TWIB-III: 42
Aug. 17th, 2009 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanYes, I have yet to post TWIB-III 41, namely because I didn't read any books last week (I suck). I did however, finish two this week.
1) A Heritage of Kings - JaHyun Kim Haboush
Haboush's The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong set my gold standard for excellence in translation. A Heritage of Kings was written nearly a decade earlier, and one can see how the research for this volume set the groundwork for Haboush's publication of Hyegyong's memoirs. The first two thirds of A Heritage of Kings are an examination of how Yeongjo, the 21st monarch of Korea's Joseon dynasty, co-opted and shaped Confucian ideology in order to support his claims to the throne and strengthen his hand vis-à-vis the position of court officials. The latter one third deals with his execution of his only (and insane) son, Crown Prince Sado.
Both sections are handled exceptionally well; Haboush's writing is extremely clear for all the minutiae she deals with. She takes the factionalism, the quibbling over Confucian doctrine, and bureaucratic infighting of Yeongjo's court and turns it into compelling reading. This is what academic writing should be.
2) Sex Among Allies - Katharine H.S. Moon
Sex Among Allies is subtitled Military Prostitution in U.S.-Korea Relations. I mention this because I don't feel it accurately describes the book, which is perhaps one reason why my reaction upon finishing was rather lukewarm. Moon starts off well with historical overviews of U.S. military prostitution in Asia and Korean "camptown" prostitution in particular, and modern theoretical takes on prostitution and the military as they relate to issues of gender, class, and international relations.
Unfortunately, the text then becomes quite narrowly focused on the interactions of the U.S. military and South Korean government in the 1960s and early 1970s as they worked to introduce compulsory VD treatment programs for Korean prostitutes and compel the prostitutes to accept African American patrons. It's interesting enough in its own right, but certainly not what the title and first chapters had lead me to believe the book would be about. Moon briefly tackles ethical considerations concerning the women's treatment at the hands of the U.S. military and their government in the book's final (and arguably best) chapter, but she ultimately shies away from seriously confronting those issues herself. Instead, readers are offered a few platitudes about the women's resilience in the face of sexual slavery (although Moon barely acknowledges their conditions as such) and the need to redefine the definition of "international actor" to include demographics such as the camptown prostitutes, but these conclusions feel rather disconnected to the other 95% of the text, in which Moon makes no mention of them at all. End verdict: Sex Among Allies is not a bad book, but neither is it one that I feel says much of anything about anything.
That will be all.
1) A Heritage of Kings - JaHyun Kim Haboush
Haboush's The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong set my gold standard for excellence in translation. A Heritage of Kings was written nearly a decade earlier, and one can see how the research for this volume set the groundwork for Haboush's publication of Hyegyong's memoirs. The first two thirds of A Heritage of Kings are an examination of how Yeongjo, the 21st monarch of Korea's Joseon dynasty, co-opted and shaped Confucian ideology in order to support his claims to the throne and strengthen his hand vis-à-vis the position of court officials. The latter one third deals with his execution of his only (and insane) son, Crown Prince Sado.
Both sections are handled exceptionally well; Haboush's writing is extremely clear for all the minutiae she deals with. She takes the factionalism, the quibbling over Confucian doctrine, and bureaucratic infighting of Yeongjo's court and turns it into compelling reading. This is what academic writing should be.
2) Sex Among Allies - Katharine H.S. Moon
Sex Among Allies is subtitled Military Prostitution in U.S.-Korea Relations. I mention this because I don't feel it accurately describes the book, which is perhaps one reason why my reaction upon finishing was rather lukewarm. Moon starts off well with historical overviews of U.S. military prostitution in Asia and Korean "camptown" prostitution in particular, and modern theoretical takes on prostitution and the military as they relate to issues of gender, class, and international relations.
Unfortunately, the text then becomes quite narrowly focused on the interactions of the U.S. military and South Korean government in the 1960s and early 1970s as they worked to introduce compulsory VD treatment programs for Korean prostitutes and compel the prostitutes to accept African American patrons. It's interesting enough in its own right, but certainly not what the title and first chapters had lead me to believe the book would be about. Moon briefly tackles ethical considerations concerning the women's treatment at the hands of the U.S. military and their government in the book's final (and arguably best) chapter, but she ultimately shies away from seriously confronting those issues herself. Instead, readers are offered a few platitudes about the women's resilience in the face of sexual slavery (although Moon barely acknowledges their conditions as such) and the need to redefine the definition of "international actor" to include demographics such as the camptown prostitutes, but these conclusions feel rather disconnected to the other 95% of the text, in which Moon makes no mention of them at all. End verdict: Sex Among Allies is not a bad book, but neither is it one that I feel says much of anything about anything.
That will be all.