| [ EnglishOnly ] in KIDS 글 쓴 이(By): guest (S.O.S) 날 짜 (Date): 1994년10월10일(월) 10시41분46초 KST 제 목(Title): jhan...wsowa jhan Yes, I have read some of Sin, Dong-yup, and Kim, Soo-young. I liked both of them. By the way, you may add Choi, Yun on your enchanting Korean writers' list. I think she is doing a very significant intellectual experiement. She wrote "Hwoe-saek Nun-sa-ram(Gray Snowman) and other important stuff. wsowa I have a comment on the role of "critic." By definition, a critic is a somebody who does criticism. In my humble opinion, there are two kinds of criticism. One is criticism for the sake of criticism. The other one is a criticism to improve the object to be criticized. I would call the first case the "negative" criticism, the latter the "positive" criticism. I would not discuss the "negative" critism. To make a positive critism, I think one has to like the object to be criticized. Otherwise, he would not make such an effort. How then one comes to like the object? I think one has to know the object very well to like the object. Some people may say that they can like something without knowing the object very well. I would respond to such people by arguing that in such a case it is less the object itself and more an idealized image of the object in one's mind that he really likes. This profound idea is not only my subjective opinion, but also the official doctrine of my WFC(Wise Friends' Council). Starting from this premise, if one wants to be a critic of "Korean literature," one has to like it and know it very well. How can one know Korean literature very well? Yes, one has to know who wrote what, and when. But further than that, I think one also has to know why he wrote this, and why he wrote at the specific time, why his wrting style changes over the years, what does the change mean, and what are the influences for the change. Besides, if one wants to know Korean literature really well, one has to know the politics/society/culture/mentality of Korean people. Of course, you also have to know the beauty of Korean nature. Above all, you have to know what is the best drink in Korea. In my experienced opinon, Soju is definitely the best drink in Korea. And my favorite is Soju, not Evian. Sorry jhan. I think what I am saying is that it is very difficult to become a good critic of Korean literature. If you really like to know Korean lierature, I think you really have to put a lot of efforts in it. I know I may be too serious for your not-serious-at-all posting. But as usual, I just took a cue from your word "critic" and tried to clarify some junk in my mind. Basically, I am talking to myself. Sorry to you and other people who may read my boring postings these days. Thanks Tivor for your nice posting. "Hug" was much better than my gibberings. |