University of São Paulo: 1st South American Korean Literature Symposium takes place at USP
Korean culture is expanding in Brazil more than you can imagine. This Korean wave, called Hallyu , has become increasingly popular. Whether through dramas – series developed in South Korea -, K-Pop (Korean pop) songs or even through Korean books, this movement has expressed the need to know cultures beyond Western languages, and to understand that eastern countries are not all the same.
This is how the idea of holding the 1st Korean Literature Symposium in Brazil came about, promoted by the Department of Oriental Letters of the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH) at USP. According to the organization, the event came from a desire to discuss something that is on the rise in our country, such as books translated from Korean to Portuguese, through a different perspective. The idea is to encompass a variety of approaches with different specialists.
Entries can be made until Saturday, 3rd. The event will be held on September 5th and 6th, from 9 am to 12 pm, online, with live broadcast on Youtube.
For its realization, the symposium will have the contribution of researchers not only from USP, but from other universities. Among them, the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and the University of the State of Bahia (Uneb).
For researcher Maria Gabriela Pedrosa, a master’s student in literature theory at UFPE, “research only works, in fact, when it is done through a plurality of voices”.
“I hope that my presence, as well as that of other colleagues, will show the symposium spectators who live in the Northeast region that it is possible to research Korean literature outside the South-Southeast axis”, says Maria, who will make a presentation on intermedial references at the text by South Korean writer Han Kang.
The event on the 5th will be started by Professor Yun Jung Im, coordinator of the Korean Language and Literature course at USP and creator of the symposium, and is co-coordinated by Luis Girão.
“This is the first time that an academic event in Portuguese has focused on this topic. It is common to find international events on Korean literature in English and Hispanic languages, for example, however, in Portuguese, it is unprecedented”, says Girão, post-doctoral fellow in Korean Studies at the Department of Oriental Letters.
Among the works of Korean literature, the following will be discussed: Aula de Grego , Trilogia Espelho , Onda e Sombra , in addition to A Vegetariana , the best-known novel in Brazil, by author Han Kang.