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Iyagi: Kurze koreanische Erzählungen
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 23, 2014
"IYAGI" sind kurze, meist humorvolle, von Mund zu Mund überlieferte Erzählungen, die für die koreanische Volkskultur typisch sind.
"IYAGI" are short, mostly humorous tales, passed down by word of mouth, which are typical for the Korean folk culture.
I rather stumbled about this book and the author while reading about Koreans in Germany and he was listed among the famous examples and so my curiosity awakened since he was from the early 20th century.
I searched for this book and easily found it in the local city library and I was slightly surprised and my curiosity was… well the original one was satisfied but a new one replaced it.
My curiosity regarding these Korean tales was sated, the ones I found here were nice, albeit a few times slightly odd, short tales and one novella that ends with… nope, not going to tell, you will have to read it yourself if you want to know.
Well anyway, while these are mostly short and simple tales I do not think that Li wrote them down for children but rather for adults to get a glimpse into a part of Korean culture, especially since the book gives you a short introduction as to what an IYAGI is and what role it has, something that would bore most kids on this planet. In addition some tales are clearly tales for adults, especially the novella at the end that actually references a tale from the IYAGI. In addition you will notice that these tales are in their basic structure and themes very similar to tales known in many cultures, including my own, and I wonder what sparked them, both those that are similar and those that are different from the tales of my own culture
For those that might be alarmed due to the tales' Korean origin, no worry a Non-Korean should understand them as well. Albeit I do not know in how many, if any, editions in languages other than German there are.
But before I end: The new curiosity this book awakened in me is regarding the author itself. You see there is a short introduction to him with some biographical data and the man not only lived for no more than 51 years, but while he was born in 1899 in Haidju, Korea, he died and was buried in 1950 in Graefeling near Munich, and the book suggests that he was in Germany during World War II. And I know Hans-Juergen Massaquoi's story, but I wonder about Mirok Li's story, I hope his biographical book Yalu Flows will answer that question.
"IYAGI" are short, mostly humorous tales, passed down by word of mouth, which are typical for the Korean folk culture.
I rather stumbled about this book and the author while reading about Koreans in Germany and he was listed among the famous examples and so my curiosity awakened since he was from the early 20th century.
I searched for this book and easily found it in the local city library and I was slightly surprised and my curiosity was… well the original one was satisfied but a new one replaced it.
My curiosity regarding these Korean tales was sated, the ones I found here were nice, albeit a few times slightly odd, short tales and one novella that ends with… nope, not going to tell, you will have to read it yourself if you want to know.
Well anyway, while these are mostly short and simple tales I do not think that Li wrote them down for children but rather for adults to get a glimpse into a part of Korean culture, especially since the book gives you a short introduction as to what an IYAGI is and what role it has, something that would bore most kids on this planet. In addition some tales are clearly tales for adults, especially the novella at the end that actually references a tale from the IYAGI. In addition you will notice that these tales are in their basic structure and themes very similar to tales known in many cultures, including my own, and I wonder what sparked them, both those that are similar and those that are different from the tales of my own culture
For those that might be alarmed due to the tales' Korean origin, no worry a Non-Korean should understand them as well. Albeit I do not know in how many, if any, editions in languages other than German there are.
But before I end: The new curiosity this book awakened in me is regarding the author itself. You see there is a short introduction to him with some biographical data and the man not only lived for no more than 51 years, but while he was born in 1899 in Haidju, Korea, he died and was buried in 1950 in Graefeling near Munich, and the book suggests that he was in Germany during World War II. And I know Hans-Juergen Massaquoi's story, but I wonder about Mirok Li's story, I hope his biographical book Yalu Flows will answer that question.
August 18, 2017
Das Buch war sehr interessant, die Geschichten erinnern zum Teil an unsere Fabeln, zum Teil an auch an andere Geschichten aus dem orientalischen und asiatischen Bereich - was nur zeigt, dass einige Themen universell sind.
Zugleich sind sie aber auch wieder so fremd, dass man die andere Kultur erkennt.
Hat mir gut gefallen. Sogar die Novelle, nur das Ende nicht...
Der Autor lebte in der 1. Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts und verbrachte den größten Teil seines Lebens im Exil in Deutschland.
Er starb 1950, d.h. er hat die Spaltung seines Heimatlandes in Nord- und Südkorea noch mitbekommen, sie ist somit aber natürlich nicht in seinen Geschichten enthalten.
Zugleich sind sie aber auch wieder so fremd, dass man die andere Kultur erkennt.
Hat mir gut gefallen. Sogar die Novelle, nur das Ende nicht...
Der Autor lebte in der 1. Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts und verbrachte den größten Teil seines Lebens im Exil in Deutschland.
Er starb 1950, d.h. er hat die Spaltung seines Heimatlandes in Nord- und Südkorea noch mitbekommen, sie ist somit aber natürlich nicht in seinen Geschichten enthalten.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews