An Affair with Korea

Download or read book An Affair with Korea written by Vincent S. R. Brandt and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2014-02-01 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1966 Vincent S. R. Brant lived in Sokp’o, a poor and isolated South Korean fishing village on the coast of the Yellow Sea, carrying out social anthropological research. At that time, the only way to reach Sokp’o, other than by boat, was a two hour walk along foot paths. This memoir of his experiences in a village with no electricity, running water, or telephone shows Brandt’s attempts to adapt to a traditional, preindustrial existence in a small, almost completely self-sufficient community. This vivid account of his growing admiration for an ancient way of life that was doomed, and that most of the villagers themselves despised, illuminates a social world that has almost completely disappeared.