PEOPLE AND CULTURE - Living Abroad in South Korea - page 46

of South Korean visual artists and filmmakers, some of whom have translated the country's
obsession with technology into thought-provoking new works and formats.
LITERATURE
Traditionally the domain of the educated elite, Korean literature was, until the 19th century,
largely composed in Chinese characters and consisted of epics, poems, and historical re-
cords modeled on Chinese patterns. As the hangul script gained prominence and the coun-
try began to assert its independence, a more native literary tradition developed, some of it
harking back to premodern folk and agricultural themes, and some of it rooted heavily in
the nation's struggles with war, division, and rampant industrialization. Low topic prices
and the South Korean search for knowledge have stoked the popularity of reading and made
writers relatively respected figures in South Korean society, but unfortunately only a small
portion of the country's works are translated or made available abroad. Among the coun-
try's best-known writers are Park Kyung-ni, whose epic The Land chronicled the nation's
modern history from Japanese occupation to the separation of the two Koreas, and Ko Un, a
poet whose vivid, earthy work has won him many admirers overseas. Novelist Kyung-sook
Shin has risen to international prominence with Please Look After Mom, a recounting of a
mother's sacrifices during Korea's rapid urbanization that has sold more than two million
copies globally and won the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize, hopefully paving the way for
the translation of more contemporary Korean literature in the process. The work of Korean
diaspora authors writing in English, such as Krys Lee and Chang-rae Lee, has also met with
considerable success.
A KOREAN TIDE?
While the country has had years of success selling computer chips, ships, and cars
overseas, it has only been relatively recently that South Korea has realized it can mar-
ket its pop culture abroad as well.
In the late 1990s, local and Chinese observers alike were surprised to discover
South Korean movies and soap operas attracting massive audiences in China, which
traditionally has been an exporter of culture to its smaller neighbor. Journalists in
Beijing struck by the surging popularity of South Korean film, food, and fashion
coined a new phrase, “the Korean Wave” or hallyu in Korean pronunciation, to de-
scribe this phenomenon. The wave didn't stop at China, with sentimental Korean