[KS] Publication of new monograph 'New Goddess on Mount Paektu: Myth and Transformation in North Korean Landscape'

[Robert Winstanley-Chesters]

Dear Korean Studies colleagues
I am happy to announce, on December 24th, 2020, the 103rd anniversary of the birth of Kim Jong Suk, first wife of Kim Il Sung, the publication of a monograph 'New Goddess on Mount Paektu: Myth and Transformation in North Korean Landscape' which was first released by Black Halo and Amazon KDP on the 22nd of June, 2020. The long process of research, writing and production of this monograph was made possible by research funding from the Australian Research Council via Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki's ARC Laureate Fellowship project 'Informal Life Politics in North East Asia' (FL120100155), and the Academy of Korean Studies through Professor Heonik Kwon's 'Beyond the Korean War' project at the University of Cambridge (AKS-2010-DZZ-3104).

Colleagues and institutional libraries interested in the monograph may like to note that the kindle/ebook version is ISBN 978-1-8380702-1-2 and the paperback version is ISBN 978-1-8380702-0-5. It can be ordered in the UK and elsewhere through Nielsen Bookscan. It is optimised and available for Kindle e-readers via Amazon here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08BG4F4XX/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0 It is already available in the Legal Deposit libraries of the United Kingdom (British Library, National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales, the Library of Trinity College Dublin, Cambridge University library, Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford).

The ‘Paektusan Generals’ have ruled supreme over North Korea since 1948, three Kims to rule them all. North Korean historiography, ideology and statecraft have it that Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un are everything from Alpha to Omega as far as power and charisma is concerned in Pyongyang. Historians might of course suggest that this was not always so, that North Korea had to create its own narrative and mythology as it went along to develop, consolidate and maintain control over its territory. Kim Il Sung had to be transformed along the way from guerrilla fighter to father of the nation, founder of a dynasty, heir to the energies and power of Mount Paektu. This book explores a character vital to this story and its mythographies, but little known and rarely deeply considered, Kim Jong Suk, the first wife of Kim Il Sung, mother to Kim Jong Il and grandmother to Kim Jong Un. Kim Jong Suk is herself transformed by North Korean history, melded by the political energies of Pyongyang’s theatric politics, moulded by projections of geomantic power from both Korea’s deep past, and nationalist present. Robert Winstanley-Chesters traverses the imagined and reconstructed mythologies of Kim Jong Suk’s transformation from traumatised child of colonial oppression, to notorious ‘crackshot’, revolutionary warrior hero, a New Goddess on Mount Paektu.

"Emerging from the morass of predictably male-centered popular histories of North Korea, this book presents us with a refreshingly heterodox viewpoint positioning Kim Jong Suk, champion of the nation’s revolutionary struggle and first wife of Kim Il Sung, at the center of Pyongyang’s charismatic political history. This unique perspective, born of the author’s credentials in theology and human geography, examines Kim Jong Suk and other historical female characters bestowed with magical powers and their interactions with Korean topography. By meticulously dissecting the constructed memory of Kim Jong Suk embedded in indigenous North Korean accounts, the narrative unveils how she transcends her own fleshly body and embodies female presence on Mount Paektu. Robert Winstanley-Chesters’ new book fills the lacunae in our perception of and imaginings about one of the world’s most mysterious and secretive territories. Focusing on the human interactions with nature contingent on the unique culture and political context of the Korean peninsula, this book is a treasure trove for anyone interested in environmental history, landscape studies, Korean studies and the unexpected intersections between all these topics."
Xiaoxuan Lu, Assistant Professor, The University of Hong Kong

Dr Robert Winstanley-Chesters, University of Leeds, Bath Spa University, Wolfson College

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