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Fleeting Update

Let’s see:

Personal Stuff

Teaching

Events

Worthy Reading Material

Upcoming Posts

Sorry to those anticipating them, but my Gin Lane/Soju-ro posts will be waiting till August, I suspect. This month, I’m going to be cutting back and focusing my posts on the stuff I’ll be working into my paper for the Congress this fall (about the general failure of SF (not speculative fiction — fantasy and horror are quite popular here, but I mean science fiction — in Korea, as in, its failure to be adopted into Korean popular culture, be retooled for specifically Korean anxieties or concerns, and attain popularity anything like what we see in the English speaking world, Japan, Europe & the former Soviet Union, and (arguably, but I need to research this more) Taiwan and China. It’ll be some analysis of the use and significance of science-fictional tropes in the following Korean SF movies:

I suspect I’ll start with The Host, since it’s the one film in that list that was a critical success, and because it was the one that started me in on this inquiry. Plus I have my thinking about that film in order and won’t need to re-watch it again in order to put my post together.

As for soju and gin, I wanna do that subject justice, and to do so, I need to do some more reading and also to get some other stuff out of the way. I may start a series sometime, but for now, if you’re interested, two other bloggers are exploring similar terrain right now: James at The Grand Narrative is looking at the role of military conscription in what I’ve (cleverly?) termed the Ajeoshization of Korean men, and here’s a good place to start with that. Meanwhile, The Joshing Gnome has been laying down some wisdom on the concept of jeong (humane feeling toward other human beings) and the role of this concept in a society that is, on basic operating principles, a society of amoral familialism. Start here, and then catch up: post 4 should be up soon! (And, I’ll be back at those comment threads soon!)

I’ll be referring back to both of those series of posts when I do get to my own Gin & Soju series, so you can tell they’re mining worthwhile ground. In fact, of late I’ve felt kind of excited, as if, despite all this activity being outside the academy, there is a kind of network of people evolving who’re asking related sets of questions about Korea, and building up a kind of view that synthesizes personal experience, academic knowledge, and speculative theories.It’s a cool time to be reading Kore-related blogs. Well, as long as you’re not just reading the nitterings of the Fleas that plague the Marmot’s comment sections. Marmot’s Fleas, they’re experts on everything… except on not pulling random claims out of their own backsides.

(Though I should nicely thank Robert for linking me in his sidebar and from time to time in posts, and his generally nice demeanour toward me personally. I’m criticizing the fleas, at this present moment, not the mammal on whose back they ride.)

PS: Stephanie, I’ll try knock that Lost post out soon, but it’ll be a while yet. Got one article for a magazine pitched and needing to get done before I even think about it.

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