Lanterns on the River: Essays on Life and Culture in Contemporary South Korea

by Diane M. Hoffman

Lanterns on the River collects a series of reflective and interpretive essays on contemporary Korean life and culture. Diane M. Hoffman views Korea through a cross-cultural window, offering the non-Korean reader a base for understanding and appreciating aspects of Korean life. Among the topics these essays address are: the role of emotion in Korean life, the theme of conformity, the influence of religion, and the nature of the relationship between men and women. Hoffman has an anthropologist's interest in cultural meanings and values; however, the book also offers unique insights into themes not commonly addressed in the existing scholarly literature. Lanterns on the River is thus a hybrid genre, and as such will have appeal not only for scholars of Asia and Korea and students of cultural anthropology and social psychology, but also for the general reader interested in the various dimensions of life in contemporary Korea.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published July 22, 1999

Reviews

[Nick]

In the preface, she states that she may come across as overly critical and closed-minded, but she really likes Korea, and that's pretty much how the essays go. It's advertised watered-down anthropology, but she's rarely objective or even positive. It's also quite dated, published in 1999, nearly ten years after she'd last been in the country. Finally, it's expensive and hard to find.

What it does do is provide 'some' insight into the cultural mindset of Koreans, their presumed roles in society and their attitudes of the late 80s/early 90s. Korea has certainly changed a lot since then, but her commentary often resembles that of the bitter expats there today.