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Publishing the series 'Korean Short Stories with Question Marks'
preface

Reading the work 『Camellia』_Kim Yu-jeong

Reading 『Camellia』 in depth, asking and answering questions

1_ Examining the material and the era
Are there any yellow camellias?
What is a marm?
How do you make cockfighting work?
Does eating gochujang make chickens stronger?
How did I end up living in Jeomsoon's village?
Jeomsoon and I are young, so why are we talking about marriage?

2_ Look into the heart
Why did Jeomsoon give me potatoes?
Why didn't I get a potato?
Why did Jeomsoon swear?
Why does Jeomsoon bully the chicken?
Why did Jeomsoon fall down while holding on to my shoulder?
Why is Jeomsoon so active?

3_ A glimpse into the author's intentions
I understand how I feel, but what about Jeomsoon's feelings?
Why is the female protagonist's name 'Jeomsoon'?
Why is the title 'Camellia'?
Why is the order of the story mixed up?

Reading broadly: A look into the world beyond the work

Author Story: Kim Yu-jeong's Virtual Interview
Stories of the Times 1931-1935
Read more of Kim Yu-jeong's other works
Rereading 'Kim Yu-jeong Literature Village'
Reader's Story: The Backstory of "Camellia" Written by a Reader of the Same Age as Jeomsoon

References

Dreaming of a literature class overflowing with wild imaginations and lively questions!

The National Korean Language Teachers Association pondered how to make literature classes exciting and fun.
And finally, I came up with the idea of ​​'finding with a question mark'.
This is a different approach to literature classes than the one we have been using so far, where we provide students with uniform, mechanical information about the work, but rather provide answers to the questions students actually have after reading the work.
Through this, we aimed to establish a foundation for a user-centered literature class that allows students to understand and empathize with the work, rather than a one-sided literature class that was consistently focused on fragmentary understanding and forced memorization.
"Korean Short Stories with Question Marks" can be considered a guide to help this type of literature class take root in schools.


『Korean Short Stories with Question Marks』 is a collection of short stories that have been widely read by many people for a long time among those included in Korean language and literature textbooks for middle and high schools.
After having students read the selected works, I collected all the questions they had.
Among them, we selected those that were frequently asked, meaningful, novel, and original, and created a list of questions in a certain way.
Then, current Korean language teachers answered the questions based on what they had studied by searching through numerous books and papers.
It was written in simple language so that children can easily read it, and illustrations, photos, and reference materials were placed appropriately.
Through this process, I tried to approach the more universal meaning of the work.
The "Question Marks Guide to Korean Short Stories" series is a new, unprecedented content offering reading materials and information that can elicit diverse and profound thoughts.
This will not only open up the horizon of 'student-centered novel appreciation' but also provide an opportunity for students to become closer to literary works.


Discover Korea's representative short stories from textbooks in a single, comprehensive volume!

This book is the third in the series, “Korean Short Stories with Question Marks,” planned by the National Association of Korean Language Teachers.
"Korean Short Stories with Question Marks" was born from a sense of regret at the current educational climate, where children are increasingly moving away from literature due to rote memorization and problem-solving-based literature classes.
And it is being created with the will and passion of teachers from the National Association of Korean Language Teachers who want to make literary works come alive and breathe close to children.


As the series title suggests, this book goes far beyond the fragmentary interpretation and understanding of novels found in conventional textbooks or reference books.
Because it covers historical, cultural, social, historical, and literary information in an easy and engaging way, based on questions students actually ask when reading the work, it will be a great help in fully understanding a single work.


This book is structured as 'Reading Novels - Reading Deeply - Reading Broadly'.


'Deep Reading' is filled with meaningful questions that children have while reading the work, selected by the teacher, and the teacher's answers to them.
It focuses on the background, characters, events, and themes related to the work itself, and allows readers to internalize the work in various ways while reading.

'Reading Broadly' aims to broaden the understanding of a work by examining the elements surrounding the work, such as the author and the circumstances of the time.
Additionally, the results of students' reading and activities on the work were included, allowing students to get a glimpse into their peers' thoughts on the work.
And, by introducing other works with similar materials or themes through ‘linked reading,’ we were able to broaden the reading experience and the scope of literary appreciation.


"Camellia", a pure love story between a young man and woman!

Camellia is a novel familiar to students.
It contains a sweet and fragrant love story between Jeomsoon and 'I' set in a mountain village in Gangwon-do.
But it's not just about the love between young men and women.
You can also encounter the thoughts and daily lives of people in rural villages in the 1930s.


This novel is delightful.
There is absolutely no trace of the gloom, misery, or darkness seen in other novels written during the Japanese colonial period.
If you think about it, it's probably not like everyone in every place was depressed or miserable during the Japanese colonial period.
The rural village where Jeomsoon and I live is also set in the Japanese colonial era, but stands far removed from its tragedy.
And it focuses only on the innocent young men and women from the countryside growing up.
Perhaps Kim Yoo-jung wanted to purify the difficult and dark times through the purest places and the purest people?