I’ve been trying to read a book. It’s called Diarios de Corea, by the Argentinian (or is he a Spaniard? I can’t quite figure it out) journalist Bruno Galindo (I was unable to figure out if there’s an English translation available – a cursory search online seems to suggest there isn’t). I thought it would be interesting to get a non-Anglosphere perspective on Korea, but so far, I don’t much like the book. I’m reading it in my usual non-linear fashion. I’ve read maybe 15% of it, skipping back and forth between the two parts – it’s divided into a section on the North and a section on the South, the author having spent time on both sides.
I suppose I can’t criticize the part on the North – I know next to nothing about the North. But his sections on the South, there is a sort of vaguely gonzo myopia (is there such a thing as gonzo myopia? Of course – perhaps that’s the point?) which can be summed up with a simple declaration, on my part: “Itaewon is not Korea, nor is it an accurate cross-section of Korea.” For those who don’t know, Itaewon is Seoul’s historically “foreign” neighborhood. It’s a zone of immigrants, of off-duty US soldiers, of hustlers and bars, of prostitutes and gray-market wholesalers, and of numerous excellent shops selling international goods. But Itaewon is hardly an accurate picture of Korea, or South Korea, or Seoul, or Korean culture, or anything at all. And Galindo’s diary, at least what I’ve seen of it so far, seems to consist largely of encounters with various Itaewonites, supplemented by extractions from the yellowest of the Korean English-Language press (which is mostly yellow).
Imagine if a foreigner came to the U.S., and stayed at a hotel on Canal Street in New York City, and then went off to write a “perspective on the U.S.” type book. Would it be an accurate picture of the U.S.? Would it even be an accurate picture of lower Manhattan?
I hate to leap to judgment. I’ll keep reading the book. But his misapprehensions with respect to the South cause me to distrust what would otherwise be fascinating portrayals of life in the North. How accurate is it, really?
