A biography and evaluation of the legacy of Go-un Choi Chi-won, one of Korea's most interesting and iconic historical figures. He is considered a hero of traditional Korean Daoist, Buddhist and Confucian culture. Following a remarkably successful career a
This book contains the poems in classical Chinese composed by Yi Byŏng-ho (1870‒1943), born toward the end of the Chosŏn Dynasty, the last monarchy in Korea, to live through the period of privation of her national sovereignty. Yi Byŏng-ho composed poems that reveal the undying spirit of poesy reasserting the beauty of life, despite the spiritual torpor that inevitably devastated the life of the whole nation during the darkest age in all Korean history. One of the last Korean poets who composed in classical Chinese before modern Korean poetry started resorting to the vernacular and the national orthography, han-gŭl, Yi Byŏng-ho was a poet who excelled in poetic composition in classical Chinese, not only in strict conformity to the classical Chinese poetic tradition, but with a strong touch of uniquely Korean sentiments. Sung-Il Lee, a scholar of English literature, has rendered his grandfather's poems in classical Chinese into English. Though his field of study is far from the literary domain the original works belong to, he has overcome the linguistic chasm lying between classical Chinese and English, while attaining spiritual reunion with his grandfather.
The Tale of Tea presents a comprehensive history of tea from prehistoric times to the present day in a single volume, covering the fascinating social history of tea and the origins, botany and biochemistry of this singularly important cultigen.
This is a comprehensive narrative history of Korean literature. It provides a wealth of information for scholars, students and lovers of literature. Combining both history and criticism the study reflects the latest scholarship and offers a systematic account of the development of all genres. Consisting of twenty-five chapters, it covers twentieth-century poetry, fiction by women and the literature of North Korea. This is a major contribution to the field and a study that will stand for many years as the primary resource for studying Korean literature.
The era from 1400 to 1800 saw intense biological, commercial, and cultural exchanges, and the creation of global connections on an unprecedented scale. Divided into two books, Volume 6 of the Cambridge World History series considers these critical transformations. The first book examines the material and political foundations of the era, including global considerations of the environment, disease, technology, and cities, along with regional studies of empires in the eastern and western hemispheres, crossroads areas such as the Indian Ocean, Central Asia, and the Caribbean, and sites of competition and conflict, including Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean. The second book focuses on patterns of change, examining the expansion of Christianity and Islam, migrations, warfare, and other topics on a global scale, and offering insightful detailed analyses of the Columbian exchange, slavery, silver, trade, entrepreneurs, Asian religions, legal encounters, plantation economies, early industrialism, and the writing of history.