76 Darkness and the Power of Literature – The Forbidden Stories of North Korea (with Terry Hong)

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson

Arts, History, Books

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 January 2017

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For 70 years, the people of North Korea have lived through a totalitarian nightmare – and those of us in the outside world have had little access to their experience. How have generations of oppression and terror affected the psychology of everyday people? How do they feel about their situation? What are their hopes? What are their dreams? How do they think, and how do they live? Like so much else about North Korea, these questions were shrouded in darkness…until now. Terry Hong, reader extraordinaire and the curator of the website BookDragon, joins us to talk about an astonishing new development: the publication of short stories by North Korea’s first dissident writer. Works Discussed: The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea, by “Bandi” (preorder only until March 7, 2017) Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea, by Jang Jin-sung Recommended Books about North Korea: Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden How I Became a North Korean by Krys Lee A Kim Jong-il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress and a Young Dictator’s Rise to Power by Paul Fischer The Boy Who Escaped Paradise by J.M. Lee Show Notes: Contact the host at jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or by leaving a voicemail at 1-361-4WILSON (1-361-494-5766). You can find more literary discussion at jackewilson.com and more episodes of the series at historyofliterature.com. Check out our Facebook page at facebook.com/historyofliterature. On Twitter, you can follow Jacke Wilson at his handle @WriterJacke. You can also follow Mike and the Literature Supporters Club (and receive daily book recommendations) by looking for @literature SC. Music Credits: “Handel – Entrance to the Queen of Sheba” by Advent Chamber Orchestra (From the Free Music Archive / CC by SA). “Dragon and Toast” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to The History of Literature, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding literature, history, and storytelling like Storybound, Micheaux Mission, and The History of Standup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglamorate Network and LIT Hub Radio.
0:07.0	Hello everyone, I'm Jack Wilson.
0:12.0	Welcome to the History of Literature. Poets, said Percy Shelley, are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.
0:33.0	How important is poetry, or literature for that matter, to our world.
0:37.6	Does it have the power to change things?
0:40.1	During the Cold War, critics would point to the treatment of writers in a totalitarian regime.
0:46.0	If literature is not important, they would say, then why are the Soviets oppressing writers?
0:51.0	Why do dictators fear of free press? Why do they care about satirical
0:56.2	plays or realistic novels or poems? Today we'll be looking at short stories and an exciting new development in one of the world's longest standing
1:06.6	totalitarian regimes, North Korea, generations of horror. We mock North Korea, make fun of their leaders. They are
1:16.7	cartoonish and so we treat them in their country like cartoons. That's unfortunate
1:22.2	because 20 million people have been living out a nightmare for generations.
1:28.1	For more than 70 years, a country has had almost no contact with the outside world, and within its borders, terror
1:36.7	reign supreme.
1:38.7	A perceived political crime can lead to a death sentence, either a swift execution or the slow death
1:45.8	sentence of being sent to prison. No contacts, no freedoms, husbands pitted against wives, family members encouraged to inform on one another.
1:58.3	We'll walk through some of these horrors and the astonishing new development in the world of literature.
2:05.0	But first, I want to introduce our guest.
2:09.0	Right after I tell you about our sponsor, Audible.com,
2:12.0	now you can get a free audioobook download and a 30 day free trial at
2:15.8	W.w.w.
2:21.3	over 180,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle, or MP3 player.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jacke Wilson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jacke Wilson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.