Classic Korean Tales

by Key-sook Choe

Classic Korean Narratives including Myths, Folktales, Sino\-Korean Novels and Poetry Delight in this book of eleven Korean literary classics which provides a window into the culture, history and thoughts of Korean people. Stories are organized into Origin Stories, Stories of Love and Marriage, Beauty and Fantasy. Each piece is followed by thoughtful commentary that helps readers unlock their universality and historicity. A lonely boy becomes a hero who establishes a nation; an abandoned daughter becomes a goddess who manages death; an ordinary wife and husband become a queen and king in a foreign country. These stories reveal the value of merit vs position or power. They show that if people take advantage of their merits and use their power in support of others, they can accomplish wonderful things and gain happiness even when they possess nothing special. The reason these stories endure through time and continue to move the hearts and minds of readers is that people consider the thoughts and emotions in these stories to be precious.A Way of Communicating with The World of Classical Imagination Reading the classics is similar to the experience of communicating across time. The world of classics, which appears interesting and mysterious, also contains the dreams and hopes of contemporary people. Even though the past has disappeared, we are encountering the dreams and hopes of people from olden times as you read the classics and fall into the world of these stories.

Genres: Nonfiction

237 pages, Paperback

Published September 7, 2018

Reviews

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the past 5 years I've read and studied a lot of Korean fairy tales, myths and legends, but still quite some of the stories in this little book were new to me, or had turned very vague in my memory. Through this book I broadened my knowledge of Korean tales. The commentary too was clear, neat and interesting. The presentation of the stories with images, drawings and lay-out choices was pretty and complementary.
On the other hand, I felt that sometimes the commentary was a little too simple at times; the academic level of the writing style was fluctuating. Also, the use of English had some flaws which kind of bothered me a tiny bit as well hehe. Overall, an interesting read though!