Classic Korean Tales with commentaries

by Key-sook Choe

11 Classic Korean Narratives including Myths, Folktales, Sino-Korean Novels and Poetry Readers can come to know not only the pleasure of reading stories, but also delight in learning about Korea through this book, like Korean culture, Korean history and Koreans' ways of thinking in the old days. Even though this book consists of only Korean classic narratives, this doesn't mean that only Koreans can understand it. Everyone can understand and enjoy a “Classic.”What Brings "Classics" Alive is the Readers' EmpathyA lonely boy becomes a hero who establishes a nation; a daughter who is abandoned becomes a goddess who manages death; a wife and husband, both ordinary people, become a queen and king in a foreign country or gods of a country. These stories 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 that these stories survive for such a long time without being forgotten and move the people who read them is that people consider the thoughts and feelings in these stories to be precious.A Way of Communicating with The World of Classical ImaginationReading 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

Kindle Edition

Published May 31, 2021

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!