Korea:  A Historical and Cultural Dictionary, by Keith Pratt and Richard Rutt, with additional material by James Hoare.  Durham East Asia Series.  Richmond:  Curzon, 1999.  (ISBN 0-7007-0464-7 cloth; ISBN 0-7007-0463-9 paper).

Reviewed by Dennis Hart
Kent State University

Keith Pratt and Richard Rutt provide readers with "a quick handbook" that provides "factual information about events, people, and topics in the history and culture of Korea." (vi) It is as advertised - an extensive reference work meant to be used by scholars and students of Korean studies.  The dictionary also provides readers with five pages on the McCune-Reischauer romanization system (xiii-xvii), four maps (a map of ancient Korean kingdoms, two maps of modern provinces, and one map of the beacon system in Chosôn Korea), a chart of East Asian dynasties (xx), a general bibliography (542-543), an index of personal names (544-560), another index of literary and musical titles (561-568), and innumerable charts, tables, and drawings throughout the book.

Included in this dictionary were entries on historical events from ancient Korea all the way up to today, an extensive list of persons (both Koreans and non-Koreans who lived and worked on the peninsula), politics, literature, language, philosophy, religion, and art.  The dictionary also went beyond the high culture of the royal courts and aristocracy.  Often, there were references to folk tales, horoscopes, and even such commonplace items as pets, games and kimch'i.

I found the book to be, in general, well organized, easy to use, and filled with an impressive list of information on historical Korea and Korean culture.  All entry headings were capitalized, in bold font, and listed alphabetically, using the English alphabet.  (A, B, C, etc.).  The entries appeared sometimes in English ("MANCHU INVASIONS," 276) and other times in romanized Korean ("KUNHAP, union of palaces" 249-250.)  Note that in the case of the latter, an English translation of the term also appeared in the entry heading.  Still other entries were in romanized Chinese ("ZHU XI," 538-539.)  Many of the entry headings included Chinese characters, which was often useful.  However, the authors chose to not use han'gûl in the entry headings and instead employed the McCune-Reischauer system of romanization.  I found this choice to NOT use han'gûl to be both unnecessary and distracting, as may other readers.

The entries varied greatly in length.  A number of them were a paragraph in length (2 to 10 lines of text) such as CHIGONG (46), KOREAN PEOPLE'S PARTY (237) or KI, EMPRESS (206.)  The majority of them were two or more paragraphs long (10 to 20 lines) such as CONCUBINES (89), RICE (382), or SAMGUK SAGI (400.)  However, it was not uncommon for other entries, such as the DEMOCRATIC PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF KOREA (97-99), MINJUNG MOVEMENT (291), or FACTIONS (115-119) to be given one or more pages.  One of the longest entries was KAPCHA CHARACTERS (the Sixty-fold Cycle.)  This entry traversed five pages and allowed readers to find the Chinese Zodiac sign of anyone born from 1384 to 1983.  (I discovered I am a "black dragon.")

An important and very useful feature was the frequent use of cross-references indicated by bold face.  Thus, as you read about one topic, you were immediately referred to related topics.  Here is one example, from page 326, of a full entry that includes a pair of cross-references, though the Chinese characters are not included here:

"ÔM-BI (1854-1911) Lady Ôm entered the palace to serve on the queen's staff, but after the queen was murdered in 1895 her status as the king's consort was gradually enhanced until after the birth of her son Yi Ûn in 1897 she was named Sunhôn Hwang-guibi, 'imperial concubine Sunhôn'.  She made generous contributions to the establishment of several modern schools for girls."

I conducted my review of the dictionary by using it as it was intended to be used - to find quick information on a person, place, event, or idea.  First, I tested the dictionary on what I thought would be easy facts.  The dictionary refused to be stumped and not only provided the requested information ("SILLA?  Yes." 418-419) it regularly gave me more than I asked for.  ("SILLA KINGLY TITLES," 419; "SILLA, QUEENS OF," 419-420; and, "UNIFIED SILLA" including every king's name, reign, and clan, 498-499.)

Obviously, I realized, the dictionary needed a greater challenge. So I checked my memory for lesser known facts about Korea and then checked the dictionary for the same information.  On most occasions, the dictionary matched my memory.  ("HONG-GILTONG?  Yes!" 168.)  Occasionally, certain facts I expected to be there were missing.  ("RED PEPPER?  No.")  But more often, the simple act of searching for one item allowed me to uncover a wealth of entries that I had not expected to find, but proved to be enormously interesting nonetheless.  ("CATS!  Ooooo...." 37, "RATS! Eeeee...." 377.)  I found that I enjoyed simply "flipping" through pages and finding a variety of names and facts about Korea that I simply had not known, which may be as much a comment on my own status as a dusty academic as it is on the dictionary's content.

Finally for this review, I am compelled to address the question of who would find this dictionary useful.  After all is said and read, the key question for this book is exactly that - how useful will it be and for whom?  My research focuses upon politics and identity in the contemporary Koreas.  For me, the dictionary's entries on history were informative.  In one place I now have a listing of the places, kings, queens, places, literature, et cetera of pre-colonial Korea, should I ever need them.  For someone who is not an expert on Korean history this book was informative and provided quick and concise information.  But I am not so sure that a historian would say the same thing.  I often found the entries that dealt with my era of expertise (post-colonial Korean politics) to be too brief and overly simple.  Experts on Korea will probably find the information that deals with their area of expertise to be thin and unsatisfactory.  However, I believe that this shortcoming would be inevitable with any cultural or historical dictionary.  The range of topics covered in this book are so wide that virtually anyone interested in Korea will be able to find useful facts or information.

Next, we should consider this book within our role as teachers.  I reviewed the paperback version, which was listed at £16.99.  The hardback was listed at £60.  As a teacher, I have to ask if it is fair to have my freshman pay either of these amounts when the majority of them will, probably, not continue on in Korean studies.  However, the dictionary is likely to be a valuable asset for someone who has more than a passing interest in Korea and plans to keep learning about it.

In brief, as a scholar of Korean studies, I would urge my library to purchase the hardcover, while I, myself, would buy the paperback.