truly grasp the depth of experience that exists beyond anthropocentric narratives. In a world defined by quantum uncertainty and the principles of relativity, why do we still cling to the notion that a singular "truth" or "universal" story can represent all of us? I ask this as someone who has spent years observing the increasing polarization in literature—where binary thinking, political ideologies, and human-centered concerns dominate. But the natural world, the cosmos in which we exist, operates on principles far beyond our limited comprehension. Could it be that in seeking to capture a singular "universal human experience," we are ignoring the more profound and chaotic truths that surround us?


The Interrogation Rooms of the Korean War

The Interrogation Rooms of the Korean War

Author: Monica Kim

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-11-03

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13: 069121042X

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Traditional histories of the Korean War have long focused on violations of the thirty-eighth parallel, the line drawn by American and Soviet officials in 1945 dividing the Korean peninsula. But The interrogation rooms of the Korean War presents an entirely new narrative, shifting the perspective from the boundaries of the battlefield to inside the interrogation room. Upending conventional notions of what we think of as geographies of military conflict, Monica Kim demonstrates how the Korean War evolved from a fight over territory to one over human interiority and the individual human subject, forging the template for the U.S. wars of intervention that would predominate during the latter half of the twentieth century and beyond. Kim looks at how, during the armistice negotiations, the United States and their allies proposed a new kind of interrogation room: one in which POWs could exercise their "free will" and choose which country they would go to after the ceasefire. The global controversy that erupted exposed how interrogation rooms had become a flashpoint for the struggles between the ambitions of empire and the demands for decolonization, as the aim of interrogation was to produce subjects who attested to a nation's right to govern. The complex web of interrogators and prisoners -- Japanese-American interrogators, Indian military personnel, Korean POWs and interrogators, and American POWs -- that Kim uncovers contradicts the simple story in U.S. popular memory of "brainwashing" during the Korean War


Beasts of a Little Land

Beasts of a Little Land

Author: Juhea Kim

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-12-07

Total Pages: 406

ISBN-13: 0861543238

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'Beasts of a Little Land is a stunning achievement’ TLS 'Spectacular' Lisa See, author of The Island of Sea Women 'I loved it' Brandon Hobson, author of The Removed 'Unforgettable' Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, author of The Mountains Sing An epic story of love and war, set during the turbulent decades of Korea's fight for independence It is 1917, and Korea is under Japanese occupation; the country is yet to be divided into north and south. With the threat of famine looming, a young girl named Jade is sold by her family to Miss Silver's courtesan school in cosmopolitan Pyongyang, an act of desperation that will cement her place in the lowest social class. But the city's days as a haven are numbered. Jade flees to Seoul where she forms a deep friendship with an orphan boy called JungHo, who scrapes together a living begging on the streets. As Jade becomes a sought-after performer with unexpected romantic prospects, JungHo is swept up in the revolutionary fight for independence. Soon, Jade must decide between following her own ambitions or risking everyone for the one she loves. From the perfumed chambers of the courtesan school to the glamorous cafés of a modernising Seoul, the unforgettable characters of Beasts of a Little Land unveil a world where friends become enemies and enemies become saviours, where heroes are persecuted and beasts take many shapes.


The White Book

The White Book

Author: Han Kang

Publisher: Hogarth

Published: 2019-02-19

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 0525573062

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FROM HAN KANG, WINNER OF THE 2024 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE “[Han Kang writes in] intense poetic prose that . . . exposes the fragility of human life.”—from the Nobel Prize citation SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • A “formally daring, emotionally devastating, and deeply political” (The New York Times Book Review) exploration of personal grief through the prism of the color white, from the internationally bestselling author of The Vegetarian “Stunningly beautiful writing . . . delicate and gorgeous . . . one of the smartest reflections on what it means to remember those we’ve lost.”—NPR While on a writer’s residency, a nameless narrator focuses on the color white to creatively channel her inner pain. Through lyrical, interconnected stories, she grapples with the tragedy that has haunted her family, attempting to make sense of her older sister’s death using the color white. From trying to imagine her mother’s first time producing breast milk to watching the snow fall and meditating on the impermanence of life, she weaves a poignant, heartfelt story of the omnipresence of grief and the ways we perceive the world around us. In captivating, starkly beautiful language, The White Book offers a multilayered exploration of color and its absence, of the tenacity and fragility of the human spirit, and of our attempts to graft new life from the ashes of destruction.


Your Republic Is Calling You

Your Republic Is Calling You

Author: Young-ha Kim

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2010-09-28

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 0547546971

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This psychological thriller of a North Korean spy living in Seoul is “perhaps the most intriguing and accomplished Korean fiction yet to appear in English” (Kirkus). Foreign film importer Kim Ki-Yong is a family man with a wife and daughter. Living a prosperous life in Seoul, South Korea, he’s an aficionado of Heineken, soccer, and sushi. But he is also a North Korean spy who has been living among his enemies for twenty-one years. Then, after more than a decade of silence from the home office, he receives a mysterious email stating that he has one day to return to headquarters. But is the message really from Pyongyang—or has he been discovered? And if the message is real, is he being called home to receive new orders or to be executed for a lack of diligence? Spanning the course of a single day, Your Republic Is Calling You delves deep into a gripping family secret to ask whether we ever truly know the people we love. Mining the political and cultural transformations of South Korea since the 1980s, author Young-ha Kim confronts moral questions on small and large scales. “This intense novel’s bristling plot—confined to the events of a single day—ironically echoes that of Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses.”—Kirkus


The Vegetarian

The Vegetarian

Author: Han Kang

Publisher: Hogarth

Published: 2016-02-02

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0553448196

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FROM HAN KANG, WINNER OF THE 2024 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE “[Han Kang writes in] intense poetic prose that . . . exposes the fragility of human life.”—from the Nobel Prize citation WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE • “Kang viscerally explores the limits of what a human brain and body can endure, and the strange beauty that can be found in even the most extreme forms of renunciation.”—Entertainment Weekly One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century “Ferocious.”—The New York Times Book Review (Ten Best Books of the Year) “Both terrifying and terrific.”—Lauren Groff “Provocative [and] shocking.”—The Washington Post Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, her brother-in-law and sister each fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively defends the choice that’s become sacred to her. Soon their attempts turn desperate, subjecting first her mind, and then her body, to ever more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest to her, but also from herself. Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her. A Best Book of the Year: BuzzFeed, Entertainment Weekly, Wall Street Journal, Time, Elle, The Economist, HuffPost, Slate, Bustle, The St. Louis Dispatch, Electric Literature, Publishers Weekly


Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go

Author: Kazuo Ishiguro

Publisher: Vintage Canada

Published: 2009-03-19

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0307371336

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NOBEL PRIZE WINNER • The moving, suspenseful, beautifully atmospheric modern classic from the acclaimed author of The Remains of the Day and Klara and the Sun—“a Gothic tour de force" (The New York Times) with an extraordinary twist. “Brilliantly executed.” —Margaret Atwood “A page-turner and a heartbreaker.” —TIME “Masterly.” —Sunday Times As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special—and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together.


I Can Write the World

I Can Write the World

Author: Joshunda Sanders

Publisher: Six Foot Press

Published: 2020-06-15

Total Pages: 39

ISBN-13: 164442035X

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"Lovely and timely. So glad Joshunda is telling our stories." - Jacqueline Woodson Eight-year-old Ava Murray wants to know why there’s a difference between the warm, friendly Bronx neighborhood filled with music and art in which she lives and the Bronx she sees in news stories on TV and on the Internet. When her mother explains that the power of stories lies in the hands of those who write them, Ava decides to become a journalist. I Can Write the World follows Ava as she explores her vibrant South Bronx neighborhood - buildings whose walls boast gorgeous murals of historical figures as well as intricate, colorful street art, the dozens of different languages and dialects coming from the mouths of passersby, the many types of music coming out of neighbors’ windows and passing cars. In reporting how the music and art and culture of her neighborhood reflect the diversity of the people of New York City, Ava shows the world as she sees it, revealing to children the power of their own voice.


How We Show Up

How We Show Up

Author: Mia Birdsong

Publisher: Hachette Go

Published: 2020-06-02

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 158005806X

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An Invitation to Community and Models for Connection After almost every presentation activist and writer Mia Birdsong gives to executives, think tanks, and policy makers, one of those leaders quietly confesses how much they long for the profound community she describes. They have family, friends, and colleagues, yet they still feel like they're standing alone. They're "winning" at the American Dream, but they're lonely, disconnected, and unsatisfied. It seems counterintuitive that living the "good life"--the well-paying job, the nuclear family, the upward mobility--can make us feel isolated and unhappy. But in a divided America, where only a quarter of us know our neighbors and everyone is either a winner or a loser, we've forgotten the key element that helped us make progress in the first place: community. In this provocative, groundbreaking work, Mia Birdsong shows that what separates us isn't only the ever-present injustices built around race, class, gender, values, and beliefs, but also our denial of our interdependence and need for belonging. In response to the fear and discomfort we feel, we've built walls, and instead of leaning on each other, we find ourselves leaning on concrete. Through research, interviews, and stories of lived experience, How We Show Up returns us to our inherent connectedness where we find strength, safety, and support in vulnerability and generosity, in asking for help, and in being accountable. Showing up--literally and figuratively--points us toward the promise of our collective vitality and leads us to the liberated well-being we all want.