#  Joyce Kim, '26, English, KI Undergraduate Research Assisantship, Summer 2024 

 





September 04, 2024

 

 

     ![Joyce Kim](/sites/g/files/omnuum10896/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/joycekimphoto.jpg?h=b61b31b3&itok=mHupEl51) 

 



 

 **Faculty Project: Literary Listing: Enumerated Titles of Korean Books and Realignment of Literature  
Faculty Director: Prof. Si Nae Park**  
  
I had the opportunity to assist Professor Si Nae Park with her project, “Literary Listing: Enumerated Titles of Korean Books and Realignment of Literature,” this summer. Professor Park’s project centers around collections of literature during Chosŏn Korea by Korean and foreign readers of premodern Korean books. My work mainly involved surveying early articles on Korean studies and parsing catalogs of premodern Korean books and literature.  
  
I examined the articles published in two English missionary magazines published in Korea during the late 1800s and early 1900s, *The Korea Review* and *The Korean Repository*, to note the use of *hangul* and *hanja* throughout the volumes. The magazines contained extensive records of Korean language, history, culture, and current affairs, as well as both primary and secondary materials, that offered a fascinating glimpse into premodern Korea — from Korean history and broad current affairs down to the minute details of ordinary life. Much of my work focused on large lists and catalogs of Korean works for data collection and entry, which often enumerated up to hundreds or even thousands of titles. I worked with an index of Korean literature compiled by James Gale, a prominent Korean studies scholar who collected classical Korean books, to note the romanized and sinographic titles of each work. I also worked with *Bibliographie Coréenne*, a four-volume book that contains thousands of Korean books and annotated bibliographies, to identify and collect information on specific works. Other tasks included transcribing articles, analyzing and making notes of thecollected data, and compiling biographies – all of which allowed me to hone and apply fundamental research skills.  
  
Several of the materials with which I worked this summer were some of the first records of Korea or compilations of premodern Korean literature that existed, and it was a thrilling experience to read and work directly with them, knowing the value they had in shaping Korean studies and recording Korean literature as we know it. I was drawn to this project because of my interest in Korean literature broadly, and through the assistantship I was able to encounter so many works of premodern Korean literature, often lesser known and studied, to extend the scope of my initial interests. I often found myself revisiting and reading further through the materials I was given out of sheer interest. Professor Park was very kind and understanding throughout the entire assistantship, and she was always extremely clear about the tasks I would complete and made herself available to answer any questions I had, whether they were about theresearch or the content or anything beyond. I’m truly grateful for this summer experience!



 

 

 



 

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