"Works of Late Chosŏn Dynasty Korea" project awarded major grant
George Kallander, associate professor of history, has
received a three-year grant from the Academy of Korean Studies to lead a
project to translate four important historical Korean texts into English. As the project director, Kallander will
oversee three other North American scholars on the project. Each will translate, annotate, and write a
scholarly introduction for a primary source written in classical Chinese, the
script of the educated elite during Korea's premodern era. The resulting series will include four titles
ranging from the early seventeenth through the late nineteenth centuries that
reflect the complex and vibrant nature of early modern Korean society. The period was a time of realignment of
Korean identity in the aftermath of the seventeenth century Manchu conquests of
Northeast Asia, followed by economic, social, bureaucratic, and artistic
developments over two centuries of growth and steady change in Korea. This is the first time these works will be
translated into English; making available the annotated translations, and the
scholarly studies that will accompany them, will allow the English-language
world access to historical and artistic developments in Korea during this
important era, long before the country became familiar to the West.
The award, which totals 309,000,000 Korean Won, or
approximately $290,000, was made as part of the "English Translation of
100 Korean Classics" project of the Korean Studies Promotion Service, a
division of the Academy of Korean Studies. 12/03/13