{"id":240,"date":"2015-06-16T09:31:17","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T09:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anniecohensolal.com\/sitev2\/?p=240"},"modified":"2021-04-06T12:52:17","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T12:52:17","slug":"last-day-in-korea-mr-park-my-publisher-finally-appears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anniecohensolal.com\/sitev2\/last-day-in-korea-mr-park-my-publisher-finally-appears\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Day in Korea: Mr Park, my Publisher finally Appears"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\u00a0\u00bb242&Prime; img_size=\u00a0\u00bblarge\u00a0\u00bb alignment=\u00a0\u00bbcenter\u00a0\u00bb]<style>.ld_spacer_6a9157aa14955{height:30px;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"ld-empty-space ld_spacer_6a9157aa14955\"><span class=\"liquid_empty_space_inner\"><\/span><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]How to access the puzzle of so much information in such a complex culture as the Korean one? How to quickly interact in a new country after only three days? How to decipher the signs of a whole system while trying to be part of it? These are common questions for an anthropologist facing new field work. The guides, the intermediaries, are essential and it is clear that, in my case, without those guides, <i>nothing <\/i>would have been possible. I trust each one of them -my new Korean friends, the whole team at the French embassy. They help me walk in the dark. After appearing both opaque and welcoming on day one, after the tension between tragedy and hope on day 2, Seoul has become the land of stunning efficiency and incredible refinement on day 3. But what a challenge to face this last day! Will anything open up before I leave ? It is 7 am and, from the 22nd floor of my room, I confront the city. Seoul is already bustling with its strange mixture of banks, skyscrapers, pagodas, with its juxtaposition of rushed and well-to-do businessmen, its electronic shops and its peasants selling one or two garlic cloves from their own garden on the pavement.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]<style>.ld_spacer_6a9157aa16599{height:30px;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"ld-empty-space ld_spacer_6a9157aa16599\"><span class=\"liquid_empty_space_inner\"><\/span><\/div>[vc_single_image image=\u00a0\u00bb241&Prime; img_size=\u00a0\u00bblarge\u00a0\u00bb alignment=\u00a0\u00bbcenter\u00a0\u00bb]<style>.ld_spacer_6a9157aa16f9f{height:30px;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"ld-empty-space ld_spacer_6a9157aa16f9f\"><span class=\"liquid_empty_space_inner\"><\/span><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\u00a0\u00bb244&Prime; img_size=\u00a0\u00bblarge\u00a0\u00bb alignment=\u00a0\u00bbcenter\u00a0\u00bb]<style>.ld_spacer_6a9157aa17a88{height:30px;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"ld-empty-space ld_spacer_6a9157aa17a88\"><span class=\"liquid_empty_space_inner\"><\/span><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I wish I could read <i>Penser S\u00e9oul <\/i> -my friend Soo-Bok Cheong\u2019s last book, that he gave me on my arrival. From the start, his book looked incredibly appealing to me : with its text in Korean, everything in Korean, except the cover, pn which some French words have been added and printed in gold. Here\u2019s how they read : <i>Penser S\u00e9oul<\/i> <i>Alors, je me remets en marche. Le d\u00e9sespoir n\u2019existe pas pour l\u2019homme qui marche, \u00e0 condition vraiment qu\u2019il marche et ne se retourne pas sans arr\u00eat pour discutailler avec l\u2019autre, s\u2019apitoyer, se faire valoir. <\/i> <i>Sociologue fl\u00e2neur. <\/i>Here\u2019s my attempt to translate it into English<i> : To Think Seoul. So, I start walking again. Despair doesn\u2019t exist for the one who walks, on the unique condition that he truly walks, and doesn\u2019t turn back non-stop to discuss with someone, to argue, to brag. Sociologist wanderer. <\/i>When I first took the book in hands, I told Soo-Bok that it reminded me of Marc Aug\u00e9\u2019s <i>Un ethnonologue dans le m\u00e9tro<\/i>, or<i> La travers\u00e9e du Luxembourg<\/i>, which made him smile with consent. I so much wish I could access the text, as I love the poetic efficiency of its epigraph! And these words seem to be describing my own puzzlement : how to <i>truly<\/i> walk in Seoul ? Today will be a hot and humid day, and all I know is that at 4pm, I\u2019ll give a lecture in English at EWHA Womans University in Sinchon, the <i>quartier latin <\/i>of the city. Mechanically, even before getting to breakfast downstairs, I open my computer and here it is : a message from my publisher, Mr Park! <i>Dear Annie Cohen-Solal. This is your Korean publisher, and I\u2019m Sungsik Park. I\u2019m so sorry for the situation following your visit to Seoul. I could not take care of things for your visit with some complicated surroundings and have been out of the office. However, I\u2019m now back to the office. I hope to see you today if not too late. Thank you, Sungsik Park, Chief Director, Da Vinci Publishing, Inc.<\/i>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]<style>.ld_spacer_6a9157aa185b8{height:30px;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"ld-empty-space ld_spacer_6a9157aa185b8\"><span class=\"liquid_empty_space_inner\"><\/span><\/div>[vc_single_image image=\u00a0\u00bb246&Prime; img_size=\u00a0\u00bblarge\u00a0\u00bb alignment=\u00a0\u00bbcenter\u00a0\u00bb]<style>.ld_spacer_6a9157aa18fb5{height:30px;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"ld-empty-space ld_spacer_6a9157aa18fb5\"><span class=\"liquid_empty_space_inner\"><\/span><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I immediately answer, suggesting a meeting right away and, within an hour, I am sitting with Mr Park and my friends of the Institut Fran\u00e7ais on the highest floor of the hotel, where all previous meetings took place. Mr Park is a shy and intense man in his forties, dressed in a blue tunic-shirt, who seems shocked by the whole situation. From what we understand, at Covana (the agency responsible to bring the Rothko show to Korea), people had promised that a lot would be done around Rothko, but that they did not comply with their promises. Later on, it will appear clearly that this is the story of a small crafts publishing house being crushed by a huge commercial engine. Little by little, Mr Sung appears as a true craftsman who decided to translate and illustrate the book in record time. Furthermore, he did bind the book himself, and even stuck every single label on the cover by hand. I tell him that the day before, when asked by the Dong-a journalist which Rothko edition of my book I favored, I answered \u00abthe Korean one\u00bb. Only then, does Mr Park look at me and smile. I also understand that that many bloggers have expressed criticism about the hanging of the show at the Hangaram Arts center because it is \u00abmuch too entertainment like.\u00bb Later on, I will find out that very many reviews and critics in the korean press complained about \u00ab too much marketing \u00bb, wondering about a Rothko show becoming \u00ab a Steve Jobs promotion \u00bb and have come to the conclusion that Rothko\u2019s message has been betrayed. In fact, in these conditions, Mr Park adds, he is happy that the image of Rothko that the book carries remains totally disconnected from the show. I invite him to attend the lecture at 4pm. He agrees, he will be at Ewha University, in Case Hall, this afternoon.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]<style>.ld_spacer_6a9157aa19a8b{height:20px;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"ld-empty-space ld_spacer_6a9157aa19a8b\"><span class=\"liquid_empty_space_inner\"><\/span><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">par <strong>Annie Cohen-Solal<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]<style>.ld_spacer_6a9157aa1a48b{height:30px;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"ld-empty-space ld_spacer_6a9157aa1a48b\"><span class=\"liquid_empty_space_inner\"><\/span><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to access the puzzle of so much information in such a complex culture as the Korean one? How to quickly interact in a new country after only three days? How to decipher the signs of a whole system while trying to be part of it? These are common questions for an anthropologist facing new&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anniecohensolal.com\/sitev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anniecohensolal.com\/sitev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anniecohensolal.com\/sitev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anniecohensolal.com\/sitev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anniecohensolal.com\/sitev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/anniecohensolal.com\/sitev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270,"href":"https:\/\/anniecohensolal.com\/sitev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions\/270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anniecohensolal.com\/sitev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anniecohensolal.com\/sitev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anniecohensolal.com\/sitev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anniecohensolal.com\/sitev2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}