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Media consumption and research
Now listening to: The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner, the third book in her The Queen's Thief series. Eugenides is dealing with being the king of a court that hates him and the threat of the Mede Empire hangs in the background, while the royal guard Costas is swept into the middle of it all. So far I don't find this book as suspenseful as the previous ones and the pacing is somewhat lagging. Costas seems way more of a bystander than a protagonist thus far, diminishing my interest in him, though I do enjoy the look into the rigors of guard life and the complexities of court life. It's still an OK listen to cook or commute to.
Now reading: The King of the Light in the East as a Work of Epic Poetry by Hwang Sun-gu. (Kings are a theme of this week I guess?) I'm not much for literary studies unless you count fandom meta, but The King of the Light in the East is crucial research for my WIP in depicting the life of my heroine's second husband Jumong and the rise of his son (her stepson) Yuri. This poem also goes into more detail than any other source about the rivalry and eventual war between Jumong and Song-yang, a local lord that Jumong would eventually prevail over and make his vassal. In my story Song-yang is both my heroine's and Jumong's ex-boyfriend, so he's a pivotal figure in many ways. The poet, Lee Gyubo, also happens to be an ancestor and it feels sometimes like I'm just taking up a family obsession.
The volume by Hwang Sun-gu presents Lee Gyubo's text in the original Hanja (Chinese characters) and the Korean translation, together with a lot of background analysis. In fact, I'm a little past half done and the excerpts have only just started. The background analysis was... mildly helpful? A lot of it consists of frothy praise about how Lee Gyubo's poem is a literary and historical achievement. Which is correct, as far as it goes, but I like less the whiff of empire-worship from the discussions of how Goguryeoh (modern day North Korea + parts of Northeast China) had a vast continental territory etc. etc. It wasn't like super-heavy analysis or anything and I skimmed through a lot of it. Maybe the textual analysis will be more helpful, and if not it'll be a chance to re-read the text of the poem in more depth.
One of the reported details about the Jumong myth is that his father was a sun-god from heaven who raped a river-god's daughter, no doubt a mythologization of some historical fact of marriage alliance between tribes. This early part of the poem describes how Haemosu, Jumong's asshole rapist dad, lured Jumong's eventual mom Yuhwa by getting her drunk. In describing the passage where Yuhwa and her sisters were playing by a lake and ducked into the water when they noticed Haemosu staring, Hwang felt it necessary to add this hot take:
The description [of Yuhwa and her sisters] playing by Bear Heart Lake and jumping into the water to hide when Haemosu and his retinue came by calls to mind fish or frogs in the swamps that swim and play at the edge of the water but swim away when humans approach. The large eyes, looking about as though frightened, the soft and firm skin, and above all the naked appearance are all highly sensual and fitting symbolism for the female body and women in general.
I think I found out more about how Hwang feels about frogs than I ever wanted to, and also his conception of women and their desirability in general is creepy as fuck?! I'm not surprised, though, these rabid Goguryeoh fanboys tend to be just this kind of creepy macho.
(To clarify, Hwang is NOT the writer of the poem or my ancestor, he's a modern scholar who wrote the book analyzing my ancestor's epic poem. Not that I don't expect Lee Gyubo to be super-creepy as well, especially being from the 13th century and all.)
Also this book has the occasional typo which is kind of surprising given that it's a 2009 reissue of a book that originally came out in the 1990s. They couldn't get anyone to read it over and fix glaring errors? My favorite is the one where "Homer" was mistakenly spelled as "Homo." Overall I'm so glad this is a library book and I didn't spend any money on it.
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(Seriously, this is fascinating, but/and the frog thing just makes me worry a little. *giggles*)
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Do it. I dare ya.
--Mori
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You're welcome.
--Mori
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What? You don't like horny toads? Fiend!
--Mori
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/is frog, hides
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Thanks for filling my "freaky amphibians" bingo square today.
Go research go research :||
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