[KS] Subject: Re: Korea and Koreans as featured in literary works by non-Korean(ist) writers

Fri Oct 28 04:58:54 EDT 2011

Dear Mr. Frank,
As a sidenote to your side note comment I want to mention, that the Anthropological and Ethnographic section of the then "Naturhistorische Museum" in Vienna was having a collection of various Hanbok, and it was presumably publicly exhibited then. Another thought that came to my mind, and that may be an overinterpretation, is that when I saw the picture I found it a little similar with some of the pictures of the painter Kisan (or Kim Chun’gŭn) from whom there is a collection in the Viennese Museum since 1886.
Best wishes,
Christian Lewarth
Student in Vienna

Ruediger Frank wrote:

On a side note, that's what I found remarkable about the 1897 "Die Braut von Korea" ballet (odd German, by the way): the costume is actually a hanbok http://www.bildindex.de/obj07053790.html. I was afraid to see something more Japanese, like in the passage quoted below: "energetic Yankee who goes to Korea and finally becomes the Sho Gun." My impression is that this ignorant perspective (Korea, Japan - what's the difference, and why shoudl we care) was the rule rather than the exception. Gosh, even 100 years later Europeans would name Sony and Samsung as big Japanese companies.
Cheers,
Rudiger

on Mittwoch, 26. Oktober 2011 at 14:24 you wrote:

A good question indeed -- I guess it depends on what you're interested in.

In a 'literal' sense, spoken or sung text would not be literature, though in a broader definition (literature as the art of language), I'd certainly include pansori lyrics, mask dance "drama", as well as other forms of orally transmitted art such as Kim Keumhwa's gut liturgy. Dito, when using "literature" as a qualitative description.

On the other hand, in many cases qualification as literature simply does not matter very much. In the case of pansori, for example, what interests me more is how the process of creation/delivery/reception of such texts works in performance (and all the other things that go hand in hand), rather than the status of a resulting transcript.

Anyway, in the case of the ballet -- which could be considered a text only in a semiotic sense -- what makes it in my opinion an interesting addition ot the list is the narrative content of the piece, whether the story is written or danced. 

Another work from the era might also be of interest, this time an "original comic opera" (or musical comedy) that takes the reverse approach (music:  Gustav Luders, words: George Ade, premiere in New York, 1904): "The plot is woven around an energetic Yankee who goes to Korea and finally becomes the Sho Gun."

The setting of the musical, which takes place in the present, sounds vaguely familiar: "Kachoo is an imaginary and secluded island in the Sea of Japan between Japan and Corea. It is supposed to be untouched by modern civilization." References of producer Henry W. Savage (the "Yankee impresario"), the writer and the composer include "Peggy from Paris", "The Sultan of Sulu", "Prince of Pilsen" and "King Dodo". Whether some of the characters are supposed to be "Koreans" is hard to tell -- names range from Kee-Otori to Hanki-Punk. The (scrambled) libretto can be found here: http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/gustav-luders/the-sho-gun--an-original-comic-opera-in-two-acts-edu/1-the-sho-gun--an-original-comic-opera-in-two-acts-edu.shtml

Best, Jan

---

Jan Creutzenberg
Gr?nberger Str. 85
10245 Berlin, Germany

from December 2011:

??? ??? ??? 485-14 ??Apt. 312?

Yeongjin Apartment, No 312
Seogyo-dong 485-14, Mapo-gu
Seoul, Republic of Korea

Email: jan.creutzenberg at fu-berlin.de
Mobile: +49-(0)163-2819 040
Blog: seoulstages.wordpress.com

Am 26.10.2011 um 12:20 schrieb koreanstudies-request at koreaweb.ws:

A good questions. I have witnessed Kim Keumhwa, the Naramansin, on several occasions teaching her apprentices and associates the gut liturgy by presenting the libretto from her vast repertoire from memory learned orally, and they were writing it down. It is a striking experience to realize how, still, so much oral culture is still accessible.

Lauren
-- 
Lauren W. Deutsch
835 S. Lucerne Blvd., #103
Los Angeles CA 90005
Tel 323 930-2587  Cell 323 775-7454
E lwdeutsch at earthlink.net

From: Werner Sasse <werner_sasse at hotmail.com>
Reply-To: Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:29:56 +0000
To: list korean studies <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
Subject: Re: [KS] Korea and Koreans as featured in literary works by non-Korean(ist) writers

hi, Frank, great...
Question: are the texts of mask dances, pansori, muga, (add folk songs, maybe early sijo, the Cheoyong-ga...) literature?
Best,
Werner 

Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:52:16 -0700
To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
From: hoffmann at koreaweb.ws
Subject: Re: [KS] Korea and Koreans as featured in literary works by non-Korean(ist) writers

Re: [KS] Korea and Koreans as featured in literary works b 
This for sure is not literature -- but I thought I mention it anyway, given how important Chinoiserie and Japonism were for upper class arts and art collectors in Europe and North America, but that there was never anything like Koreanism -- this is as close as you get:

  "Die Braut von Korea" (The Bride from Korea)
  a ballet from 1897
  Music: Joseph Bayer (1852-1913), choreography: Josef Hassreiter

http://www.book1950.co.kr/main.html?menu=view&uid=283
(click on small images to extend size)

http://www.bildindex.de/obj07053790.html
shows a sketch for a costume by Franz Gaul
(click on small image to extend size)

The ballet was performed 38 times between 1897 and 1901 at the Wiener Hofoper (Vienna Court Opera)--that was the time when Gustav Mahler was the director there.

Best,
Frank

Frank Hoffmann
http://koreaweb.ws
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