Post by ajk on Jan 6, 2009 16:05:50 GMT -5
I had cited this briefly once before, but now that the series is over....There’s an excellent paper on Sejong that I found on the Internet. It’s a great piece of work for anyone to read who isn’t a Korean history expert. It’s called “The Cultural Work of Sejong the Great” and is located here:
www.koreasociety.org/index2.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=349&Itemid=35
It runs twelve pages, so not at all overwhelming, and it provides a great overview of Sejong’s life, including some stories and accomplishments that the series didn’t cover. It was written by a Columbia U. professor of Korean studies. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who watched the series. In fact, I printed a copy and am keeping it permanently.
One of the things you realize from reading the paper is how historically accurate the series was. As we’ve seen, you just never know about these series, but I’m glad that so much of what we watched was faithful to, or at least not in conflict with, the historical knowledge about Sejong’s life. There is, however, one big and surprising exception. (At least it was a surprise to me; certainly it isn’t a surprise to our history expert members.) In the first part of the series, crown prince Yangnyeong was portrayed as overaggressive to the point of being out of control, which ultimately was what got him kicked out. But the paper tells us that Yangnyeong “had been criticized for this weakness of will and indecisive character”! And that his weakness is most likely what doomed him. So that’s one big liberty that the series took.
Anyway, I thought I’d give the paper its own thread while the series is still fresh in our minds. Hope everyone who reads it finds it as useful as I did.
www.koreasociety.org/index2.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=349&Itemid=35
It runs twelve pages, so not at all overwhelming, and it provides a great overview of Sejong’s life, including some stories and accomplishments that the series didn’t cover. It was written by a Columbia U. professor of Korean studies. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who watched the series. In fact, I printed a copy and am keeping it permanently.
One of the things you realize from reading the paper is how historically accurate the series was. As we’ve seen, you just never know about these series, but I’m glad that so much of what we watched was faithful to, or at least not in conflict with, the historical knowledge about Sejong’s life. There is, however, one big and surprising exception. (At least it was a surprise to me; certainly it isn’t a surprise to our history expert members.) In the first part of the series, crown prince Yangnyeong was portrayed as overaggressive to the point of being out of control, which ultimately was what got him kicked out. But the paper tells us that Yangnyeong “had been criticized for this weakness of will and indecisive character”! And that his weakness is most likely what doomed him. So that’s one big liberty that the series took.
Anyway, I thought I’d give the paper its own thread while the series is still fresh in our minds. Hope everyone who reads it finds it as useful as I did.