On the tracks of 'Taebaek Sanmaek' in Beolgyo

There's a photography report in a blog called "The Dispossessed" about the places in the small town of Beolgyo in southern Jeolla appearing in Jo Jung-rae's novel "Taebek Sanmaek". Some visitors may remember that I'm in the process of reading the novel, now going through the second of the ten volumes. I always think of doing more notes on that reading experience, but there are just limits of what is sensible investment of time in a blog... The proprietor of "The Dispossessed" has visited Beolgyo, home place of the novelist Jo and the main site of the first volumes of the novel, and taken nice photographs of sites mentioned in Taebaek Sanmaek: bridges, reed fields and so on. The sole thing reminding of the fact that the place is the site of one of the most important Korean novels is a beer house (hof/hop'û), which has borrowed the name of the novel (see the photograph linked from The Dispossessed). An article in the weekend edition of Seoul Sinmun thinks that the lack of references to Jo's novel in Beolgyo may stem from the lingering bitterness in the minds of local descendants of the reds and the insurgency repressing forces (t'obôldae) and the killings from 1948 to the Korean War. (Considering how long the legacy of the similar circumstances of 1918 in Finland has remained, that'd be nothing to wonder.) By the way, "Taebaek Sanmaek House" (태백산맥 문학관), commemmorating the novel, will be built in Boseong, close to Beolgyo On another note, lookin the photos in The Dispossessed I just can't help envying all the sunshine of the Korean winter. Update, October 3, 2006. Please see Robert Koehler's photos and a report of a visit to Beolgyo in September-October 2006. Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: contemp.history • literature/movies