Understanding Korean Literature - New Studies in Asian Culture | Academic Research & Asian Studies Books | Perfect for Students & Scholars of East Asian Culture

While I found 'Understanding Korean Literature' to be immensely valuable to my studies, I think most readers would prefer A History of Korean Literature by Peter H. Lee. Where Lee's book is geared to English speakers and attempts to provide the necessary background information to enhance understanding and limits literary theory, Kim Hunggyu's book was written for Korean speakers and contains a fair amount of theory and literary criticism which will likely be of limited interest to most readers.Additionally, 'A History of Korean Literature' is more heavily weighted towards the twentieth century as "Korean literature in the twentieth century exceeds in volume all the Korean literature in the vernacular since the invention of the Korean alphabet...and...the demand of students. Most graduate students are especially interested in twentieth-century literature." It also includes two sections on women writers and one on North Korean Literature which is not really addressed in 'Understanding Korean Literature'.That being said, I actually believe 'Understanding Korean Literature' is a great companion to 'A History of Korean Literature' on which Kim Hunggyu helped collaborate and contributed five of the twenty-five sections.As translator, Robert J. Fouser, notes in his preface:"[Understanding Korean Literature] appeals...to general readers because it covers areas typically ignored in such introductory studies: Korean literary criticism and the history of printing and the transmission of literary works in the nation. As a scholar of Korean traditional poetry, Professor Kim has also given a great deal of attention to genres of Korean literature that are often mentioned only in passing."I also appreciated Fouser's use of the modified form of McCune-Reischauer system (i.e. "shilhak" in place of "sirhak"), and the inclusion of romanized Korean poetry (along with the translation) in some instances to illustrate the rhythm of the original poem as well as keeping the original Korean word(s) when translation may impact the meaning. I would prefer to work a little bit than have it read like Old English or its equivalent.All in all, a rewarding read.