Korean Collections

OSUL has several resources for students in the early stages of learning Korean. These include picture books such as Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Aladdin, and Sleeping Beauty from the Disney Golden Book series.

• 알라딘 (Aladdin)
• 신데렐라 (Cinderella)
• 잠 자는 숲 속 의 공주 (Sleeping Beauty)
• 백설 공주 (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
• 인어 공주 (The Little Mermaid)

The Korean Studies Collections is starting a blog series – “From Our Shelves”. This blog series will consist of posts about interesting items that are available in the Korean Studies Collections of The Ohio State University Library.  As our first blog post, we will be featuring a children’s poetry book – 꼬마 점쟁이  (Kkoma chŏmjaengi).

Although꼬마 점쟁이  (Kkoma chŏmjaengi) is told from a child’s point of view, authors 박정(Pak Chŏng) and 숙희(Suk-hŭi) make clear that the universal themes of this book are pertinent to people of all ages. The short poems are divided into five categories, which range from emotions such as “사랑, 희망, 꿈”  to nature such as “꽃, 식물, 곤충, 동물”.

Poetry has a rich history in Korea. According to The British Council’s How to Understand Korean Poetry, poetry was an essential aspect of 19^th century Korean culture and continued to be so during the war.

According to Traditional Korean Poetry Has Rich History by the Korean Times, the market for poetry in South Korea today is greater than in the West, reflecting the significance of poetry in South Korean culture. 고은 (Ko Un) is one of the most renowned Korean poets, and his works are recognized worldwide.

Online articles about Korean poetry and 고은 (Ko Un) in English  from  World Literature Today v.84 (OSUL login required):

• After Liberation: Notes on Contemporary Korean Poetry
• Ko Un’s “Maninbo”: History as Poem, Poem as History 

Books by 고은 (Ko Un) in OSUL:

• 개념 의 숲 (Kaenyŏm ŭi sup) by Ko Un (in Korean)
• The Sound of my Waves: Selected poems by Ko Un (in English)