May 4, 2006
Post-World War II Korean books to be displayed at Allen Library
The time from 1945 to 1950, from the end of World War II to the start of the Korean War, was known in Korea as the liberation space, a period of intellectual blossoming and making art for its own sake. Literary works from those years will be on display May 10 through Aug. 31 at the Allen Library South, in an exhibit titled Between Liberation Space and Time of Need, 1945-1950.
Resources were scarce for artists of that era, but that did not dim their creativity. Exhibit notes state, “Lacking sufficient printing and binding tools and advanced technologies, publications from the liberation space seem rather meager. The paper quality is crude, printing and binding qualities are substandard, and preservation had been overlooked. However, the artistic quality of these publications displays the unprecedented uniqueness of the Korean literature of that particular period.”
The exhibit is sponsored by the East Asia Library, which credits Jong Chune Kim, visiting scholar from Sangmyung University of Korea, who developed and assembled the display. For more information on the exhibit, call 206-543-6603.
