RAS Lecture Presentation
June 23, 2004
Wednesday 7:30p.m.


”Korean Sources and References in Jack London's The Star Rover”

By Dr. Chang Young-Hee  

The Auditorium of Daewoo Foundation Bldg, 8th Floor
(대우 재단 빌딩, 강당 8층)




Jack London is mainly known as the writer of The Call of the Wild, which more often than not, falls into the category of children's literature.  But he is one of the most dynamic figures in American literature, who has been translated into more fifty languages.  During the early stages of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, London was posted to Japan and Korea as a war correspondent for the San Francisco Examiner.  He could not cover the war as he wished due to the Japanese government's strict censorship of all military activities; yet during his three-month stay in Korea, he seems to have acquired a substantial amount of knowledge about Asia, especially Korean people and culture.  

London seems to have harbored a deep contempt for Asians, especially for Koreans.  He made numerous disrespectful--to say the least--comments about Koreans in his newspaper articles, and in his famous article "Yellow Peril" his assessment of Korean characteristics--compared to those of the Japanese and Chinese--is particularly pejorative.

Somehow, however, he devoted an entire chapter to a Korean episode in his last novel, The Star Rover, which was written ten years after he returned to California. His attitude towards Korea seems to have changed during the ten years between his visit to Korea and the time of writing The Star Rover.  Although he still remains critical and disrepectful towards some Korean customs, he often makes positive comments on Korean traditions and culture, quotes extensively from Korean songs and poems, and what is especially interesting, he creates one of his most memorable female characters in the figure of Lady Om.  What caused this change of attitude can be only guessed at, but it is most likely that he read The Passing of Korea (1906) written by Homer B. Hulbert, an American missionary who lived in Korea for 26 years and who, in his book,  seriously lamented the 'death' of Korean culture as an outcome of Japanese colonization.

Chang Young-Hee did her undergraduate study at Sogang University, and received her doctoral degree in English from The State University of New York at Albany.  She majored in 19C American literature and currently she's professor of English at Sogang University.  She wrote a column called "Crazy Quilt" for 13 years for The Korea Times, which has been published in book form. She's now a columnist for the Chosun-ilbo and the Joongang-ilbo, the two most popular Korean newspapers,  She published a book of Korean essays 내 생애 단 한 번 (Just Once in My Life) in 2000, which became a bestseller.  She has also translated numerous literary works, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Peter Pan, Scarlett,  Breathing Lessons, Living Reed, etc.