Romantic Tales from Old Korea

by Brother Anthony of Taizé

Fiction. In this book, the French version of "Chunhyang" has been translated into English and is published with the 1919 English text of "A Dead Tree Blossoms" and a couple of other Korean love tales translated a hundred or more years ago.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Asian Literature, Short Stories, Folklore

170 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 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

[Akaash · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this treasure during my travels in South Korea. The tales themselves are more so fables. Using eloquent prose and symbolism, each fable was grounded in the importance of faith and the connection shared between people. The word, “Romantic”, in the title is reflective of love more broadly - that shared between two who exchange hearts, but also that shared between a mother and father, between a parent and their child, between old friends and new, between political allies, between spiritual guides, and between the living and the dead. Peppered with poetic verses and metaphors, I very much enjoyed this read.

The only critique I had, on which I am focusing with this rating, is that the stories were unidimensional. The adversities faced by our characters were easily overcome, without a focus on the nuances of the challenges they faced. I would love to have seen more in the way of internal dialogue, reasoning, and logic; as well as slower-paced emotional revelations and drawing of conclusions. Though I suspect these fables are representative of what audiences, and the world, needed at the time; these can be of little solace to the wandering minds and souls that want something more.

[Lauren (Lalas.polyglot.library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since this book is a collection of old tales, the stories are quite dramatic and caricatural, usually with a happy ending. The characters a little one-dimentional in my opinion and there is always some kind of moral, such as the well-behaved character getting rewarded for being faithful or patient. So before jumping into it, it’s better to know what you are getting yourself into, as it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Though some of the tales did not particularly catch my attention (some of them were less than 10 pages so I did not have time to really immerse myself properly), the last one was longer and therefore there was more development within the characters and in the story, which was nice. Overall, it was a nice short read but not an unforgettable one for me.

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[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,8
an sich ein süßes buch, mit tollen märchen. jedoch ist der kontrast der kapitellängen etwas fragwürdig, es gab welche mit 5 & teilweise welche mit 60-70 seiten, bei denen man vor allem durch die vielen verschiedenen charaktere nicht mehr hinterhergekommen ist. das buch hat sich für mich ein wenig zu sehr in die länge gezogen :/

[Noelle]

This collection of short stories from Old Korea was not great for me. The stories are, quite obviously, horribly outdated. They fell flat for me because they were so short and the characters were one-dimensional. I also felt like some of these 'tales' can hardly be called romantic. One in particular had nothing to do with romance whatsoever and I wondered what it was doing in this collection. Only the last story, which took up half the book, was worth it in my opinion. Still too flat and way too convenient with the way every character had dreams in which they were told exactly what to do. But this story had more depth and the characters came together nicely.

In the introduction, it was said that this collection of stories is a translation from the French stories. I wonder why the decision was made to translate the French stories about Korea rather than translating the actual Korean stories? Surely they exist if they're tales of Old Korea and French translations were made?

Perhaps I would've liked these stories more if I were able to understand Korean and read these stories in their native language. Korean is supposed to be a poetic language and I don't doubt the stories would've made a bigger impression on me had I read an untranslated version.

[Noëmie N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Livre acheté en Corée.
Regroupement de différents contes.

Fragrant Springtime (Chunhyang) :
Yi MONGRYONG tombe amoureux de Chunhyang. Il se déguise en femme pour la rencontrer et lui fait promettre de l'épouser s'il était un homme. Elle accepte, pensant qu'il s'agit d'une blague. Il révèle sa vraie identité. Les deux se marient. Le père de Yi MONGRYONG est alors appelé à servir le roi. Yi MONGRYONG doit alors partir mais sur les conseils de Chunhyang, il travaille l'examen national et devient ambassadeur. Dans le même temps, le mandarin remplaçant le père de Yi MONGRYONG dans leur ville demande Chunhyang en mariage. Elle s'y oppose, étant déjà mariée. Il l'a fait alors emprisonnée. Yi MONGRYONG revient dans la ville en tant qu'ambassadeur, il fait arrêter le mandarin et libère Chunyang.

Charan :
"There is no difficulty; when she is before my eyes, of course she is everything, but when the time comes for me to start for home she will be like a pair of worn shoes, set aside, so a please don't be anxious" -> men are trash, no matter the era
Elle l'aide quand même à passer son concours. Il réussit l'examen, le roi lui demande des explications, il explique que c'est grâce à elle donc le roi l'anoblit afin que le mec n'épouse pas quelqu'un qui mènerait son nom à la disgrâce.

[Ayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is difficult to separate the appreciation for folk tales from a very distant culture, from the fact that the values promoted in the stories are often diametrically opposed to my own. The rampant sexism and extremely hierarchical society are not easy to overlook. And perhaps I'm also not romantic enough to enjoy literal "love at first sight" storylines. Nevertheless, it is always interesting to gain some insight into a culture so different from your own through its stories.