Encyclopaedia of Korea

Abstract

Taken from third paragraph of foreword: The Encyclopaedia of Korea is meant to be a balanced guide to the country and its people. Its limitations are fully acknowledged and in some respects it serves only as an introduction to a topic, while in others its entries offer a definitive statement. In some of its subjects, therefore, the Encyclopaedia is intended to have the first word and not the last, and must be regarded as such. Omissions are bound to happen in a book of this scope. The task was, of course, a presumptuous one, because the Korean heritage is so enormous, so varied and complex, that there is no single person who could possibly write with authority on the range of entries which are collated here. However, this may be the Encyclopaedia's strongest point, because in the absence of such a single authority, the search for and the engagement of contributors became a worldwide one. The interests of specialists on Korea were sought and from a trickle of articles at the beginning, at the end of the compilation thirteen hundred articles had been written and accepted for publication. The contributors are, therefore, drawn from multifarious fields of Korean studies, and while some have written a single major article, others have contributed more than one, or a number of minor articles. One or two have given their services willingly with material which needed translation and verification from Korean, Chinese, Japanese, or occidental language sources. Many dozens of the minor entries and some of medium length are from Korean sources. This has been a time-consuming task, and one which has been shouldered largely by the editorial staff. Two writer-translators were engaged from overseas and came to Canberra to work on the project for a period of one year. Mr Michael Pettid of the University of Hawaii assumed the task of writing medium-length entries for which a contributor could not be found elsewhere, as well as having specific responsibilities for translations from Korean for the writing of other entries, and the modification of major and medium-length entries to suit the Encyclopaedia's needs. Mr Mark Mueller, of Hallym University, South Korea, translated material and produced many of the short entries for the work.