Abstract
Basically comparative in its approach, this chapter compares and contrasts two children’s books about Korea and its people published in the early twentieth century: Henry Lee Mitchell Pike’s Our Little Korean Cousin and Ilhan New’s When I Was a Boy in Korea. On the basic assumption that, in children’s literature, children cannot represent themselves, but must be represented, it argues that, despite some similarities, these two books differ significantly in the authors’ intentions, subjects, methods, and forms. This chapter also focuses on the subject positions of both authors, as well as on some culture-specific matters of cultural relativism.
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Notes
- 1.
The concept of filial piety can be best demonstrated in the Chinese character, xiao, which is made up of an upper and a lower part. The upper part is derived from the character lao, which means “old,” and the lower part is the character zi, which means “son.” The character graphically shows that children are obligated to provide financial as well as emotional supports to their older parents.
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Kim, WD. (2019). Pike’s Our Little Korean Cousin and New’s When I Was a Boy in Korea. In: Global Perspectives on Korean Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8727-2_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8727-2_4
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