[KS] Re: Q: Korean-American community

Walter K. Lew Lew at HUMnet.UCLA.EDU
Sat Apr 1 02:11:26 EST 2000


Charles,

I don't have a general framework for looking at the period, except that I
think we shd de-emphasize the conventional 1945 break, as you already know
and as has already been demonstrated in other fields.  It's clear that
whatever of significance was written or performed in the U. S. got back
pretty quickly into discussion in Korea, among a fair range of
intellectuals, in important journals, etc., and a few people like Kang did
their best to spread knowledge of Korean modernism (but also the new
Chinese literature, from Liang Qi-ch'ao up thru Hu Shih and Lu Hsun) in
high-profile U.S. venues (periodicals, the college lecture circuit, various
anthologies).  Some Koreans in the U.S. also did noted work in areas like
international relations vis a vis the whole region of E. Asia w/out
necessarily being representative of Korean nationalist causes (e.g. No-yong
Park).  Also as you know the Rhees were notorious for their monitoring of
Korean American and diasporic intellectuals and artists, cf. for example
the second volume of the late dramatist Peter Hyun's memoirs (not the Peter
Hyun who translated poetry, worked as an editor in NY, is a wine expert,
although certain operatives DID confuse the two, forcing the latter to flee
the country for Europe).  I do recommend that you take a look at the
_Korean Student Bulletin_--I don't know how complete the set at Columbia
is--which also refers to other periodicals of the 20s and 30s.  Also,
_Korean Culture_ magazine, published by the Korean Cultural Center in L.
A., has run articles on pioneering Korean American writers who maintained
interesting relations w Korea; cf. especially vol. 19/no. 1 (Spring 1998)
for articles on Induk Pahk and Richard Kim that have pretty deep archival
and bibliographical references.

Re Ch'oe SUng-hUi and her performance tours in the US, South American and
Europe (1937-40), since I think you're in Korea now, there are at least two
book-length biographies you shd check out (the older, weaker one is titled
_Saengmyong Ui ch'um sarang Ui ch'um_ [Seoul: Chiyang Sa, 1989]; I don't
have the more recent one on me right now, but it shdn't be hard to find--it
sold well). They give some references, incl. the important Japanese work on
her.  Ch'oe SUng-hUi's autobiography written in Japanese was in the
National Assembly Library in Seoul, but I've heard rumors that people
haven't been able to find it ever since a researcher photocopied it a few
years ago, and there was a portfolio of photographs in the Independence
Museum's library as of spring 1998.  The autobiography was translated into
Korean as _Na Ui ChasOjOn_ a long time ago; maybe it's been republished.
Dance journal editors in Seoul shd be able to give you more leads.  Also,
there was a successful Japanese *film* on Ch'oe made when she was a
fabulously well-received performer there (it's common to see stills from it
in publications on Ch'oe), but I don't think anyone's been able to dig up a
print; again, dance editors wd know--it wd be an incredible event if it
were discovered and shown in Korea.

Hope you're having a rewarding time in Seoul.  Yrs, Walter


>Walter,
>
>Does this mean that Ch'oe Sunghui visited the US during the Japanese
>colonial period? I'm curious as to whether she did and in what capacity, as
>well as anything you might enlighten me about re: US-Korean cultural
>relations at that time.
>
>                                            Charles
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Walter K. Lew <Lew at humnet.ucla.edu>
>To: korean-studies at mailbase.ac.uk <korean-studies at mailbase.ac.uk>
>Date: Friday, March 31, 2000 5:17 AM
>Subject: Re: Q: Korean-American community
>
>
>>Beginning in 1923 and continuing into the late 1930s, an important Korean
>>American periodical resource that has been somewhat neglected by
>>researchers is the well-written _Korean Student Bulletin_, edited by both
>>2nd-generation Korean Americans and yuhaksaeng and published in New York by
>>the Committee on Friendly Relations Among Foreign Students.  I used it as
>>an aid to tracking the activities of Korean American intellectuals like
>>Younghill Kang and visits by Korean artists (Ch'oe SUng-hUi) and
>>politicians (Syngman Rhee), but it also yields many other types of
>>information. I know that Columbia and Harvard have it in their collections,
>>but it shd also be in other prominent university libraries as well.
>>
>>--Walter K. Lew
>>
>>>Dear members,
>>>
>>>Does anyone know about ethnic newspapers and journals for Koreans in the
>>>United States and where they are published?
>>>
>>>Do you have any suggestions which organisations, communities, or churches
>I
>>>should contact to if I plan to conduct my fieldwork research in
>California?
>>>
>>>I will appreciate your suggestions.
>>>
>>>Sang Ja Ahn
>>>
>>>SOP99SJA at Sheffield.ac.uk
>>>University of Sheffield
>>>Department of Sociological Studies
>>>
>>><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">
>>><HTML>
>>><HEAD>
>>>
>>><META content=text/html;charset=iso-8859-1
>>>http-equiv=Content-Type><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0
>>>Transitional//EN"><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0
>>>Transitional//EN">
>>><META content='"MSHTML 4.72.3110.7"' name=GENERATOR>
>>><STYLE></STYLE>
>>>
>>></HEAD>
>>><BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
>>><DIV><FONT face="MS
>>>Pゴシック">Dear members,</FONT></DIV>
>>><DIV><FONT face="MS
>>>Pゴシック"></FONT> </DIV>
>>><DIV><FONT face="MS
>>>Pゴシック">Does anyone know about ethnic
>>>newspapers and journals
>>>for Koreans in the United States and where they are
>published?</FONT></DIV>
>>><DIV><FONT face="MS
>>>Pゴシック"></FONT> </DIV>
>>><DIV><FONT face="MS
>>>Pゴシック">Do you have any suggestions
>>>which organisations,
>>>communities, or churches I should contact to if I plan to conduct my
>fieldwork
>>>research in California?</FONT></DIV>
>>><DIV><FONT face="MS
>>>Pゴシック"></FONT> </DIV>
>>><DIV><FONT face="MS
>>>Pゴシック">I will appreciate your
>>>suggestions.</FONT></DIV>
>>><DIV><FONT face="MS
>>>Pゴシック"></FONT><FONT
>>>face="MS
>>>Pゴシック"></FONT> </DIV>
>>><DIV><FONT face="MS
>>>Pゴシック">Sang Ja Ahn</FONT></DIV>
>>><DIV><FONT face="MS
>>>Pゴシック"></FONT><FONT
>>>face="MS
>>>Pゴシック"></FONT> </DIV>
>>><DIV><FONT face="MS
>Pゴシック"><A
>>>href="mailto:SOP99SJA at Sheffield.ac.uk">SOP99SJA at Sheffield.ac.uk</A></FONT>
><
>>>/DIV>
>>><DIV><FONT face="MS
>>>Pゴシック">University of
>>>Sheffield</FONT></DIV>
>>><DIV><FONT face="MS
>>>Pゴシック">Department of Sociological
>>>Studies</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
>>
>>Walter K. Lew
>>11811 Venice Blvd.  #138
>>Los Angeles, CA  90066
>>

Walter K. Lew
11811 Venice Blvd.  #138
Los Angeles, CA  90066




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