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The (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, ca. 1282–1289) is not a Buddhist or nationalistic response to the (History of the Three Kingdoms, 1136–1145). Iry7n and his disciple Hon’gu compiled the to present anecdotes from Korea’s rich native and local lore and to demonstrate that the tales of Korea’s founders were just as good as those of China. A more fruitful way to concept-ualize the relationship between the and is to think of the former as more representative of official, Confucian, or central discourse and the latter as preserving the lore of Korea’s antiquity. Although unavoidably influenced by Buddhist perceptions of the cosmos, the value of the comes from its inclusion of many types of unofficial materials, including samples of local records, inscriptions, monastery records, strange tales, and songs in the vernacular. These local materials, filtered through the lens of Buddhist monks of the Kory7 period, conserve something of the voice of ancient and medieval Koreans.

This article sees Korea’s colonial modernity as a set of paradoxes and provides a reading of it through the most symptomatic aspects of such modernity—the New Woman, ideals of romance, hypermasculinity of the colonial subject, and railroads. I examine texts by and about colonial intellectuals who were at the forefront of cultural and literary experience and production. My discussion shows that this literature reveals colonial Korea as an arena in which the old and the new intermingle and coexist, leading to new conceptions and practices of family and marriage. The New Woman and her male counterpart become recognizable cultural personae and compete against each other for the limited access to modernity especially through education and travel, the two major modes of gaining exposure to the changing world and its values. The New Woman becomes the human fallout of such competition, as Korea’s anti-colonial nationalism, a very much male-identified thought, provides an excuse to ignore women’s causes, even though they are intertwined with the causes of national sovereignty. Ultimately, what results is a split loyalty and double-identification among Korea’s colonial intellectuals, who fail to create a viable alternative to the Old that is dead and the New that is yet unborn.

Although the highly unconventional Chos(n-dynasty (1392–1910) court painter Sin Yunbok (born ca. 1758–died after 1815) is renowned as a pioneer of kisaeng imagery in traditional Korean painting, his portrayals of these women have not yet been studied in detail. Examination of his paintings reveals that the professional female entertainers were depicted in a wide range of styles. However, recent scholarship continues to place emphasis on their physical appearance and elegant brushwork, and the subtle emotions expressed beneath their beautiful façade, in diverse settings and circumstances, have so far been completely overlooked. This article examines a number of Sin Yunbok’s celebrated kisaeng images to attain a better understanding of the lives of these women, and their emotions. For sake of clarity, the artist’s kisaeng imagery is divided into two categories based on their stylistic characteristics, namely, depictions of solitary kisaeng and depictions of these beautiful female entertainers in the company of upper-class men or attracting the unwanted attention of Buddhist monks. Through examination of the various images, it will be possible to better understand the diverse emotions of these women, including their loneliness, sadness, annoyance and weariness, and brief moments of pleasure.

Rev. Kil Son-ju (1869-1935), often called the father of Korean Protestantism, was the most important leader of the famous Great Revival of 1907 and further revivals of subsequent years (up to 1935). Commemorating the fust centenary of the Great Revival, thts article examines how he helped Korean Protestant Christianity to take on a deftnitely revivahst and fundamentahst form. Having taken advantage of his rebous (especdy Sdndo) background, Kil emphasized fervent spiritual endeavor, as may be seen in both hs early writings: Haet'aron (Treatise on laziness) and Mansa songch'wi (Fulfhent of all dungs). Ths was necessary for him since he and early Korean Christians wanted to differentiate themselves from others through their spiritual endeavors. So Kil played a key role in establishing the tradition of sanyongboe (Bible study class) and saebyok kdoboe (day-break prayer meeting) and, what is more, in incorporating these two practices into pubringhoe (revival meeting), which spread like ddfue all over the Korean Peninsula. He was, however, preoccupied with inducing confession of sins in revival meetings, perhaps because it gave Korean Christians a deep and internal assurance that they had become true Christians. Kil along with other early Korean Christians, who wanted to have a strong assurance of their being true Christians, further sought an absolutized and dogmatic ground for their Christian truth, for which the fundamentahst doctrine of Biblical inerrancy was set up. In sum, Kil's revivahst, Biblicist theology, which was heightened by hs early theology of fervent spiritual endeavor and hs later sturdy denniahsm, naturally evolved into a fundamentahst theology, whch remains dominant in Korea even today.

Professor Michael C. Kalton received his Ph.D. in Comparative Religion and East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University in 1977. He is well known both in Korea and the West for his pioneering work on Korean Neo-Confucianism and particularly for his studies of the philosophy of T’oegye Yi Hwang (1501–1570). He is the author of To Become a Sage: The Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning by Yi T’oegye (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988) and the co-author of The Four-Seven Debate: An Annotated Translation of the Most Famous Controversy in Korean Neo-Confucian Thought, (New York: SUNY Press, 1994). He is currently Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, Tacoma, where he teaches courses on East Asian thought and environmental ethics. Professor Kalton very kindly gave this interview to Acta Koreana on the occasion of the Third Keimyung International Conference on Korean Studies (KICKS 2007): Translating Korean Classical Materials Abroad: The Current State and the Tasks Ahead.