Eastern sentiments /

Apart from the story anthology A Ready-Made Life, sel. and tr. by Kim Chong-un and Bruce Fulton (CH, Mar'99, 36-3764), and the early works of Kim Tong-ni and Hwang Sun-Won, which now and again turn up in translation, Korean literature from the Japanese occupation period (1910-45) is only spottily available in English. Korean novelist/editor Yi T'aejun was a socialist sympathizer during the period of Japanese colonial hegemony. On liberation, he abandoned Seoul for the communist north. Fate dealt him a rough hand. Though originally a northerner, he is believed to have been swept away by Kim Il-Sung in a purge of "southern" party cadres in 1956. Yi's place in Korean literature is assured, however. As this collection's 57 anecdotal essays reveal, writing through the lens of a Confucian gentleman-scholar, Yi worked diligently to represent Korea's fading native culture and the colonial underclass alike. The subjects of these Reader's Digest-style essays range from visual-art aesthetics to the meaning of friendship. Though not all the essays Poole (Univ. of Toronto) includes are memorable, Yi's Manchukuo travelogues are unique, and when he discusses the role of classical kisaeng (or singsong girls) or the ultimately Korean pansori folk epic Ch'unyang, he is without equal. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. T. Carolan University of the Fraser Valley