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KENCOUNTERING TOMORROW - About The Program. Encountering Tomorrow is a documentary series about various aspects of the future. by Taboolaby. My last post was about enjoying the state of oblivion that sometimes accompanies a language barrier. However, in just the few weeks since.
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Duke University Press W. In other words, while all concur that North Korean literature functions as a tool of state ideology, we still need to examine whether the nation's writers can wield this tool with sufficient subtlety that it functions not as a blacksmith's hammer, but a sculptor's chisel. It is not, for example, inevitable that characterization in North Korean literature be rough-hewn: Given the revelation of social fissures in North Korean literature, its reception by its audience merits continual consideration; if we focus solely on how the regime wishes its fiction to be interpreted, we run the risk of taking its profession of monolithic solidarity at face value, precisely as its fiction warns us against doing so.
As Kim notes, although many North Korean fictional texts indicate general "objectively" definable problems within society, the solutions depicted are in fact both abstract and "subjective," being dependent on individual characterization. In the larger essay from which this summary comes, I focus on two questions: Kim Chae-yong notes that North Korean literature begins to move away from a one-sided tendency to view its world through rose-colored glasses during the s, and this trend, which gathers steam during the decade, is much in evidence here.
The tale begins with the narrator looking out the window of his Pyongyang apartment and noting slogans everywhere on the streets "Let's continue the arduous march vigorously onward to paradise!
When we return to the present after the lengthy account of his experience as guide to the journalist, the narrator provides a detailed account of what the s have meant for the DPRK. The narrator's thoughts are then interrupted by a knock on the door from the head of his inminban people's group , who urges the family to go to the clinic to be inoculated.
At this point the text provides a telling glimpse of domestic life, as the narrator's daughter, fretting about the vaccination, is scolded by her mother for not changing out of her school uniform. The narrator reflects on their bickering and the outside gloom, then trails off, "Nevertheless Yet the daily conflict between mother and daughter which provokes tears suggests a society under severe stress and perhaps close to the breaking point; the mood here differs radically from earlier stories where one senses that the claim to live in a socialist paradise carried greater conviction for its audience.
The story concludes as the narrator explains why he has engaged in such a lengthy reminiscence. He has just re-encountered the journalist indirectly via one of his newspaper articles and then proceeds to quote from it; although the correspondent had believed that people the world over lived without hope for the future, he has discovered upon a return visit to North Korea that, in fact, there is one nation where faith remains strong: The story thus appears to provide a more "objective" reason for optimism through the words of a foreign journalist, whose argument rests on personal observation and comparison.
Nonetheless, the text follows a dangerous strategy in emphasizing present difficulties and contrasting them with the happier days of the late s, because even within the narrator's household, one would be hard pressed to say that hope predominates over despair. The reader is asked ultimately to share the narrator's subjective faith, despite being reminded at length of contemporary hardships. I glanced at the textbook they were using and noticed it was the same textbook as the one used in the foreign language school. It seemed to have a great deal of long passages of reading comprehension, rather than focusing on conversational skills.
There were also placards championing education. I was a bit surprised to see a working television screen. In more ways than one, this North Korean school resembled a typical school in South Korea. The students were exemplary in every way. They listened attentively to their teacher and seemed to have the correct answers memorized.
Though I suspected they have rehearsed prior to our arrival, it turned out that their overall English level was really quite good. Many of us on the tour were English teachers in South Korea. We all thought the North Korean students were respectful they all raised their hands and stood up before speaking , curious they never hesitated to ask questions , and, of course, eager to play games. The best part was the few minutes we had to chat in small groups with the students. The opportunity for them to practice English with native speakers is extremely rare, and my impression was that they appreciated and enjoyed it.
It was also rewarding for us to be granted the opportunity to visit a North Korean school to get a glimpse inside their education system. It is one of the few buildings in the capital built in the traditional Korean style. Everything about our tour of the library was eerily Truman Show -esque, in that a lot of what we we saw had been placed there expressly for us. For example, a carton of books rolled out of the automated book-lending system right as we arrived at the lending desk.