Koreans Who Left Joguk, Did Literature Also Leave... A Critical Anthology on 'Overseas Korean Diaspora Literature' Released

Song Myeong-hee, Former Professor at National Pukyong National University, Publishes 'Wandering Souls'

Korean Long-Distance Nationalist Literary Criticism in Goryeo, North America, and Chicago

A collection of critical essays on diaspora literature written by Koreans who left their homeland and their descendants, including Goryeo Koreans, North American Koreans, and Chicago Koreans, has been published.

Literary critic Song Myeong-hee recently published Wandering Souls - Diaspora Literature of Overseas Koreans (Essay and Criticism Publishing). The author, an emeritus professor at Pukyong National University, is a critic who has long been immersed in diaspora literature of overseas Koreans.

This collection is the author’s fourth book following The Past and Present of Korean Literature in the Americas (2010, co-authored), Studies on Canadian Korean Literature (2016), and Transnationalism and Overseas Korean Literature (2017), all by an expert in overseas Korean literature.

Cover of Song Myeonghee's literary criticism collection 'Wandering Souls'.

The Past and Present of Korean Literature in the Americas and Transnationalism and Overseas Korean Literature were selected as excellent academic books by the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Korea, and Studies on Canadian Korean Literature received publication funding from the National Research Foundation of Korea, recognizing its achievements.

The author includes 13 critical essays on diaspora literature of overseas Koreans in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) Goryeo Koreans, as well as those in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Canada. The book is organized into five parts by region?Central Asia, North America, Chicago, Canada?and focuses on currently active writers.

The first part, “Diaspora and Loss of Place of Goryeo Koreans,” includes “Place and Loss of Place in Goryeo Korean Poetry,” which analyzes the poetic world of diaspora poets such as Kim Byeong-hak (who migrated to Kazakhstan in 1992 and permanently returned to Korea in 2016), Lee Stanislav (4th generation Goryeo Korean in Kazakhstan), Choi Seok (migrated to Kazakhstan in 1997), and Kim Vladimir (3rd generation Goryeo Korean in Uzbekistan, naturalized in Korea in 2012).

The second part, “Poetic Orientation of North American Korean Poets,” contains a critique titled “Photopoetry as a Hybrid Genre: Intertextuality of Poetry and Photography” on the poetry of Gilbert Kang (Kang Jeong-sil), president of the Korean Writers’ Association’s North American branch, and another essay titled “Ecological Ethical Consciousness and the Dream of Ecotopia” on poet Kwon Cheon-hak, active in the Canadian Korean literary scene.

The third part, “Formation and Development of Chicago Korean Literature,” examines the formation process and genre development of Chicago Korean literature through demographic statistics and representative authors and works.

The fourth part, “The Past and Present of Chicago’s Poetry,” includes “The Historical Development of Chicago’s Poetry,” which observes Korean American poetry centered on Chicago literature. It also contains five critical essays analyzing the individual poetic worlds of five poets?Kim Young-sook, Shin Ho-cheol, Park Chang-ho, Ko Mi-ja, and Song In-ja?who have published standalone poetry collections.

The fifth part, “Understanding the Status of Korean Diaspora Literature and Research on Policies to Revitalize Literary Exchange ? Canada Edition,” addresses the diaspora status of Canadian Koreans comprehensively beyond literature.

In the preface, the author states, “Our Korean people number about 7.08 million (2023) living abroad, while about 2.5 million foreigners (2023) reside in Korea. We truly live in an era where migration has become normalized on a global scale,” and argues, “In this era of normalized migration, we cannot avoid critiquing the diaspora literature of overseas Koreans.”

She continues, “The most vulnerable area in overseas Korean literature is criticism, and this vulnerability is the same for Korean literature in any region except for Chinese Joseonjok literature. If domestic researchers or critics do not support it with affection, their literature will remain unorganized, unresearched, and unevaluated,” explaining the background of the publication.

Literary critic Song Myeong-hee debuted as a literary critic in 1980 through Hyundae Munhak and served as a professor in the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Pukyong National University from 1981 until her retirement. She has published over 50 books, including works on feminist literature and overseas Korean literature.

Song Myeong-hee, literary critic.

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