New Releases by Young Kim

Kim argues that educational and occupational success for groups in the racial middle such as Korean and Asian Americans does not necessarily translate into further integration in other sectors of American society. Educational and professional accomplishments, while accelerating integration and acceptance, can be accompanied by exclusion in other sectors of society. Thus, Korean and Asian Americans may experience rapid intergenerational upward mobility and integration, but still be subject racialization and exclusion. This challenges the assimilation paradigm that immigrants and their children will assimilate and continue to achieve full integration and acceptance in the mainstream society.

This volume is a collection of six essays that Dr. Kim published in various journals over the past several years. They represent the early period of Dr. Kim''s theological journey into Christian faith as a Korean Christian or, more broadly, an East Asian Christian. These essays deal primarily with religio-cultural themes related to my existential situation. Ð from the Preface

Peace in the Korean peninsula is impossible without Peace in Asia, and Peace in Asia will become the pathway to world peace. Until now, numerous books, related to the division of the Korean peninsula and reformation of the political system after the unification, have been published. However, no one in the world actually suggested a peaceful method or a specific road map that could lead to unification. This book is the road map.

"North Korea is not just a security or human rights problem (although it is those things) but a real society. This book gets us closer to understanding North Korea beyond the usual headlines, and does so in a richly detailed, well-researched, and theoretically contextualized way." ---Charles K. Armstrong, Director, Center for Korean Research, Columbia University "One of this book''s strengths is how it deals at the same time with historical, geographical, political, artistic, and cultural materials. Film and theatre are not the only arts Kim studies---she also offers an excellent analysis of paintings, fashion, and what she calls ''everyday performance.'' Her analysis is brilliant, her insights amazing, and her discoveries and conclusions always illuminating." ---Patrice Pavis, University of Kent, Canterbury No nation stages massive parades and collective performances on the scale of North Korea. Even amid a series of intense political/economic crises and international conflicts, the financially troubled country continues to invest massive amounts of resources to sponsor unflinching displays of patriotism, glorifying its leaders and revolutionary history through state rituals that can involve hundreds of thousands of performers. Author Suk-Young Kim explores how sixty years of state-sponsored propaganda performances---including public spectacles, theater, film, and other visual media such as posters---shape everyday practice such as education, the mobilization of labor, the gendering of social interactions, the organization of national space, tourism, and transnational human rights. Equal parts fascinating and disturbing, Illusive Utopia shows how the country''s visual culture and performing arts set the course for the illusionary formation of a distinctive national identity and state legitimacy, illuminating deep-rooted cultural explanations as to why socialism has survived in North Korea despite the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and China''s continuing march toward economic prosperity. With over fifty striking color illustrations, Illusive Utopia captures the spectacular illusion within a country where the arts are not only a means of entertainment but also a forceful institution used to regulate, educate, and mobilize the population. Suk-Young Kim is Associate Professor in the Department of Theater and Dance at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and coauthor with Kim Yong of Long Road Home: A Testimony of a North Korean Camp Survivor.

"Did Homer tell the ''truth'' about the Trojan War? If so, how much, and if not, why not? The issue was hardly academic to the Greeks living under the Roman Empire, given the centrality of both Homer, the father of Greek culture, and the Trojan War, the event that inaugurated Greek history, to conceptions of Imperial Hellenism. This book examines four Greek texts of the Imperial period that address the topic - Strabo''s Geography, Dio of Prusa''s Trojan Oration, Lucian''s novella True Stories, and Philostratus'' fictional dialogue Heroicus - and shows how their imaginative explorations of Homer and his relationship to history raise important questions about the nature of poetry and fiction, the identity and intentions of Homer himself, and the significance of the heroic past and Homeric authority in Imperial Greek culture"--

After many years of living alone in a deep forest, the Devil has gotten lonely. He decides to buy himself a human bride to cure his loneliness as well as to help him shed his devil identity. But when his new, beautiful young bride dies suddenly after only a few blissful days, the Devil decides to build himself a bride. First one on his list of items to acquire for the construction of his perfect mate: eyes.

A "mesmerizing" novel of a love triangle and a mysterious disappearance in South Korea ( Booklist). In the fast-paced, high-urban landscape of Seoul, C and K are brothers who have fallen in love with the same beguiling drifter, Se-yeon, who gives herself freely to both of them. Then, just as they are trying desperately to forge a connection in an alienated world, Se-yeon suddenly disappears. All the while, a spectral, calculating narrator haunts the edges of their lives, working to help the lost and hurting find escape through suicide. When Se-yeon reemerges, it is as the narrator''s new client. Recalling the emotional tension of Milan Kundera and the existential anguish of Bret Easton Ellis, I Have the Right to Destroy Myself is a dreamlike "literary exploration of truth, death, desire and identity" ( Publishers Weekly). Cinematic in its urgency, the novel offers "an atmosphere of menacing ennui [set] to a soundtrack of Leonard Cohen tunes" ( Newark Star-Ledger). "Kim''s novel is art built upon art. His style is reminiscent of Kafka''s and also relies on images of paintings (Jacques-Louis David''s ''The Death of Marat,'' Gustav Klimt''s ''Judith'') and film (Jim Jarmusch''s ''Stranger Than Paradise''). The philosophy—life is worthless and small—reminds us of Camus and Sartre, risky territory for a young writer. . . . But Kim has the advantage of the urban South Korean landscape. Fast cars, sex with lollipops and weather fronts from Siberia lend a unique flavor to good old-fashioned nihilism. Think of it as Korean noir." — Los Angeles Times "Like Georges Simenon, [Kim''s] keen engagement with human perversity yields an abundance of thrills as well as chills (and, for good measure, a couple of memorable laughs). This is a real find." —Han Ong, author of Fixer Chao

Korea has been going through major changes since 1992, including a civilian government, opening of financial markets, restructuring of chaebols, changing roles of women, and new relations with North Korea. There have also been cultural changes which reflect on the Korean way of doing business and of living. The knowledge and skills for coping with these changes need to be mastered by those who want to interact with Koreans. The need for interpersonal relationships and good communication should be emphasized. Case studies and examples are used to illustrate effective transcultural management and communications. This is a reference to understanding changing cultures and business practices in Korea for scholars, and a comprehensive guide to Korean business practice, protocol, and communications styles for professionals. Western professionals doing business in Korea will find this material important in their business operations, communications, and interpersonal relations with Koreans. Other Asian business professionals will find the work useful in providing an insight to both the Western and Korean cultures. Scholars and students in Asian studies, Korean studies, and international business areas will find beneficial information.

In this book, the author provides an insightful look at Confucianism and Christianity. The study argues that the religious philosophies of Wang Yang-ming and Karl Barth are actually similar views of a common issue. The issue is radical humanization. The author explains how Wang and Barth take one''s commitment as the point of departure. He analyzes similarities in their articulation of this humanization, their views of evil, and their overall definition of radical humanity. Wang Yang-ming and Karl Barth provides a unique and balanced study of Confucianism and Christianity, avoiding tagging either religion as inferior or superior. This book will provide excellent reading for students, theologians, and scholars of religion as well as ministers who are interested in inter-religious dialogue and the theology of religion. It is also highly appropriate for graduate courses such as "Christianity and Other Religions," "The Gospel Across Culture," "The Theology of Karl Barth," and "Confucianism."