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Daughter of the wind : The travel writing of Han Bi-ya
- Daughter of the wind
- Epstein, Stephen J.
- Seoul National University(Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies)
| Title |
Daughter of the wind
Similar Titles
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|---|---|
| Sub Title | The travel writing of Han Bi-ya |
| Material Type | Articles |
| Author(English) |
Epstein, Stephen J. |
| Publisher |
[Seoul] : Seoul National University(Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies) |
| Date | 2011-12 |
| Journal Title; Vol./Issue | Seoul Journal of Korean Studies:vol. 24(no. 2) |
| Subject Country | South Korea(Asia and Pacific) |
| Language | English |
| File Type | Link |
| Subject | Social Development < General |
| Holding | Seoul National University |
| License |  |
Abstract
This article considers the early works of travel writer Han Bi-ya [Han Piya] as a set of texts that provide valuable insight into Korean society in the final years of the twentieth century. Writing under the nickname “Daughter of the Wind” (param u˘i ttal), Han first caught the attention of the South Korean public in the mid-1990s, and her best-selling books combined exuberant accounts of backpacking around the globe with engaging reflections inspired by her travel experiences. Most importantly here, her four-volume opus Param u˘i ttal: ko˘ro˘so˘ chigu sebak’wiban (Daughter of the Wind: Three and a Half Times Around the World on Foot) articulates a discourse of knowledge about the world and Korea’s evolving place within it. In her writings Han established a persona that, in capturing the imagination of many, has led to her status as both an important role model and a prominent public intellectual in Korea. As this essay argues, however, although Han broke ground in both her methods of acquiring and disseminating knowledge and her frequently fresh viewpoints, she maintains continuity with nationalist Korean discourse. Indeed, her regular emphasis upon her subjectivity as a Korean woman reflects both a productive tension and growing complementarity between cosmopolitan outlook and nationalist sentiment, a phenomenon that has become increasingly salient throughout Korean society in recent years.
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