Arts - Seoul - page 395

CERAMICS & POTTERY
Archaeologists have unearthed Korean pottery that dates back some 10,000 years, although
it wasn't until the early 12th century that the art form reached a peak, with skilled potters
turning out wonderful celadon pottery with a warm-green tinge. Visit the National Museum
of Korea for one of the best displays. Original celadon fetches huge sums at auctions, but
modern copies are widely available.
Sadly, after the 13th-century Mongol invasion the art was lost, and Koreans started to
produce buncheong -ware, less refined pottery decorated with simple folk designs. But it
was much admired by the Japanese, and during the Imjin War in the 1590s entire families
and villages of Korean potters were abducted and resettled in Japan to produce buncheong
for their new masters. Some are still there.
SEOUL IN LITERATURE
Seoul has always been a city of writers. Part of the Joseon-era government-service exam (gwageo) involved com-
posing verse. During the Joseon dynasty, literature meant sijo, short nature poems that were handwritten (using a
brush and ink) in Chinese characters, even after the invention of hangeul (the Korean phonetic alphabet) in the
15th century.
In the 20th century, however, there was a sharp turn away from Chinese (and Japanese) influence of any kind.
Western ideas and ideals took hold, and existentialism and other international literary trends found footing, but
through a unique and pervasive Korean lens. A fascinating example is Three Generations, a novel by Yom Sang-
seop, originally written as a serialisation in the newspaper Chosun Ilbo in 1931. It follows the soap opera-ish and
ultimately tragic lives of the wealthy Jo family under the Japanese occupation of the time.
Bang up to date is Kim Young-ha's I Have The Right To Destroy Myself, which delves into alienation in con-
temporary Seoul and has been described as both Korean Noir and Kafkaesque.