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Podcast: New Books in East Asian Studies
Episode: Hwisang Cho, "The Power of the Brush: Epistolary Practices in Chosŏn Korea" (U Washington Press, 2020)
Description: Why did the letter-writing culture of Korea diversify in the sixteenth century? How did this “epistolary revolution” change textual norms, modes of knowledge production, the ways that people interacted, and the methods of political mobilization?The Power of the Brush: Epistolary Practices in Chosŏn Korea (U Washington Press, 2020) by Hwisang Cho tackles these questions, exploring the materiality of epistles in Chosŏn Korea. It demonstrates how letter-writing practices were used by women, Confucian scholars, and provincial schools — those who had no other means of political activism — to advance political goals, thus offering a new perspective on the relation...