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American author Scott Burgeson holds up his book, “더 발칙한 한국학,” which in English translates literally to “More Nasty Korean Studies,” which was published earlier this year. Burgeson, who has written a number of books chronicling the expat experience in Korea, says his latest publication seeks to paint foreigners in Korea in a more positive light.
/ Korea Times Photo by JR Breen |
By Bryan Kay
Staff Reporter
An American author who is looking to cast foreigners in a positive light hopes his recently published book helps generate a broader Korean outlook on expats.
Best-selling American author Scott Burgeson, one of the best known authors in Korea, is attempting to introduce what he says is a new word to the Korean language ― expat ― in his new book.
Also known as Wang Baeksu, last month he released his fifth book whose title, originally written in Korean ― ``더 발칙한 한국학'' ― translates to ``More Nasty Korean Studies.''
``The book is trying to increase understanding between expats in Korea,'' said Burgeson in an interview with The Korea Times, Monday.
Burgeson, a California native, first came to Korea in 1994, but did not settle here until 1996, when he started to work as an English teacher.
However, his primary occupation has always been writing, an endeavor for which he has much to show, having written seven ``zines'' ― self published books ― and five books.
The subjects of his most recent works center mostly on foreign nationals in Korea.
Burgeson explained that the motivation behind his latest book was the fact that media in Korea paint foreigners ― particularly western English teachers ― in a ``demonizing'' manner, a situation that he hopes to change.
``So (I am) trying to show that Westerners have done good things,'' he said.
In the book, Burgeson has directly translated the word ``expat'' into Korean, the first time this has been done, he claimed.
Saying that he hopes this will pave the way for better treatment of foreigners in Korea ― where ``expat'' is used instead of the common use of ``woeguk-in,'' which literally means ``outside country person.''
Next January, Burgeson will be rounding off his stay in Korea and leaving the country for China, where he hopes to find a more accepting attitude, whilst working on his next project ― a novel about his experiences in Korea.
On Nov. 5, he is giving a lecture titled ``Notes on Multiculturalism in Korea'' at Kium, an annex of Kyobo bookstore inside Nonhyeon subway station, Gangnam.
jrbreen@koreatimes.co.kr
Korea Times intern JR Breen contributed reporting to this article.
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