[KS] New book on nineteenth century Korea

[Pierre-Emmanuel Roux]

Dear list members,

Following one of Frank
Hoffmann’s posts last June and his invitation to provide information on publications
in non-English languages, I would like to announce (since
nobody else is likely to do this) the publication of my French monograph
entitled La Croix, la baleine et le
canon: La France face à la Corée au milieu du XIXe siècle (Cross, Whale and
Cannon: French Policy towards Korea in the Mid-nineteenth Century, 460 pages).
It was published last April by Les Editions du Cerf, a Paris-based publisher focused
on religious topics.
The book is aimed at
rethinking the “Western disturbance of 1866” (PyOng’in yangyo) and, more generally, the failed French attempts to
open Korea between the 1840s and 1860s. Through an analysis of the French
policy in East Asia, I suggest that the Korean peninsula was only considered as
a strategic point between China, Russia and Japan. In other words, ChOson Korea
was made a scapegoat to serve French regional interests. To this end, French
diplomats and admirals put forward religious pretexts (the persecution of
Catholicism), Korean hostility to castaways, and the economic potentialities of
the ChosOn kingdom, mainly coastal whaling activity.
 
Here is a link to the cover and a presentation of the book's contentand summary: 
http://www.editionsducerf.fr/html/fiche/fichelivre.asp?n_liv_cerf=9509
 
I also remind you that you
can find the last “breaking news” of French Korean studies via the following
link: http://parisconsortium.hypotheses.org/(This website was established last year by the Paris
consortium of Korean studies)
 
Best greetings,
 
Pierre-Emmanuel Roux
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