Sourcebook of Korean Civilization, vol. 1, From Early Times to the Sixteenth Century (review)

BOOK REVIEWS227 mate goal of any anthology. One of the unfortunate aspects of Lee's anthology in this regard is that his introductory remarks frequently seem more to be a display of his eclectic knowledge than a relevant statement addressing the issues at hand. In addition, the material in this anthology could have been organized in a more useful and comprehensible manner, one that does not require the reader to try to figure out why there are so many obscurely labeled sections. The role ofthe editor should be to help the reader prepare for the surprise journey ahead in his or her encounter with Korean literature. If the reader approaches modern Korean literature expecting to find a complacent image of Korea, he or she will be startled to find instead that it is his or her own complacent image of the West that is being challenged at every turn. The time has come to reexamine the whole matter of the dichotomies of modern and premodern, of the West and the non-West, and of racism and nationalism so entrenched in the current global politics. A volume introducing "modern Korean literature" is as important a place and as suitable an occasion to begin that process as any other academic endeavor. An anthology that can do that will be a real accomplishment. Jeanne Paik Kaufman Sourcebook ofKorean Civilization, vol. 1, From Early Times to the Sixteenth Century, edited by Peter H. Lee with Donald Baker, Yöngho Ch'oe, Hugh H.W.Kang, and Han-Kyo Kim. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993. In the Sourcebook ofKorean Civilization, we can see proof of the growth that has occurred in the Korean studies field in recent years. I recall, as a graduate student, how mightily Wm. Theodore de Bary's Japanese and Chinese Sources had seemed to speak for the accomplishments of other Asian civilizations and felt sad to have nothing to show for Korea. I recall how impressed I felt with the immensity of the Kyujanggak palace library of documents that was housed next door at Seoul National University when I was a student there in the early 1960s (the new building is even more impressive). That library loomed as a symbol of the monumental achievements in Chinese composition that Koreans had amassed over the years. And to think that those extant documents are but a fraction of what Koreans had produced over the years of the Chosön period. Consider the collected letters of private scholars and their uncounted miscellaneous writings. Moreover, we know that the same is true for what remains of the Three Kingdoms and Koryö. 228BOOK REVIEWS Now we have in our hands the physical evidence of a great civilization in some 700 pages of English translation—and this is just the first of two volumes. The translations of seventeen scholars have been compiled in the tradition of de Bary's Sources of Chinese, Indian, and Japanese traditions , which were first issued in the late 1950s. This new Korea volume is clearly without precedent in the field of Korean studies and, as such, is a milestone marking field's maturity. The closest approximation of the new Sourcebook ofKorean Civilization that comes to mind would be the one-volume Bibliographical Guide to Traditional Korean Sources (Korea University Asiatic Research Center, 1976), which drew upon a series of bibliographical notes that had began to appear in the mimeographed Asiatic Research Bulletin in the late 1950s. This closely researched and informative guide, being purely bibliographical , contained sketches and outlines of content, but without extended samples of content. Until now a student had to settle for being told about Korean civilization by teachers or reading occasional handouts culled from scattered sources. But now, with the Sourcebook, the student has direct access to the basic documentation of Korean civilization and can read basic texts in a wide-ranging context with informative essays that present the selected texts in their historical context. We look forward not only to the second volume—which will pick up with the sixteenth century where the first volume leaves off—but also to the appearance of a paperback edition of selected texts, which students can afford to buy. This...