Description
Book SynopsisJaHyun Kim Haboush offers a compelling counternarrative to Western historiography, which ties Korea's idea of nation to the imported ideologies of modern colonialism. This book instead elevates the formative role of the conflicts that defined the second half of the Chosôn Dynasty.
Trade ReviewAs the first work to thoroughly examine the formation of the Korean nation before the modern era,
The Great East Asian War and the Birth of the Korean Nation is an enormous contribution to scholarship on Korean and East Asian history and to the study of nations and nationalism throughout the world. It is certain to cement JaHyun Kim Haboush's legacy as one of the most brilliant scholars of her era. -- Jungwon Kim, Columbia University, co-translator of
Wrongful Death: Selected Inquest Records from Nineteenth Century KoreaThis singular book can be savored on many levels. The lover of fiction will find high dramas of alien invasions and sacked homes, replete with blood and valor worthy of Hollywood. The scholar—of East Asia or elsewhere—will be challenged to rethink the relationship between the nation, language, and modernity. It saddens me that there will be no more books by the incomparable JaHyun Kim Haboush after this one. -- Dorothy Ko, Barnard College, coeditor of
The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational TheoryHaboush’s innovative research shows how Korea emerged as one of the first imagined communities, and one of the most enduring. * Foreign Affairs *
A welcome contribution to the study of Chosŏn Korea. -- Nam-Lin Hur * Journal of Asian Studies *
A provocative re-examination of an important period of East Asian history. * Journal of Early Modern History *
Required reading for anyone interested in the discourse of a nation more generally and in this particular war. * The Sixteenth Century Journal *
This provocative book reminds us of [Haboush’s] signal contributions to the history of early modern Korea. * Journal of Interdisciplinary History *
A welcome addition to recent scholarship.... Haboush's manuscript leaves readers with much to ponder about the Imjin War, literature, and nationhood in the premodern world.... Highly recommended. * Choice *
For her service, Haboush deserves our praise, and I am glad that her widower, her students, and her friends brought these unfinished notes to light. We have a significant contribution in this slim volume. * Monumenta Nipponica 72:1 *
Table of ContentsForeword, by William J. Haboush
Introduction
1. The Volunteer Army and the Discourse of Nation
2. The Volunteer Army and the Emergence of Imagined Community
3. War of Words: The Changing Nature of Literary Chinese in the Japanese Occupation
4. Language Strategy: The Emergence of a Vernacular National Space
5. The Aftermath: Dream Journeys and the Culture of Commemoration
Publications by JaHyun Kim Haboush
Notes
Bibliography
Index
