Seven Contemporary Plays from the Korean Diaspora in the Americas

Seven Contemporary Plays from the Korean Diaspora in the Americas
Author: Esther Kim Lee
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2012-08-21
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 0822352745

By bringing the plays together in this collection, Esther Kim Lee highlights the themes and styles that have enlivened Korean diasporic theater in the Americas since the 1990s. Some of the plays are set in urban Koreatowns. One takes place in the middle of Texas, while another unfolds entirely in a character's mind. Ethnic identity is not as central as it was in the work of previous generations of Asian diasporic playwrights.

Contemporary Korean Cinema

Contemporary Korean Cinema
Author: Hyangjin Lee
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2000
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9780719060083

This comprehensive book defines the significance of film-making and film viewing in Korea. Covering the introduction of motion pictures in 1903, Korean cinema during the Japanese colonial period (1910-45), and the development of North and South Korean cinema up to the 1990s, Lee introduces the works of Korea's major directors, and analyzes the Korean film industry in terms of production, distribution, and reception.

Four Contemporary Korean Plays

Four Contemporary Korean Plays
Author: Yun-t'aek Yi
Publisher: Rlpg/Galleys
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2007
Genre: Drama
ISBN:

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Commentary (stories not included). Pages: 32. Chapters: The Santaroga Barrier, The Lathe of Heaven, The Colour Out of Space, Spacehounds of IPC, Trullion: Alastor 2262, The Skylark of Space, Triplanetary, The Second Trip, Armageddon 2419 A.D., The Master Mind of Mars, Skylark Three, I, Robot, Breakfast at Twilight, After 12,000 Years, Tarzan and the Foreign Legion, Anniversary, The Planet Savers, Llana of Gathol, Savage Pellucidar, The Sunken World, The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal, The Weapon Too Dreadful to Use, Marooned Off Vesta, Gateway to Strangeness, What is This Thing Called Love?, Robot AL-76 Goes Astray, Time Enough, The Builder, One Million Tomorrows, Satisfaction Guaranteed, The Return of Tharn, The Crystal Horde, The Hidden Universe, The Days of Perky Pat, Sshhh ..., Billennium, Islands of Space, The Bridge of Light, Seeds of Life, Birth of a Notion, The Ship Who Searched, Project Nightmare, Encounter in the Dawn, Divided We Fall, Uphill Climb, Whatll We Do with Ragland Park'. Excerpt: The Lathe of Heaven is a 1971 science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. The plot revolves around a character whose dreams alter reality. The story was first serialized in the American science fiction magazine Amazing Stories. The novel received nominations for the 1972 Hugo and the 1971 Nebula Award, and won the Locus Award for Best Novel in 1972. Two television film adaptations have been released: the acclaimed PBS production, The Lathe of Heaven (1980); and Lathe of Heaven (2002), a remake produced by the A&E Network. The title is taken from the writings of Chuang Tzu - specifically a passage from Book XXIII, paragraph 7, quoted as an epigraph to Chapter 3 of the novel: To let understanding stop at what cannot be understood is a high attainment. Those who cannot do it will be destroyed on the lathe of heaven. ( ...

Innovations of Modern Korean Theatre in the 20th Century

Innovations of Modern Korean Theatre in the 20th Century
Author: Meewon Lee
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2024-09-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1040145000

Lee provides a comprehensive insight into important topics within modern Korean theatre and conducts an in-depth evaluation of the major discourses that shaped Korean theatre during the 20th century. The book adopts a topical approach to explore modern Korean theatre through a more focused lens. Examining key subjects such as Korean Playwrights. Korean adaptations of Shakespeare, the National Theatre, feminist theatre, and the intercultural potential of a Far Eastern theatrical bloc, it provides a rigorous understanding of the evolution of Korean theatre during the 20th century and explores the moments of rupture and innovation within the chronological history of theatre. The book is a vital resource of interest to scholars and students interested in East Asian culture and theatre, specifically Korean culture.

The Metacultural Theater of Oh T'ae-sŏk

The Metacultural Theater of Oh T'ae-sŏk
Author: T'ae-sŏk O
Publisher:
Total Pages: 184
Release: 1999-05
Genre: Drama
ISBN:

In the end, the king must decide whether to force his son to commit suicide or risk the destruction of the dynasty. In the wildly comic Ch'un-p'ung's Wife, derived from a traditional tale of a wife's search for her philandering husband, Oh explores the difficult position of women in modern Korean society through ironic rituals of birth and death. The highly charged historical drama Lifecord traces the fate of six scholars who remain loyal to a young king after he is forced to abdicate, providing Oh with an opportunity to investigate the implications of communal guilt and loyalty to family, king, and country.

New Korean Cinema

New Korean Cinema
Author: Darcy Paquet
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2010-04-26
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0231850123

New Korean Cinema charts the dramatic transformation of South Korea's film industry from the democratization movement of the late 1980s to the 2000s new generation of directors. The author considers such issues as government censorship, the market's embrace of Hollywood films, and the social changes which led to the diversification and surprising commercial strength of contemporary Korean films. Directors such as Hong Sang-soo, Kim Ki-duk, Park Chan-wook, and Bong Joon-ho are studied within their historical context together with a range of films including Sopyonje (1993), Peppermint Candy (1999), Oldboy (2003), and The Host (2006).

Im Kwon-taek

Im Kwon-taek
Author: David E. James
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2002
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780814328699

Korean cinema was virtually unavailable to the West during the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945), and no film made before 1943 has been recovered even though Korea had an active film-making industry that produced at least 240 films. For a period of forty years, after Korea was liberated from colonialism, a time where Western imports were scarce, Korean cinema became an innovative force reflecting a society whose social and cultural norms were becoming less conservative. Im Kwon-Taek: The Making of a Korean National Cinema is a colleciton of essays written about Im Kwon-Taek, better know as the father of New Korean Cinema, that takes a critical look at the situations of filmmakers in South Korea. Written by leading Koreanists and scholars of Korean film in the United States, Im Kwon-Taek is the first scholarly treatment of Korean cinema. It establishes Im Kwon-Taek as the only major Korean director whose life's work covers the entire history of South Korea's military rule (1961-1992). It demonstrates Im's struggles with Korean cinema's historical contradictions and also shows how Im rose above political discord. The book includes an interview with Im, a chronology of Korean cinema and Korean history showing major dynastic periods and historical and political events, and a complete filmography. Im Kwon-Taek is timely and makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Korean cinema. These essays situate Im Kwon-Taek within Korean filmmaking, placing him in industrial, creative, and social contexts, and closely examine some of his finest films. Im Kwon-Taek will interest students and scholars of film studies, Korean studies, religious studies, postcolonial studies, and Asian studies.

SamulNori

SamulNori
Author: Nathan Hesselink
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2012-02-24
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0226330982

In 1978, four musicians crowded into a cramped basement theater in downtown Seoul, where they, for the first time, brought the rural percussive art of p’ungmul to a burgeoning urban audience. In doing so, they began a decades-long reinvention of tradition, one that would eventually create an entirely new genre of music and a national symbol for Korean culture. Nathan Hesselink’s SamulNori traces this reinvention through the rise of the Korean supergroup of the same name, analyzing the strategies the group employed to transform a museum-worthy musical form into something that was both contemporary and historically authentic, unveiling an intersection of traditional and modern cultures and the inevitable challenges such a mix entails. Providing everything from musical notation to a history of urban culture in South Korea to an analysis of SamulNori’s teaching materials and collaborations with Euro-American jazz quartet Red Sun, Hesselink offers a deeply researched study that highlights the need for traditions—if they are to survive—to embrace both preservation and innovation.

Modern Korean Drama

Modern Korean Drama
Author: Richard Nichols
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2011
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 0231149476

Carefully selected and represented, the plays in this collection showcase both the fantastic and the realistic innovations of Korean dramatists during a time of rapid social and historical change. Stretching from 1962 to 2004, these seven works tackle major subjects, such as the close of the Choson dynasty and the aftermath of the Korean War, while delving into trenchant cultural issues, such as the marginalization of students who rebel against mainstream education and the role of traditional values in a materialistic society. Longtime scholar of Korea and its vibrant, politically acute theater, Richard Nichols opens with a general overview of modern Korean drama since 1910 and concludes with an appendix describing theater production and audience attendance in Seoul. He chooses works that aren't just for Korean audiences. These texts confront universal themes and situations, tackling the problem of ambition, the trouble with fidelity, and the complexity of sexual and interpersonal relationships. Nichols situates each work critically, historically, and culturally, including brief biographies of playwrights and extensive notes. A bibliography also provides alternative readings and the titles of additional plays currently available in English. Primed for production, these skillful translations provide Western directors with exciting new material for the stage. At the same time, they offer students and scholars a sophisticated survey of the modern Korean dramatic tradition.