[KS] Chaim Potok in Korea

[Frank Joseph Shulman]

Perhaps the following Ph.D. dissertation will be of some interest:

WOODMAN, Katherine Anne.
Secular and Sacred in the Art of Chaim Potok.  University of Alberta [Canada], 1993 (Ph.D. in English).  Chairperson/Major Adviser: Robert C. Solomon.  vi, 314p.  DAI [Dissertation Abstracts International] 55, no.7 (Jan. 1995): 1959-A; UM [University Microfilms International order number] NN88064.  A microfiche copy may also be borrowed on interlibrary loan from the National Library of Canada in Ottawa, using the ISBN number 0-315-88064-3.
Woodman examined eight novels by a prominent American Jewish writer (1929-2002) in order to "retrieve the body of sacred and secular texts essential" for understanding Potok's works.  His fifth novel, The Book of Lights (1981), "includes the mysterious Eastern worlds of Korea and Japan after the Second World War" and provokes a struggle in Gershon Loran (the protagonist) "with the difficult questions of the relevance of Judaism to the larger world".  Potok's eighth novel, I Am the Clay (1992), tells "the story of Kim Sin Gyu, the young Korean boy who served as Gershon's houseboy.  The tale is set entirely in Korea and traces the journey of three people brought together by chance while fleeing from their villages during the Korean War".
Table of Contents: 1. Introduction: A Passion for Beginnings.  2. In the Silences, a Voice.  3. Separate Ways.  4. Beginning, with David.  5. Omphalos.  6. Beginning Again, with Davita.  7. Maps and Puzzles.  Bibliography: pp.296-314.

[Entry from the forthcoming bibliography, "A Century of Doctoral Dissertations on Korea", by Frank Joseph Shulman]

Best wishes,

Frank Joseph Shulman
January 21, 2006

---- Original message ----
>Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 12:02:25 -0800 (PST)
>From: DeberniereTorrey <djtorrey at yahoo.com>  
>Subject: [KS] Chaim Potok in Korea  
>To: Korean Studies Discussion List <Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
>
>Hello Everyone,
>
>A colleague and I are working on a project related to
>Chaim Potok's reception in Korea, especially in regard
>to his book *I Am the Clay,* a story of an old Korean
>refugee couple who adopt an orphaned child during the
>Korean war (translated into Korean as *Hanju mui Hulk*
>(A Handful of Earth). The story was inspired by his
>experience in Korea as a military chaplain in the 50s.
>We're trying to locate any scholars who might have
>taught or discussed Potok in a Korean context. Any
>help would be appreciated.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Deberniere Torrey
>PhD Candidate
>Department of Comparative Literature
>Penn State Universityt

Frank Joseph Shulman
Bibliographer, Editor and Consultant for Reference Publications in Asian Studies
9225 Limestone Place
College Park, Maryland 20740-3943 (U.S.A.)
E-mail: fshulman at umd.edu