Minsoo Kang: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
Clari 2010 (talk | contribs)
several grammar updates.
Line 19: Line 19:
| website =
| website =
}}
}}
'''Minsoo Kang''' (1967- ) is a [[historian]] and writer. Currently, he is a professor of European intellectual history in the Department of History at the [[University of Missouri–St. Louis]]<ref>[http://www.umsl.edu/~umslhistory/faculty/kang.html faculty profile: Minsoo Kang]</ref>. Kang is an expert on the history of automata in science and in fiction.
'''Minsoo Kang''' (1967- ) is a [[historian]] and writer. Currently, he is a professor of European intellectual history in the Department of History at the [[University of Missouri–St. Louis]]<ref>[http://www.umsl.edu/~umslhistory/faculty/kang.html faculty profile: Minsoo Kang]</ref>. Kang is also an expert on the history of automata in science and in fiction.


==Early Life==
==Early Life==
Kang was born in 1967 as the son of a South Korean diplomat and a professor of French literature. In accordance with the international nature of his fathers work, Kang grew up in Korea, Austria, New Zealand, Iran, Germany, Brunei, and other places for shorter periods. He is fluent in Korean and English, and has demonstrated strong familiarity with German and French through his academic pursuits.
Kang was born in 1967 as the son of a South Korean diplomat and a professor of French literature. In accordance with the international nature of his father's work, Kang grew up in Korea, Austria, New Zealand, Iran, Germany, Brunei, and other places for shorter periods. He is fluent in Korean and English, and could read German and French.


Kang graduated from the [[University of Southern California]] in 1988 with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies of History, Philosophy, and Religion; he received his [[M.A.]] and [[Ph.D.]] degrees in [[European History]] from [[UCLA|University of California, Los Angeles]] in 1991 and 2004, respectively.
Kang graduated from the [[University of Southern California]] in 1988 with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies of History, Philosophy, and Religion; he received his [[M.A.]] and [[Ph.D.]] degrees in [[European History]] from [[UCLA|University of California, Los Angeles]] in 1991 and 2004, respectively.


==Academic Work==
==Academic Work==
Kang is foremost an expert on the history of [[Automaton|automata]]. His book ''Sublime Dreams of Living Machines'' looks at automata in the European imagination throughout history. While covering a broad history of golems, talking heads, [[Digesting Duck|mechanical ducks]], and so forth, Kang pursues much bigger questions regarding how automata fit the historical periods that created them.
Kang is an expert on the history of [[Automaton|automata]]. His book ''Sublime Dreams of Living Machines'' looks at automata in the European imagination throughout history. While covering a broad history of golems, talking heads, [[Digesting Duck|mechanical ducks]], and so forth, Kang pursues much bigger questions regarding how automata fit the historical periods that created them.


Kang is a professor of Modern European history with a concentration in eighteenth and nineteenth century France, Britain, and Germany. His research focuses on [[Intellectual History|intellectual]] and cultural history, the history of science and technology, and global history pertaining to interactions between Europeans and East Asians in the early modern period. He has also written several essays on Korean history focusing on the transition from the late Goryeo dynasty to the early Joseon.
Kang is a professor of Modern European history with a concentration in eighteenth and nineteenth century France, Britain, and Germany. His research focuses on [[Intellectual History|intellectual]] and cultural history, the history of science and technology, and global history pertaining to interactions between Europeans and East Asians in the early modern period. He has also written several essays on Korean history focusing on the transition from the late Goryeo dynasty to the early Joseon.
Line 34: Line 34:


==Fiction==
==Fiction==
Kang has published numerous books and articles on [[European history]]. In 'Of Tales and Enigmas,' his collection of his essays and short stories, Kang adopts the styles of Western genre fiction to explore his personal vision of Korean history<ref>[http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2007/11/of_tales_and_en.shtml book review: Of Tales and Enigmas]</ref>, which creates a marvelously surrealistic landscape where histories, ideas, and legends freely intermingle in a wonderful harmony<ref>[http://www.tower.com/tales-enigmas-min-soo-kang-paperback/wapi/100556676 book review]</ref>.
Kang has published numerous books and articles on [[European history]]. In 'Of Tales and Enigmas', a collection of his essays and short stories, Kang adopts the styles of Western genre fiction to explore his personal vision of Korean history<ref>[http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2007/11/of_tales_and_en.shtml book review: Of Tales and Enigmas]</ref>, which creates a marvelously surrealistic landscape where histories, ideas, and legends freely intermingle in a wonderful harmony<ref>[http://www.tower.com/tales-enigmas-min-soo-kang-paperback/wapi/100556676 book review]</ref>.


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==

Revision as of 03:22, 15 July 2010

Minsoo Kang
OccupationHistorian, essayist, short story writer
NationalitySouth Korean
Notable worksOf Tales and Enigmas, Sublime Dreams of Living Machines: The Automaton in the European Imagination

Minsoo Kang (1967- ) is a historian and writer. Currently, he is a professor of European intellectual history in the Department of History at the University of Missouri–St. Louis[1]. Kang is also an expert on the history of automata in science and in fiction.

Early Life

Kang was born in 1967 as the son of a South Korean diplomat and a professor of French literature. In accordance with the international nature of his father's work, Kang grew up in Korea, Austria, New Zealand, Iran, Germany, Brunei, and other places for shorter periods. He is fluent in Korean and English, and could read German and French.

Kang graduated from the University of Southern California in 1988 with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies of History, Philosophy, and Religion; he received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in European History from University of California, Los Angeles in 1991 and 2004, respectively.

Academic Work

Kang is an expert on the history of automata. His book Sublime Dreams of Living Machines looks at automata in the European imagination throughout history. While covering a broad history of golems, talking heads, mechanical ducks, and so forth, Kang pursues much bigger questions regarding how automata fit the historical periods that created them.

Kang is a professor of Modern European history with a concentration in eighteenth and nineteenth century France, Britain, and Germany. His research focuses on intellectual and cultural history, the history of science and technology, and global history pertaining to interactions between Europeans and East Asians in the early modern period. He has also written several essays on Korean history focusing on the transition from the late Goryeo dynasty to the early Joseon.

Kang's work often explores the relationship between history and fiction. His master's thesis, The Intrusion of History: The Novels of Milan Kundera in the Context of Czechoslovak History pursued the idea of using literature for the study of history. He also studies film, historical novels, and science fiction as history.

Fiction

Kang has published numerous books and articles on European history. In 'Of Tales and Enigmas', a collection of his essays and short stories, Kang adopts the styles of Western genre fiction to explore his personal vision of Korean history[2], which creates a marvelously surrealistic landscape where histories, ideas, and legends freely intermingle in a wonderful harmony[3].

Bibliography

Fiction and short stories

  • Of Tales and Enigmas, Prime, 2006[4]
  • Three Stories: Lady Faraway, The Well of Dreams, The Dilemma of the King and the Beggar; Magazine: Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet 22, 2002[5]
  • A Fearful Symmetry, in Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link and Gavin J Grant eds., The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2007, St. Martins, New York, 2007

Nonfiction

  • Visions of the Industrial Age, Ashgate, 2008[6]
  • Sublime Dreams of Living Machines: The Automaton in the European Imagination, Harvard University Press, 2011[7]

Essays and articles

  • De la Sagesse Inaboutie du Barbare: Un Erudit Confucéen Lit la vie de Saint Ignace, in Daniel S. Milo, Alain Boureau ed., Alter Histoire: Essais d’Histoire Expérimentale, Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 1991
  • Review of Das Schreckliche Mädchen, in The American Historical Review 96, 4, 1991
  • Review of Hard Times and Culture - Fin de Siécle Vienna, in The American Historical Review 97, 4, 1992
  • The Moderns: Art, Forgery, and a Postmodern Narrative of Modernism, in Robert Rosenstone ed., Revisioning History, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1995
  • How to Keep Heaven’s Mandate, The Times Literary Supplement, June 19, 1998
  • Ten Short Essays on Korea, AZ 1, 1, 1999
  • Gyungbok Palace: History, Controversy, Geomancy, Manoa 11, 1, 1999
  • Reading Dutch, Rethinking History 4, 3, Winter 2000
  • The Use of Dreaming for the Study of History, Rethinking History 5, 2, Summer 2001
  • Review of John E. Wills Jr.’s 1688: A Global History, Rethinking History 5, 3, Winter 2001
  • Wonders of Mathematical Magic: Lists of Automata in the Transition from Magic to Science, 1533-1662, Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 33, 2002
  • Building the Sex Machine: the Subversive Fantasy of the Female Robot, Intertexts, 9, 2, 2006
  • The Ambivalent Power of the Robot, Antenna: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, 9, March 21, 2009.
  • Review of Walter L. Abramson’s Embattled Avant-Gardes: Modernism’s Resistance to Commodity Culture, Journal of World History, June 2009.

Honor

  • The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2007 in Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link and Gavin J Grant eds (for short story: A Fearful Symmetry)[8]

See also

References

External Links