For Korea's literary world, the most significant event this season was the International Symposium on Korean Literature, held in Seoul on August 5, 1999, hosted by the Korean P.E.N. As seen in the theme of the symposium, "Studies of Korean Literature Overseas," it was inspired by a desire to promote overseas study of Korean literature and thus make widely known the superiority and universality of Korean literature to the world. During the four-session seminar, Kim Yung-hee, professor of the department of East Asian Language and Literature at the University of Hawaii, in her paper titled "Globalization of Korean Literature: An Attempt in the American Setting," spoke abut the necessity of the expansion of Korean literature courses in foreign universities to gain a wider readership of Korean literature overseas. Professor Miriam Lowensteinova of Charles University in Prague provided a reflective examination of the studies of Korean literature in the Czech Republic. In his paper "Tracing Roots, Sprouting Wings: Local Belongings and Transnational Becoming," Robert Wilson, professor of English at the University of Hawaii, talked about the cultural, linguistic, and political struggles of the Korean American writers to establish their voices within US literature. Professor Lee Tae-dong, Novelist Lee Moon-yol, Professor Lee Jae-son, Novelist Han Mahl-sook, Professor Park Yi-moon, and many other Korean scholars and writers participated in the discussion at the symposium.

This season, Korean literary magazines and publishing companies announced the winners of their literary prizes. Poet Hwang In-suk and Novelist Cho��ng yo��ng-mun were selected as the recipients of the Twelfth Dong So Literary Award for Hwang's collection of poems My Desperate, Beloved Lover and Cho��ng novel A Chain of Dark Stories. The Twenty-First Century Literature Award was given to Novelist Yang Kwi-ja for her novel A Swamp, and the Dong In Literary Award to Novelist Ha So��ng-ran for her short story "Musty Flower."

Poems by Yun Dong-ju, one of Korea's best loved and most admired poets of this century, were translated into the English language this season. The Heavens, the Wind, the Stars and the Poetry, a collection of Yun's poems selected and translated by David Shaffer, Professor of English at Chosun University in Kwangju, was published by Hakmun Publishing Company. Last year, The Moonlit Pond, an anthology of Korean classical poems in Chinese translated into English by Professor Lee Sung-il, was published by the Copper Canyon Press in the United States. The anthology gained favorable reviews and, earlier this year, was included in the annual Outstanding Books List.

The Metacultural Theater of Oh Tae-sok: Five Plays from the Korean Avant-Garde was translated into English by Kim Ah-jeong and R. B. Graves and published by University of Hawaii Press. Oh has explored the way to establish a new dramaturgy native to Korea by combining Korean traditional masked dance-drama and contemporary Western avant-garde theater. He opened his own theater, the Arungkuji Theater, in Seoul this May, and the theater is currently staging two of his representative dramas, Intimacy between Father and Son and Chunpung's Wife, as opening productions. The 23rd Seoul Theater Festival is being held from September 1 to October 17, organized by the National Theater Association. The festival accommodates more than fifty theater groups including five Asian and European theatrical companies, and workshops and a number of special events are also scheduled during the festival.

As shown in the huge success of Swiri, film has become the most popular form of expression as art and entertainment, and, this season, a number of film festivals, unique in their areas of interest, were held in Korea. Showcasing more than one hundred films from thirty countries, the Third Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival opened on July 16. Covering a wide range of genres overlooked by the mainstream film industry, the First and Second PiFan created a horror movie boom among young movie fans and contributed much to the current popularity of short-length film in Korea. The Second Koding (a slang for high school students) Film and Video Festival was held in Seoul for nine days from August 18, and twenty seven film and video works high school students produced were featured at the festival. Screening the past and present of Korean cinema, the Hoam Korean Film Festival was run at Hoam Art Hall in Seoul August 12 to 22.

Filmmaker Chang Sun-wu's most recent work Lies which criticized, ridiculed, and derided social taboos on sex was featured at the prestigious Venice Film Festival held in Italy September 1 to 11. Lies received favorable appraisal at the festival but, in Korea, became the most controversial film during this season. Labeled as a dangerous pornography, the film is currently banned by the film rating committee. The Riot of Lee Jae-su directed by Park Kwang-su, a Korean film about the peasant riot on the Cheju Island at the turn of this century won the second place of Jury des Jeunes at the 52nd Locarno Film Festival held in Switzerland. Park's Chil-su and Man-su characterized by distinctive realism zooming in on the desperate condition of the lower class people living in the 1980s of Korea was awarded the third place of the same category at Locarno in 1989.

An exhibition commemorating the late Park Su-ku��n was held in Seoul this summer under the title of "Park Su-ku��n, Our Painter." Using "scratch technique" to create rugged granite texture, Park portrayed the poverty and despair of the Korean people in the 1950s and 1960s. What strikes the viewers most in his paintings is not only his unique style but his sincerity in capturing the truths of life and affection for the poor, which makes Park alive in Koreans' heart as a legendary artist. The 25th Seoul Contemporary Art Festival was held this August, and in total over two hundred artists participated and competed in the invitational and competitive sections of the festival.

Recently, Korean traditional music and dance gained worldwide appeal, and Pansori singer Yun So-in won the first prize in the second International Music Festival in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. At the International Folklore and Fork Art Festival held in Spain, Yang Kil-sun and her dance troupe performed Samulnori, Monk's Dance, Fan Dance, and Shaman Dance.

In the field of dance, various events were held to provide the public with a new opportunity to deepen their understanding of and affection for dance. This summer, Choi Deresa, one of the leading Korean contemporary dancers, presented her new work La Place at Towol theater in Seoul. La Place is a dance adaptation of an ancient Greek tragedy, Sophocles' Antigone, with feminist twist. Choi and her dance company are scheduled to perform in November at the opening ceremony of "Korean Month" in Paris and in La Ferme du Buisson, one of the most prestigious international dance festivals in France. The SIDance 99 accommodated both traditional and contemporary dance productions including Korean traditional dancer Kim Myong-sook's performance, Japanese dance adaption of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and the experimental combination of dance, plastic art and video art titled "This is not a Dance."

Kye J��ong-meen

Keimyung University, Taegu