History that Nobody Tells You - W. Andersson (A:son) Grebst

History that Nobody Tells You - The CBNU Globe

History that Nobody Tells You

2015년 11월 09일 (월) 09:49:59 GLOBE  globe@jbnu.ac.kr

In middle and high school, we learned history only through textbooks compressed with some main events that are considered historically important and proud. Thus, can you imagine how our descendants live their lives only with history books? Do historical dramas tell you the truth? Here comes a book to help you to answer these questions: In Korea: Memories and Studies from The Land of the Morning Calm, by W. Andersson (A:son) Grebst, a Swedish journalist who walked on Korea a century ago.” This book’s frank depiction of the ordinary Koreans’ life was enough to attract me. According to the author, Koreans were usually a head taller than Japanese, and they devoured a lot of food at every meal, therefore often suffering from digestive problems. Furthermore, Koreans believe so deeply in Shamanism that they think every mysterious problem is caused by ghosts, which every object has. Also, it talks about many other things that we do not like to mention since they may hurt our ethnic pride. For example, the author describes that Koreans hate working and they consider it as a punishment, which results from the Confucianist saying “Brain labor is novel but physical labor is vulgar.” The book also introduces some outrageous treatment methods such as applying cattle dung on a wound or eating a woman’s hair, meaning that the medical techniques were too poor at that time. The author, Grebst, came to Japan for reporting on the Russo-Japanese War, but he was rejected to go to the battlefield for making reports due to the Japanese government. That is why he gave this book to the world after heading to Korea disguised as a trader, instead of reporting on the war. From late December of 1904 to early 1905, Grebst had met not only the ordinary people like kids on the street and sellers at the market but also King Gojong, traveling around Busan, Daegu, Gongju and Seoul. During his sojourn, Korea suffered from the war, since Japan was using Korea as a bridgehead. As a result, even though King Gojong, whom the author met, was full of worries, ordinary Koreans led their own lives at the same time and Grebst caught both those sides of the Korean peninsula of the time. Therefore, you are probably able to recognize that the way he talks in the book expresses sympathy toward Koreans, based on this tragic situation.  Aside from a few aforementioned lives of Koreans, the book is also filled with depictions of Korea from a century ago in the perspective of a third man. The author intended to introduce a strange country realistically as much as possible to Western people. Therefore, it is a travel guide rather than just another boring history book. Those who wish to look over our ancestors’ real lives with old pictures not found in history books should grab this book. It will surely lead you to read it in one sitting with eyes full of curiosity.