VOL.74/2024.09

 

[English Books in Korea ③]

Korean Folk Tales and Picture Books:
Spreading Korean Culture into the World

Introduction of Korean folk tales and picture books published in English

 

2024.08.05

 

Since its founding in 1963, “Hollym,” the English-language brand of “Hollym Corp., Publishers,” has been publishing and exporting English-language books introducing Korean culture to the world with the catchphrase, “Books on Korea to the World.” In 1977, it established a local subsidiary, “Hollym International Corp.” in New Jersey in the US, and has set up overseas distributors around the world to accelerate book exports.
From the late 1900s to the early 2000s, not many people knew where Korea was located, or even if it existed at all. It was a difficult time for people to make a living, so the domestic publishing industry could not be developed systematically; it was rare for Korean books to be exported and translated and published in local languages in foreign countries because the concept of copyright was not yet well established. Thus, the best way to promote Korea was to publish books in English directly.
Since the early days, Hollym has been publishing a wide range of books dedicated to introducing Korea, regardless of whether it’s history, culture, language, cuisine, art, or literature. Before the advent of the Internet, when newspapers and books were the only sources of knowledge or curious questions, English-speaking readers who wanted to learn more about Korea must have seen Hollym’s books in libraries, souvenir shops, and bookstores at home and abroad. There were also a few English-language picture books for children - the Korean Folk Tales for Children and Let’s Visit series, published in the 1990s, have remained steady sellers ever since. The main purchasers of these books were first-generation immigrants who wanted to introduce their children or grandchildren - who were living abroad and had little exposure to Korean culture - to the Korean spirit and sentiments. In Korea, the books were in high demand among foreign families and US military bases who came to live in Korea with young children.
The books introduced below are English-language picture books published in Korea by Hollym and other publishers that tell stories about Korean folk tales and Korea’s old customs and culture. A number of books on folk tales and myths for adults and teenagers have been translated and published in English through the efforts of various government organizations and private publishers. Here, however, we have narrowed our scope to picture books aimed at children, thereby limiting the selection.

 

A Korean folk tale series for children: Korean Folk Tales for Children
- Published by Hollym Corp., Publishers, 2007

 

 

Since its first publication in 1990, the Korean Folk Tales for Children series has sold steadily, and a revised edition was published in 2007. It is a collection of 20 folk tales that have been loved by Korean children for a long time, organized into 10 picture books, written in both English and Korean. While not losing the original flow, each character is vividly portrayed with a distinctively defined setting, the plot is dramatically simplified to keep the readers engaged, and the sentences are trimmed to be easy to read, concise, and relatable to children.
By following the situations that the main characters, including friendly-looking animals like rabbits and tigers, as well as goblins, fairies, woodcutters, and fishermen, encounter, their backgrounds, and the adversities they face and how they overcome them, readers can gain direct and indirect insights into Korea’s perceptions and values about power, money, justice, filial piety, love, interpersonal relationships, and more. I believe the series’ long-standing popularity is attributable to the fact that it does not try to explain or impose on young readers the virtues that were valued in traditional society, such as poetic justice, humor and sarcasm, wit and wisdom, justice and courage, but rather encourages them to think for themselves and make their own definitions through interesting stories.

 

An introduction to various places in Seoul and Korea: Let’s Visit Korea & Let’s Visit Seoul
- Published by Hollym Corp., Publishers, 2017

 

 

Since first published in 1993, the Let’s Visit series has been revised twice, in 2006 and 2017, with updated illustrations and content to reflect the changing times. The books tell the story of two foreign children visiting Korea on a trip, exploring the country’s major historical sites and tourist attractions. In Let’s Visit Korea, siblings Nick and Mona travel with their family, starting at the Seoul Tower and traveling across the Korean Peninsula, including Gyeongbokgung Palace, Independence Hall of Korea in Cheonan, Icheon, Korean Folk Village, Haeinsa Temple, Gyeongju, Busan, Jeju Island, and Panmunjom, learning about Korea’s history, culture, customs, and traditions.
In Let’s Visit Seoul, Kurt and Elise also start at the Seoul Tower and move on to Gyeongbokgung Palace, Cheongwadae (Blue House), Insadong, Jogyesa Temple, Cheonggyecheon, Myeongdong, Namdaemun Market, Han River, Jamsil, Seoul Arts Center, and more to introduce the diverse aspects of Seoul, the capital of Korea for more than six hundred years, where modernity and tradition blend together. Featuring warm and sentimental illustrations, this bilingual (Korean and English) picture book is a treasure chest of memories for readers who have visited Korea, and a treasure chest of imagination for those who have never been, offering a second-hand experience of the country.

 

Hope for life and freedom: Dear Onyang
- Published by Hollym Corp., Publishers, 2021

 

 

Dear Onyang is the first picture book to address the Heungnam Evacuation during the Korean War. During the Korean War, South Korean and US troops advancing north were overwhelmed by a human wave attack by the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army and planned to retreat south, but rumors spread that if all the soldiers made it south, an atomic bomb like the one dropped on Japan would be dropped on them. Without their father, who has gone off to war, Myeong-ho’s pregnant mother struggles through a blizzard to keep Myeong-ho and his brother safe, arriving late at Heungnam Wharf, but many of the ships have already left. Thanks to Myeong-ho’s appeal for help from a sailor, the family barely makes it onto the Onyang, the last ship to leave Heungnam Wharf, where Myeong-ho’s little sister, ‘Onyang’, is born.
Dear Onyang makes us think not only about the hope for life and freedom, but also about the brutalities of war and the sorrow of separated families behind it. I hope that everyone who reads this book will not turn a blind eye to the devastation of wars that continue to occur around the world, and that it will serve as another opportunity to yearn for peace.

 

A book on the traditional Korean music, Samulnori: The Story of Samulnori
- Published by Sakyejul, 2003

 

 

The Story of Samulnori is a creative picture book that tells the story of samulnori (meaning “four musicians playing and dancing with four percussion instruments”), traditional Korean music, in the form of a mythical tale for young readers to thoroughly understand and enjoy. The story follows the adventures of the two sons and two daughters of the king of “Bright Land” as they travel south, north, east, and west in search of treasure to save their people who have fallen ill from the “ash monster” that has invaded Bright Land. After having met the guardian spirits of each cardinal point – Red Bird (jujak; 주작), Black Tortoise (hyeonmu; 현무), Blue Dragon (cheongryong; 청룡), and White Tiger (baekho; 백호) - they struggled to find the four treasures: kkwaenggwari (small flat gong), jing (gong), janggu (slim waist drum), and buk (barrel drum). The sons and daughters start to play their instruments loudly, and the sound of the taepyeongso (double-reed wind instrument), which was kept by the king, joins them to defeat the ash monster together. In later times, people made musical instruments modeled after these five treasures and played them energetically to express their gratitude and joy to the heavens, to pray for peace, and to entertain themselves. The story of unity and coexistence is depicted in a dynamic and lively fashion, and every single illustration is rich in texture, emulating the texture of a Goguryeo mural, as befits this magnificent story.
It looks like it might not be the easiest book for a child to pick up at first glance, as it’s thicker and heavier than most picture books. But this book comes with a secret weapon: the CD-ROM. The multimedia picture book video makes you feel like you are watching a movie, with voice acting, moving pictures, background music, and sound effects that fit the story, all coming together to create an immersive experience. Another feature is that foreign readers who are unfamiliar with traditional Korean instruments can listen to the sounds of the instruments in the story and enjoy a typical Samdo Pungmulgut (meaning “pungmulgut (farmers’ musical performance) in Samdo”). If you read the picture book again after watching the multimedia version of the story, you will find that the impression and magnificence of the story doubled, resonating in your heart.

 

A series about fading Korean cultures: Gook Shi Ggo Reng Ee Village
- Published by Safari, 2008

 

 

The Gook Shi Ggo Reng Ee Village series is a collection of picture books about Korean culture published by Safari Publishing House. The word “gookshi ggorengi” is a local Gyeongbuk dialect for “gookshi ggori,” which means the two ends cut off when rolling out flour dough to make noodles. While this series is intended to be a bridge between the children of the past and the children of today by rediscovering our fading, lost “jaturi (meaning ‘little leftover pieces, odds and ends, etc.’)” culture, it is also a fun picture book that will make adults who were once children chuckle.
The English edition of the Gook Shi Ggo Reng Ee Village series was published in 2008 in a set of 12 volumes. The story of making poop cakes and offering them to a toilet ghost to pray for the health of a child who fell into a pit toilet (squat toilet), the story of wearing winnow on your head after peeing in bed to get salt, or the origin story of Samsin halmeoni (the goddess of childbirth and fate in Korean mythology), you will discover that Korea had such unique cultures and customs in the past, or you may find that your country has similar customs in common with Korea. Though it is now unable to get the paperback edition, as it has gone out of print, you can still watch the Korean Culture Center New York’s “Online Korean Storybook: Gook Shi Ggo Reng Ee Village series”, a multimedia version produced by the Korean Culture Center New York in collaboration with the publisher Safari, on the YouTube channel of Korean Culture Center New York.

 

 

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Written by Hahm Minji (Editor at Hollym Corp., Publishers)