Korea and Her Neighbours - A Narrative of Travel, with an Account of the Recent Vicissitudes and Present Position of the Country

by Isabella Lucy Bird

This antiquarian volume contains a vivid description of nineteenth century Korea written by Isabella Bird Bishop. This account comprises an interesting and insightful narrative of travel, with an account of the vicissitudes and contemporary state of society in the country. This text is as much of an exploration of Victorian mindsets as it is an exploration of foreign lands, and will be of considerable value to those with an interest in Victorian travelling mentality, or Korea at this point in history. The chapters of this book include: 'First Impressions of Korea'; 'First Impressions of the Capital'; 'The Kur-Dong'; 'Soul, The Korean Mecca'; 'The Sailing of the Sampan'; 'On The River of Golden Sand'; 'Views Afloat'; 'Natural Beauty - The Rapids'; 'Korean Marriage Customs', etcetera. We are republishing this vintage book now complete with a new prefatory biography of the author.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Audiobook, British Literature, History

674 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1898

About the author

Isabella Lucy Bird Bishop (October 15, 1831 – October 7, 1904) was a nineteenth-century English traveller, writer, and a natural historian.

Works:
* The Englishwoman in America (1856)
* Pen and Pencil Sketches Among The Outer Hebrides (published in The Leisure Hour) (1866)
* The Hawaiian Archipelago (1875)
* The Two Atlantics (published in The Leisure Hour) (1876)
* Australia Felix: Impressions of Victoria and Melbourne (published in The Leisure Hour) (1877)
* A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains (1879)
* Unbeaten Tracks in Japan (1880)
* Sketches In The Malay Peninsula (published in The Leisure Hour) (1883)
* The Golden Chersonese and the way Thither (1883)
* A Pilgrimage To Sinai (published in The Leisure Hour) (1886)
* Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan (1891)
* Among the Tibetans (1894)
* Korea and her Neighbours (1898)
* The Yangtze Valley and Beyond (1899)
* Chinese Pictures (1900)
* Notes on Morocco (published in the Monthly Review) (1901)

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book by the author I've read. I was intrigued by the fact that not only would Bird have been informed by her gender, as a Victorian female, but that she had access to women-only spaces.

A good place to start my review is in saying she views the country as one big He-Man Women-Hater Club, a true Handmaid's Tale society. Upper class women are in lifetime purdah, the rest drudges. I didn't really follow her extensive drama over the murder of the queen, but it was a big deal.

It was a very dirty place... and hot as their central heating served as a blast furnace! Her observations on both the physical surroundings, as well as the encroaching western influence, and political intrigue carried the book.

I found her side trip to Siberia quite interesting, especially the way she worked in the status of Korean refugees. Really tough to understand how isolated it must have been there before the railroad arrived (under construction at that time), let alone plane flights.

It's rather trite to label her as "intrepid" yet that's how she was. I laughed when she mocked a fellow who was to serve as an escort for insisting on bringing several outfits: "I only need two!"

I was going to read her book on Japan first, but this was a solid choice; that one I hope to get to soon.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would be more accurate to say that this book portrays an Englishwoman looking at Korea than to say it presents an accurate portrait of Korea at that time, though I don’t have anywhere near the expertise to say what she gets wrong and what she gets right, factually. This book is oddly heartbreaking: the average life in Korea at the time of Bird’s travels seems miserable and dirty. Bird is, as always, a walking definition of Eurocentrism, and her musings on the Korean character make the modern reader cringe. Like the rest of her books, this should not be taken as an unbiased, fully reliable historical account, but as an exploration of Victorian mindsets as much as an exploration of foreign lands. There are moments that bear no resemblance to the little I know of modern Korea, and moments that for me resonate with my little knowledge of North Korea, especially. During the recent funeral of Kim Jong-Il, I kept thinking of Bird’s description of the king’s yearly progress through the miserable city of Seoul. Bird does not present Koreans as a people who could achieve some of the things that South Koreans have accomplished since this time; Bird’s favorable view of the Japanese in Korea is also a little uncomfortable, given the actions the Japanese were shortly to take against the Korean Queen Min, whom Bird met and described as beautiful and intelligent. There is a lot to learn from this book, but they are not the lessons the book thinks that it is teaching.

[Billie Pritchett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Isabella Bird was an Englishwoman who had the wealth and the time to travel the world. Among the places she visited war Korea during the late Joseon dynasty, and here in this book, Korea and Her Neighbours, she records her travels over several visits to the country. Writing from a position of privilege, sometimes Bird's commentary is appallingly racist. But other of her more objective accounts of what is occurring around her is eye-opening, and useful history. For instance, we learn from the book that the women of Seoul were not permitted to come out to do their work, which mainly consisted of shopping and washing until the evening, a period when only they could be out and men had to be indoors, and then the women would have to return at midnight. Women, therefore, we learn, were mainly confined to their homes for most of the day. As one woman told Bird, she had never seen Seoul in the daylight.

Another interesting account concerns the lives of ordinary people. She writes of how the mass of Korean people, inside and outside the cities, have learned to live on very little in the way of food and are able to pass their time with simple entertainment in the form of songs and games. They have to do this by necessity, she tells us, because the yangban, the upper crust of society, will extort money from them if they inherit or earn money or property. So the common person often took to hiding any new money or possessions should he come into it, and found a way to work more lethargically so as not to produce too much for his masters.

Bird's book is not perfect by any means and perhaps you might find it a bit repetitive and mostly not fun. Still, it's a good book to skim for general information for what life was like in Korea as Korea was just coming into the 20th century.

[Flora · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one amazing woman, Isabella Bird. I read her account of the Sandwich Islands but this one on Korea is more adventurous. I did something I've not done before to get this account, which is out of print. I managed to find a copy by accident while browsing the Library shelves. When I was forced to return it, I searched and found a digital copy. This I downloaded on to my Kindle and am happily reading away. Unfortunately, whoever digitized it didn't correct the errors. So I must sometimes guess at what the misspellings mean.

Bird is very critical of the Koreans, describing them as dirty and unpleasant. But she did admit that the one time she came across a village that was unencumbered by the usual 'yamen' or official govt, it was clean, well-organized and the people very seemed happy. Not much has changed at least for N. Korea, I think. Fascinating account; worth reading if you visit Korea. Or even if you don't visit, it will inspire your travels.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 or 4, some VERY insightful sections and then some sections where she is the typical English explorer of her time talking too much about plants.

When I reviewed Francis Mccullagh's book I was a bit harsh on his basic enlightenment viewpoints, but on reflection, he actually had a pretty good and modern for its time perspective on things. Bird is fully rooted in the whole "us Christian white people are the only way these savages can be saved" perspective. As an Irishman, I think Mccullagh had a better grasp on what it's like not to be at the top of the totem pole of enlightenment and thus a better grasp on the trials and tribulations of of Asian folks.

Still, Bird is literally visiting the Korean courts in and around the times when the Queen is murdered, etc. This is all quite fascinating stuff despite her constant annoyance with Korea. She also weathers some very life threatening moments in such an English way (on a river junk during a massive flood/storm where she seems more concerned about water for tea than perhaps dying) as to give nicer perspective to the troubles of one's own life.

Her stuff has great merit, but I appreciate complementing it with other works by folks that were there in and around a similar time.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intrepid female Victorian travelers, and their parasols. Isabella Bird is a treasure.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intrepid traveler Isabella Bird does it again, this time in Korea. As always, she spares no punches, and criticizes the bureaucratic corruption that she sees as keeping a people with great potential from reaching it. Her travels take place in a time of reordering in East Asia, and her journalistic description of the assassination of the queen and other historic events is fascinating. I must admit that after feeling uncomfortable when my feet got wet in the rain last time I visited Korea, I had great respect for Isabella Bird soldiering on when everything she owned got waterlogged in a boat as she travelled inland.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25