Gim Jeong-hui, the foremost genius of the Joseon Dynasty, revived through Yu Hong-june’s skillful storytelling
If Europe has Da Vinci, we have Gim Jeong-hui!
Based on a wealth of materials and years of research, Professor Yu Hong-june, the author of the unrivalled bestseller My Exploration of Cultural Heritage series, representative works in South Korean humanities books, has published Gim Jeong-hui: Mountains Are High and the Sea Is Deep, which overviews the life and art of Gim Jeong-hui (; pennames: Chusa; Wandang). The purpose of this book is to shed new light on Gim, a giant in Korean cultural history who hitherto has failed to be evaluated properly, as with Korea’s cultural heritage. Indeed, even as new studies on him pour forth and his works are designated as treasures one after another and endlessly reassessed, he continues to be discussed in a fragmentary manner. This masterpiece will change such awareness of the figure.
Constructed as a biography tracing Gim’s life from birth to late years, this volume provides a comprehensive picture of his life, art, and learning, which hitherto have been understood piecemeal. The process through which Gim, born into an illustrious family and successful without hindrance, even giving rise to a fashion for his works throughout East Asia, grew as both a person and an artist after hardships such as exile on two occasions and the death of his wife grippingly unfolds like a historical novel. Meanwhile, the deep understanding of his learning and art reflected in the narrative is as solid as that of any academic book. As such, this volume is a well-written general book that, in the author’s own words, “will become academic when read by specialists and will become literary when read by general readers.”