A North Korean book on the history of Old Joson? On a scale of 1 to Worker’s Paradise how cringy is this going to be?
A lot of dodginess going on here, as expected. There’s the fact that the whole framework of history seems to have been shoehorned into historical materialism, in fact I’m pretty sure North Korean scholars can’t make historical output that strays from that dogma.
There’s also the equation of the Chinese hanja character hwan (桓, strong) with the Korean root hwan (환, bright), which I hadn’t come across before and is interesting. The extrapolation doesn’t follow the best linguistic practice of comparing records and usages to come to the conclusion, though. This makes me wary because I’ve seen far too many outlandish linguistic claims made without basis, though at least the claim here is more modest. I still dislike the way this comparison just jumped to the conclusion without showing the work, though. Not to say anyone has to reinvent the wheel every time they make a point, maybe that work has already been done by historical linguists in North Korea (and here in the South for all I know), but in that case I would expect a citation and, preferably, at least a recap of the main sources and steps taken to reach that conclusion.
The equation of hwan (桓) with dan (檀, birch) seems to have support from the records so at least it seems more trustworthy, but again, there are not enough indications of which records use them interchangeably, or citations to indicate where that comparison has been made. I would have preferred direct quotes in the text, too. This level of work simply would not pass muster for any serious scholarly publication here.
Another potentially interesting claim, made unserious and unreliable by lack of sources and process: The claim that the Chinese name for proto-Koreanic peoples (or one group of them, it’s been in flux), maek (貊, Northern People), comes from baek (百, hundred) which in turn derives from the Korean root bak (박, bright). Maybe it’s not a wildly out-there claim, but I’m not believing it until I see it confirmed with much better and transparent work.
Also did they just push the founding of Old Joson forward by almost THREE THOUSAND YEARS, from 2333 BC to 5011 BC, give or take 267 years they say, by dating what are claimed to be the founder’s remains? And can carbon dating (or whatever they were using) be that exact? It’s one of those findings that would be groundbreaking if it weren’t for the million warning signs that instantly pop up, starting with my being about 95% sure that this is a cheap ploy for prestige with a specifically political agenda behind it to prop up the regime. Like HOW do you know this is the actual founder of Old Joson, are there textual or other indications of the identity, does the grave match the styles found in the archeological findings of that era? Did this dig even happen? Even if it did, there’s no way I trust the claims at all without independent verification–not easy when it comes from North Korea where there is zero academic freedom or transparency of information.
Still reading on because it’s going on to points that are important to my own work, leading into tribal names, but obviously I can’t fully rely on this work. It’s worth a read as a side reference, but with giant asterisks and question marks all around.
And now I have books on socialisst feminism theory in my reading list for the novel. I suppose it was always a matter of time, with female characters and domestic work being such important parts of the story. I want to kill the idea that only activities like hunting and fighting are worthwhile while housework, foraging and raising children are boring and unimportant–and, even more problematically, that the women who do these traditionally feminine things are boring and unimportant. That’s just a sneaky form of misogyny, that the only way women can be worthy is if they do things deemed as traditionally male and therefore worthwhile, but if they do girl things they’re just like other girls and so can’t be heroes.
Tfw you’re silently shouting at the page, “Don’t stop there!! What happens next?!” and then you realize you’re the asshole writing this thing and you have to continue.
Almost on a whim I wove into this scene a recurring image for all three books. I expected to start using this motif much later, but it felt right to begin in this scene. It’s poignant for me because not only is it tied into deeply emotional moments across the books, but it refers to a milestone in Korean cultural history as well.
I was nervous about writing from the love interest’s PoV, which would also be the first male PoV in this draft, but I really got into it once I started. If I thought the heroine had it bad for him, whew, this boy’s fallen hard–and I do mean hard lol. I was so happy to see the heroine from his point of view, her soft fat beauty all in sparkles and pastel lights while I was trying to figure out euphemisms for a raging hard-on. I guess being a young cis guy is awkward that way.
So the love interest is trapped between a rock and a hard place (no, a different hard place because of course he has an erection at the worst possible time) and the Chinese adversaries can show up at last. Finally I get to use some French-derived fucking words. Will I get the sharp tonal shift I’m hoping for? Only writing it out will tell!
Tfw you’re silently shouting at the page, “Don’t stop there!! What happens next?!” and then you realize you’re the asshole writing this thing and you have to continue.
SO EXCITED to read articles discussing the possibility that groups of Baiyue, the peoples who inhabited modern South China and North Vietnam, lived in ancient Southwest Korea.
We always knew a large group of South/Southeast Asians lived in Korea since ancient times. It’s an archeological and genetic fact, not to mention something you see in the faces of people you pass in the street. My husband has what is called the “Southern” facial structure. So does his mom, and so do about 20% of modern Koreans. But to be able to put a name to these groups and get hints of where they came from? Fucking amazing.
Grave styles. Tools. Agriculture. Even language? I covered my mouth to keep myself from screaming in the library when one of the articles speculated that 半乃 found on a tile fragment from the Korean Southwest might be BaanNaa, “village with rice field” in a major language of the Baiyue peoples.
It’s all rather speculative by necessity, but that’s why I’m writing a novel and not a thesis, right? I’m just trying to give a sound basis to my fictional vision of ancient Korea. And whatever Korea looked like 2,000 years ago, it was most certainly not pale and homogeneous the way some nationalists imagine it.
SO EXCITED to read articles discussing the possibility that groups of Baiyue, the peoples who inhabited modern South China and North Vietnam, lived in ancient Southwest Korea.
We always knew a large group of South/Southeast Asians lived in Korea since ancient times. It’s an archeological and genetic fact, not to mention something you see in the faces of people you pass in the street. My husband has what is called the “Southern” facial structure. So does his mom, and so do about 20% of modern Koreans. But to be able to put a name to these groups and get hints of where they came from? Fucking amazing.
SO EXCITED to read articles discussing the possibility that groups of Baiyue, the peoples who inhabited modern South China and North Vietnam, lived in ancient Southwest Korea.
Didn’t get around to writing over the weekend due to a family camping trip but I did plan my next scene on the train back and forth. Here I go trying to actually write it!
L.J.'s Obsessions 