Column
The Reading Culture of Korea: An Educational Approach
GURYEVA Anastasia A.
Professor, Saint Petersburg State University
The paper focuses on an educational approach to such a phenomenon as reading culture of Korea approaching it as a valuable source of information, covering mental, spiritual and social life of the Korean people. As book and text hold a special place in Korean culture, reading attains a number of functions outside intellectual sphere and makes it a multifaceted phenomenon linked to a variety of cultural, social and even political issues. Therefore, considering some of its specifics can be incorporated in an educational process when dealing with many of such issues to illustrate them or to bring them to a new perspective. Ontological, gnoseological, and social aspects of studying books [E. Zavadskaya] can be extrapolated to reading.
While many libraries and Asian studies centers outside Korea possess a significant number of Korean antiquarian books collected on the break of the 19-20th cc., students' work with them is predominantly limited to a rather small group mostly representing the field of source studies. At the same time, an acquaintance with them when studying Korea brings one to a deeper understanding of processes lying in the core of its culture in different periods. As a representative element of Korean mentality and intellectuality, book culture and namely reading related aspects should not be underestimated by students (and excluded by lecturers) when considering cultural and social history of Korea. The same may be said about contemporary culture and society, as well. Reading related policies, book societies, reader oriented campaigns etc. allow trace current social trends and even some tendencies, which may not be as obvious.
The paper gives an outline of several aspects of Korean reading culture which may serve an object of consideration in educational process as a part of various curricula ranging from literature and history to more specialized disciplines. Some examples are as follows:
1. Examining inner and outer bibliographical characteristics of Korean book in relation with its target audience. E.g. space organization of a cover/page: concepts of "emptiness", "concealed beauty", yin-yang 陰陽, "Heaven-Earth-Human" triad 天地人, etc. Specifics of marginalia. There are ways to discuss specifics of Korean culture through examining outer specifics of book before reading texts in them.
a) The minimal decoration of Korean books covers relates to the concept of concealed beauty, which explains the reserved design usually limited to the imprinted ornament.
b) The composition of page inside Korean books is characterized by the abundance of empty space. This relates to the concept of emptiness, in turn, implying a number of meanings important for understanding specifics of Korean culture.
c) The composition of a page relates to the triad of cheon-ji-in (Heaven-Earth-Human) important for the culture of East Asia in general. The upper part of a page represents Heaven, and the lower represents Earth while a text or a picture stands for a Human. This idea correlates to the importance of the empty space on a page, as well.
d) Numbering of volumes within a book (gweon 卷) can be different and vary from numbers and common symbols of sang-jung-ha 上中下, to a multitude of symbols having a relation to time and space models.
e) Marginalia left in books sheds light on the sociology of reading of each period, and explains some specifics of a book's provenance. What interested readers? Who were they? What was their educational level? These are some of the numerous questions which can be answered at least partly through the analysis of the readers' notes.
f) In the same manner, it is possible to discuss other models and patterns which are important to know for students majoring in Korean culture.
As the above listed aspects demonstrate, the specifics of outer and inner book characteristics convey a complex of cultural specifics, relating to the general weltanschauung of Koreans. If the material has been taught before, discussing it on the basis on reading culture is a way to revise it, if not – this is a way to introduce the students with them and to illustrate them to serve a better explanation.
2. Relation of reading culture with book production and circulation in the context of intellectual history and social transformations. E.g. in Late Joseon, widening of the readers' audience and shifts in readers' preferences relate with the commercialized book production and become a part of such complicated process as formation of city culture in Korea.
a) Examining new types of editions, which marked the development of commercial culture in the field of book production, can demonstrate multiple issues related to the society of 18-19th century Korea. Such issues as shifts in readers' preferences, aspects of literary taste, ordinary people's literacy etc. are vivid illustrations for the social processes every Korean studies student should learn about.
b) Book lending shops, sechaek 貰冊phenomenon formed in the period is a feature different from Chinese or Japanese book culture.
c) Besides, the changes cause significant transformations in literature of the period influencing genres in general as well as imagery, forms and artistic tools applied and other specifics of texts.
Discussing the above aspects in class can bring the students' attention to a number of significant changes in literary forms as well as essential social transformations steadily bringing to the formation of modernity. Besides, using book culture as a prerequisite for learning the material helps the students' perception of Korean culture as a whole, as a phenomenon with interrelated elements. Besides, this helps their motivation for learning a wide range of information outside of their specific specialization.
3. Reading perceived as a success strategy in the Republic of Korea of 21th century. A part of conceptualizing success, "reading method" becomes a highly demanded element of self-improvement chagi-kyebal 自己啓發which produces a wide range of related literature. Educational centers for learning reading methods are opening, and many famous figures share their secrets of reading methods that brought them to the place of social recognition.
This part of the paper introduces new tendency of representing reading as a short way to success. The paper describes an idea of reading as a method of achieving success which has been actively implemented in recent years through considering related literature, including bestsellers and steady sellers.
Most of the books on the topic teach the method of choosing books to read and the method of reading as a process. There formed a term dogseobeob (독서법), which always relates to the issue of self-improvement. These methods are introduced by the authors of the books who base their advices on the opinion of famous people (predominantly Korean writers or other people who became known through their activities in the field of humanities). Their own examples of success serve a model for the readers. Most of the writers share their personal reading biography which brought them to the place, where they are.
E.g. is the book "Powerful classics" 파워 클래식 (오수운, 서울: 민음사, 2013), which contains the information of 38 books each recommended by a famous writer or a scholar along with the question formulated as the main one to ask and then to answer through reading the book. E,g, a researcher Song Ho-geun introduces Yu Gil-jung's (1856-2014) "Notes of what I Saw and Heard during my Journey to the West" Soyugyeonmun (西遊見聞) asking the question "What is the role of an intellectual?".
The method may be introduced through a personal experience of the author close to mystery. The illustrative example is the book 48 bun gijeok-eui dogdeobob (48분 기적의 독서법) "A mysterious method of 48 minutes reading" (김병완, 서울, 2011), in which the author describes the acquisition of the method as a form of an enlightenment. This book also aims at bringing the authors to a new level of life as it happened to the author (인생 업그레이드). Some books obtained outstanding readers' attention, become steady bestsellers and get regularly republished. Thus, Lee Jiseong's «Lead through reading» (Ridingeuro rideuhara) (이지성, 리딩으로 리더하라, 2013), which was sold in over 600 000 copies, and upgraded to a hard-cover volume with a mark of a special readers' recognition).
The same author participated in the project series «Manager Hong becomes a genious in….» introducing the sphere of reading (2011,co-authored with Jeong Hoe-gil (이지성, 정회길, 홍대리 독서천재가 된다, 2011). In the series a manager succeeds in learning some sphere, and his endeavors are presented in the form of fiction. The book is presented as «The first reading manual written as a novel».
Therefore, reading is perceived as a competence, which should be continuously developed. Some of recommendations comply with the traditional approach to reading Confucian classics (including, for example, repetitive reading method). In the above manuals we can trace some optimization of reading methods in order to make them adaptive to the contemporary life.
4. The President of the Republic of Korea Mun Jae-In's positioning himself as a "continuously reading president" as an embodiment of the above idea. The head of the State regularly shares his reading approaches and preferences as a book lover. Related activities by the Doburo minjudang political party during the election campaign and multiple media reports after its success as well as book publications representing the "reading president" are to consider as a special message demonstrating a continuity with Kim Dae-jung, the first RK President who chose reading as his official credo.
Mun Jae-In, the current president of the Republic of Korea, has been actively positioning himself as a "continuously reading president". One of the meaningful roles in formation of such an image has been imposed on the book published before the President elections: «Mun Jae-In's Bookshelf» "문재인의 서재" (태기수, 서울, 2017) explaining what books made him stand in front of the Nation with a certain Program and views. For the past almost two years there have been several cases when the president produced widely discussed informational issues related with books. This feature of the country leader relates with the traditional East Asian respect to working with texts. At the same time, it follows the contemporary tendency to represent reading as a way for developing leadership skills. Besides, this is an opportunity for the president to express a linkage with some of the presidents of the past as press lately tends to discuss former leaders also through the lenses of reading habits.
Thus, reading becomes an element of political discourse and serves a linkage for political groups.
The above two aspects illustrate the following specifics of Korean mentality:
- placing texts as special tools for personal growth. Being culturally universal, this phenomenon develops specifically in Korea;
- concentrated attention to intellectual activities as a characteristics of a person;
- therefore, understanding reading as an important criterion;
- reading becomes an essential part of social and political life.
The listed specifics motivate students to learn them and also activate their interest to Korean literature, moreover, reading in general. This is an important result in the contemporary times when young people tend to associate reading with work and obligation rather than leisure and pleasure.
These and other aspects and features exemplary in a view of demonstrating informative character of reading culture will be tackled in the paper to present the educational approach, its prerequisites and possible results of implementing it basing on the author's lecturing experience (including students' feed-back).
2. Glomb Vladimír. Reading the Classics till Death: Yulgok Yi I and the Curriculum of Chosŏn Literati Studia Orientalia Slovaca, vol. 11/ 2, 2012
3. Guryeva A.A. «President's Bookshelf: Reading as a Strategy of Success in the Republic of Korea // Korean Penninsula in Search of Peace and Prosperity. Vol 2. Moscow: Institute of the Far East, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2019. Pp. 144-156. (in Russian)
4. Guryeva A.A. Book of the Far East as an Educational Course: Teaching Culture through Book History // XXXth International Congress on Historiography and Source Studies of Asia and Africa: on the Occasion of Academician Vasily V. Barthold (1869-1930). Saint Petersburg: Saint Petersburg State University, 2019.
5. Guryeva A.A. Educational aspects of Korean antiquarian books// CEESOK Journal of Korean Studies. Special focus: Teaching Korean studies in Central and Eastern Europe. Vol. 16. Moscow: Moscow State Linguistic University. 2016. с. 40-51.
6. Guryeva А.А. Library as a Symbol of Care for Citizens: on some Social Projects in Seoul // Russia and Korea in the Changing World. Moscow 2014. Pp. 265-273. (in Russian)
7. Kim Byeong-wan. 48 pun gijeok-eui dokseobob : [Miracleos Method of Reading for 48 Minutes]. Seoul 2011. (in Korean)
8. Lee Jiseong, Jeong Hoe-gil, Dokdeo cheonjae-ga dwen Hong daeri : [Manager Hong becomes a Genious in Reading] Seoul, 2011. (in Korean)
9. Lee Ji-seong. Reading-euro lideohara [With a help of Reading become a Leader]. Seoul, 2016. (in Korean)
10. Paweo keullaesik: [Powerful Classic]. Comp. by Oh Su-ung. Seoul 2013. (in Korean)
11. Tae Gi-su. Mun Jae-In-eui Seojae [Mun Jae-In's Bookshelf]. Seoul 2017. (in Korean)
12. Zavadskaya E.V. Japanese art of book (7-19th cc.). Moscow: Kniga, 1986. (in Russian)
While many libraries and Asian studies centers outside Korea possess a significant number of Korean antiquarian books collected on the break of the 19-20th cc., students' work with them is predominantly limited to a rather small group mostly representing the field of source studies. At the same time, an acquaintance with them when studying Korea brings one to a deeper understanding of processes lying in the core of its culture in different periods. As a representative element of Korean mentality and intellectuality, book culture and namely reading related aspects should not be underestimated by students (and excluded by lecturers) when considering cultural and social history of Korea. The same may be said about contemporary culture and society, as well. Reading related policies, book societies, reader oriented campaigns etc. allow trace current social trends and even some tendencies, which may not be as obvious.
The paper gives an outline of several aspects of Korean reading culture which may serve an object of consideration in educational process as a part of various curricula ranging from literature and history to more specialized disciplines. Some examples are as follows:
1. Examining inner and outer bibliographical characteristics of Korean book in relation with its target audience. E.g. space organization of a cover/page: concepts of "emptiness", "concealed beauty", yin-yang 陰陽, "Heaven-Earth-Human" triad 天地人, etc. Specifics of marginalia. There are ways to discuss specifics of Korean culture through examining outer specifics of book before reading texts in them.
a) The minimal decoration of Korean books covers relates to the concept of concealed beauty, which explains the reserved design usually limited to the imprinted ornament.
b) The composition of page inside Korean books is characterized by the abundance of empty space. This relates to the concept of emptiness, in turn, implying a number of meanings important for understanding specifics of Korean culture.
c) The composition of a page relates to the triad of cheon-ji-in (Heaven-Earth-Human) important for the culture of East Asia in general. The upper part of a page represents Heaven, and the lower represents Earth while a text or a picture stands for a Human. This idea correlates to the importance of the empty space on a page, as well.
d) Numbering of volumes within a book (gweon 卷) can be different and vary from numbers and common symbols of sang-jung-ha 上中下, to a multitude of symbols having a relation to time and space models.
e) Marginalia left in books sheds light on the sociology of reading of each period, and explains some specifics of a book's provenance. What interested readers? Who were they? What was their educational level? These are some of the numerous questions which can be answered at least partly through the analysis of the readers' notes.
f) In the same manner, it is possible to discuss other models and patterns which are important to know for students majoring in Korean culture.
As the above listed aspects demonstrate, the specifics of outer and inner book characteristics convey a complex of cultural specifics, relating to the general weltanschauung of Koreans. If the material has been taught before, discussing it on the basis on reading culture is a way to revise it, if not – this is a way to introduce the students with them and to illustrate them to serve a better explanation.
2. Relation of reading culture with book production and circulation in the context of intellectual history and social transformations. E.g. in Late Joseon, widening of the readers' audience and shifts in readers' preferences relate with the commercialized book production and become a part of such complicated process as formation of city culture in Korea.
a) Examining new types of editions, which marked the development of commercial culture in the field of book production, can demonstrate multiple issues related to the society of 18-19th century Korea. Such issues as shifts in readers' preferences, aspects of literary taste, ordinary people's literacy etc. are vivid illustrations for the social processes every Korean studies student should learn about.
b) Book lending shops, sechaek 貰冊phenomenon formed in the period is a feature different from Chinese or Japanese book culture.
c) Besides, the changes cause significant transformations in literature of the period influencing genres in general as well as imagery, forms and artistic tools applied and other specifics of texts.
Discussing the above aspects in class can bring the students' attention to a number of significant changes in literary forms as well as essential social transformations steadily bringing to the formation of modernity. Besides, using book culture as a prerequisite for learning the material helps the students' perception of Korean culture as a whole, as a phenomenon with interrelated elements. Besides, this helps their motivation for learning a wide range of information outside of their specific specialization.
3. Reading perceived as a success strategy in the Republic of Korea of 21th century. A part of conceptualizing success, "reading method" becomes a highly demanded element of self-improvement chagi-kyebal 自己啓發which produces a wide range of related literature. Educational centers for learning reading methods are opening, and many famous figures share their secrets of reading methods that brought them to the place of social recognition.
This part of the paper introduces new tendency of representing reading as a short way to success. The paper describes an idea of reading as a method of achieving success which has been actively implemented in recent years through considering related literature, including bestsellers and steady sellers.
Most of the books on the topic teach the method of choosing books to read and the method of reading as a process. There formed a term dogseobeob (독서법), which always relates to the issue of self-improvement. These methods are introduced by the authors of the books who base their advices on the opinion of famous people (predominantly Korean writers or other people who became known through their activities in the field of humanities). Their own examples of success serve a model for the readers. Most of the writers share their personal reading biography which brought them to the place, where they are.
E.g. is the book "Powerful classics" 파워 클래식 (오수운, 서울: 민음사, 2013), which contains the information of 38 books each recommended by a famous writer or a scholar along with the question formulated as the main one to ask and then to answer through reading the book. E,g, a researcher Song Ho-geun introduces Yu Gil-jung's (1856-2014) "Notes of what I Saw and Heard during my Journey to the West" Soyugyeonmun (西遊見聞) asking the question "What is the role of an intellectual?".
The method may be introduced through a personal experience of the author close to mystery. The illustrative example is the book 48 bun gijeok-eui dogdeobob (48분 기적의 독서법) "A mysterious method of 48 minutes reading" (김병완, 서울, 2011), in which the author describes the acquisition of the method as a form of an enlightenment. This book also aims at bringing the authors to a new level of life as it happened to the author (인생 업그레이드). Some books obtained outstanding readers' attention, become steady bestsellers and get regularly republished. Thus, Lee Jiseong's «Lead through reading» (Ridingeuro rideuhara) (이지성, 리딩으로 리더하라, 2013), which was sold in over 600 000 copies, and upgraded to a hard-cover volume with a mark of a special readers' recognition).
The same author participated in the project series «Manager Hong becomes a genious in….» introducing the sphere of reading (2011,co-authored with Jeong Hoe-gil (이지성, 정회길, 홍대리 독서천재가 된다, 2011). In the series a manager succeeds in learning some sphere, and his endeavors are presented in the form of fiction. The book is presented as «The first reading manual written as a novel».
Therefore, reading is perceived as a competence, which should be continuously developed. Some of recommendations comply with the traditional approach to reading Confucian classics (including, for example, repetitive reading method). In the above manuals we can trace some optimization of reading methods in order to make them adaptive to the contemporary life.
4. The President of the Republic of Korea Mun Jae-In's positioning himself as a "continuously reading president" as an embodiment of the above idea. The head of the State regularly shares his reading approaches and preferences as a book lover. Related activities by the Doburo minjudang political party during the election campaign and multiple media reports after its success as well as book publications representing the "reading president" are to consider as a special message demonstrating a continuity with Kim Dae-jung, the first RK President who chose reading as his official credo.
Mun Jae-In, the current president of the Republic of Korea, has been actively positioning himself as a "continuously reading president". One of the meaningful roles in formation of such an image has been imposed on the book published before the President elections: «Mun Jae-In's Bookshelf» "문재인의 서재" (태기수, 서울, 2017) explaining what books made him stand in front of the Nation with a certain Program and views. For the past almost two years there have been several cases when the president produced widely discussed informational issues related with books. This feature of the country leader relates with the traditional East Asian respect to working with texts. At the same time, it follows the contemporary tendency to represent reading as a way for developing leadership skills. Besides, this is an opportunity for the president to express a linkage with some of the presidents of the past as press lately tends to discuss former leaders also through the lenses of reading habits.
Thus, reading becomes an element of political discourse and serves a linkage for political groups.
The above two aspects illustrate the following specifics of Korean mentality:
- placing texts as special tools for personal growth. Being culturally universal, this phenomenon develops specifically in Korea;
- concentrated attention to intellectual activities as a characteristics of a person;
- therefore, understanding reading as an important criterion;
- reading becomes an essential part of social and political life.
The listed specifics motivate students to learn them and also activate their interest to Korean literature, moreover, reading in general. This is an important result in the contemporary times when young people tend to associate reading with work and obligation rather than leisure and pleasure.
These and other aspects and features exemplary in a view of demonstrating informative character of reading culture will be tackled in the paper to present the educational approach, its prerequisites and possible results of implementing it basing on the author's lecturing experience (including students' feed-back).
References
1. Eliseev D.D. On the issue of the role of manuscript book in Korean culture // Manuscript book in the Culture of the Peoples of the Orient. Moscow: Nauka, 1988. (in Russian)2. Glomb Vladimír. Reading the Classics till Death: Yulgok Yi I and the Curriculum of Chosŏn Literati Studia Orientalia Slovaca, vol. 11/ 2, 2012
3. Guryeva A.A. «President's Bookshelf: Reading as a Strategy of Success in the Republic of Korea // Korean Penninsula in Search of Peace and Prosperity. Vol 2. Moscow: Institute of the Far East, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2019. Pp. 144-156. (in Russian)
4. Guryeva A.A. Book of the Far East as an Educational Course: Teaching Culture through Book History // XXXth International Congress on Historiography and Source Studies of Asia and Africa: on the Occasion of Academician Vasily V. Barthold (1869-1930). Saint Petersburg: Saint Petersburg State University, 2019.
5. Guryeva A.A. Educational aspects of Korean antiquarian books// CEESOK Journal of Korean Studies. Special focus: Teaching Korean studies in Central and Eastern Europe. Vol. 16. Moscow: Moscow State Linguistic University. 2016. с. 40-51.
6. Guryeva А.А. Library as a Symbol of Care for Citizens: on some Social Projects in Seoul // Russia and Korea in the Changing World. Moscow 2014. Pp. 265-273. (in Russian)
7. Kim Byeong-wan. 48 pun gijeok-eui dokseobob : [Miracleos Method of Reading for 48 Minutes]. Seoul 2011. (in Korean)
8. Lee Jiseong, Jeong Hoe-gil, Dokdeo cheonjae-ga dwen Hong daeri : [Manager Hong becomes a Genious in Reading] Seoul, 2011. (in Korean)
9. Lee Ji-seong. Reading-euro lideohara [With a help of Reading become a Leader]. Seoul, 2016. (in Korean)
10. Paweo keullaesik: [Powerful Classic]. Comp. by Oh Su-ung. Seoul 2013. (in Korean)
11. Tae Gi-su. Mun Jae-In-eui Seojae [Mun Jae-In's Bookshelf]. Seoul 2017. (in Korean)
12. Zavadskaya E.V. Japanese art of book (7-19th cc.). Moscow: Kniga, 1986. (in Russian)
