[KS] Grafton K. Mintz

[Norman Thorpe]

Grafton Mintz and his wife Barbara Mintz were friends of mine who lived in Seoul in the 1970s and probably arrived there earlier than that. Among other jobs, Grafton then worked as a copy editor at the Korea Times. I think he also did English editing of correspondence, news releases, and publications for some Korean government agencies.
He helped Tae-Hung Ha with his translation of the Samguk Yusa, but  it's my guess he helped primarily with the English, as I don't recall him having extensive Korean language skills. Some of the online listings for the book name Tae-Hung Ha as the translator and Grafton as the editor. As you can see online, he also edited the English translation of Han Woo-keun's History of Korea. In those days, few English-language books about Korea were being published, so that editing work certainly helped make more knowledge of Korea available.
As I recall, both Grafton and Barbara also taught evening courses offered by the University of Maryland on military bases in Korea, probably in the English or English Lit departments. Barbara also taught English at a number of places in Seoul. I believe Grafton eventually died in Korea -- perhaps in the late 1980s. Barbara later moved back to the U.S.  I'm afraid I don't know anything about Grafton being the first naturalized citizen of the R.O.K. -- I cannot confirm that.
 
Norman Thorpe, Adjunct Faculty
Department of Political Science
Whitworth University
Spokane, Wash.
 

--- On Mon, 3/22/10, Matthew Smith <matthewlynnsmith at yahoo.com> wrote:


From: Matthew Smith <matthewlynnsmith at yahoo.com>
Subject: [KS] Grafton K. Mintz
To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
Date: Monday, March 22, 2010, 6:52 AM


I just have a quick question. I'm looking for biographical info on Grafton K. Mintz, the alleged first naturalized citizen of Seoul and translator of 'Samguk Yusa'. Anyone have anything on him?
 

*Matthew Smith*
study. history.