On March 11, 2021, the GW Institute of Korea Studies (GWIKS) hosted the first Book Talk Series on Chosŏn Korea Vernacular Eloquence of Chosŏn Korea Beyond the Korean Script. In this presentation, Si Nae Park, Associate Professor of east Asian Language and Civilizations Harvard University, introduces her book The Korean Vernacular Story: Telling Tales of Contemporary Chosŏn in Sinographic Writing, the first book in the English language on the late Chosŏn literary genre of yadam. Moderated by Professor Jisoo Kim, Director of GWIKS, Prof. Park started her presentation by introducing her book’s argument and the context around it. She stated that in the Korean Literature the word “vernacular” is intimately and convolutedly tied up with the Korean script. Prof. Park’s primary goal is to help rethink the persistent misconception about Korean literature. She does this by discussing the yadam genre, which is a prime example of a type of vernacular eloquence.
Next, Prof. Park discusses the book’s implication as a research project that extricates the genre of yadam from the nation-centered literary historiography (kungmunhak) of the 20th century and puts forward a need to consider vernacular eloquence beyond the Korean script and script-focused linguistic nationalism. Following her presentation, the moderator moved onto a Q&A session. The audience submitted a wide range of questions, inquiring about the relevant themes in yadam and how it reflects Korean nationalist spirit, the role of low-level clerks in producing yadam text, comparing yadam text to other Korean texts, resources for translating yadam text into Russian literature, the prevalence of metatextuality in vernacular stories, and more. Answering these questions, Prof. Park highlighted some of the common themes such as status of awareness, soul as an urban space, anecdotes on famous historical people, war stories, etc. She also stated that by the 19th-century the volume and scope of literature increased comprehensively.
