Brief Encounters: Early Reports of Korea by Westerners

by Brother Anthony of Taizé

This anthology is a compilation of Westerners accounts of their visits to Korea, originally published in books or newspapers before the country opened its doors in the late nineteenth century. The opening of Korea made it possible to explore the country in detail and write detailed accounts. Prior impressions were garnered mostly from brief visits to remote islands along the coast. The accounts published here are mainly anecdotal, and contain many generalizations. However, the accumulated impressions of these early encounters surely influenced the perspectives of later travelers, and help explain the overwhelmingly negative image of Korea that Western governments harbored at the time. The book can serve as a useful resource for studying Korea s early interactions with the outside world, and will give readers an idea of the criteria by which Westerners judged the foreign other.

360 pages, Paperback

Published November 30, 2016

About the author

Brother Anthony is a translator, scholar, and member of the Taizé Community who has become a naturalized Korean citizen, and lives in Seoul.

AKA An Seonjae

Reviews

[Allison Needels · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really fascinating and went back further in time than I anticipated. Overall, it was fun to read the varying views of Korea. I particularly enjoyed the views toward the end of the 19th century as the situation with Japan worsened. This book is particularly helpful to Korean historians, and as a Korean pottery specialist myself, I enjoyed digging for tidbits and opinions on Korean art scattered throughout the book.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating collection of reports of early Western encounters with Korea, ending with one from 1884. For me the most interesting were accounts by people who knew Japan well and could make comparisons.