Brian Reynolds Myers
Encyclopedia
Brian Reynolds Myers is an American associate professor of international studies at Dongseo University
Dongseo University
Dongseo University is a major private university in the South Korean port city of Busan. About 300 full time faculty members and 600 instructors are employed. The current president is Dong Soon Park . It has 10,000 full time undergraduate students 500 graduate school students.-Four Educational...

 in Busan
Busan
Busan , formerly spelled Pusan is South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, with a population of around 3.6 million. The Metropolitan area population is 4,399,515 as of 2010. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth largest port in the world...

, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

, a contributing editor for the Atlantic, and an opinion columnist for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Han Sǒrya and North Korean Literature (Cornell, 1994), A Reader's Manifesto
A Reader's Manifesto
A Reader's Manifesto is a 2002 book written by B. R. Myers that was originally published in heavily edited form in the July/August 2001 issue of The Atlantic Monthly magazine...

(Melville House, 2002), and The Cleanest Race (Melville House, 2010).

Biography and education

Myers was born in the state of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, USA, spent his childhood in Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

 and his youth in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, and received graduate education in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. He earned an MA degree in Soviet studies at Ruhr University
Ruhr University
Ruhr University Bochum , located on the southern hills of central Ruhr area Bochum, was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany since World War II...

 (1989) and a PhD degree in North Korean literature at the University of Tübingen (1992). Myers subsequently taught German in Japan and worked for the Mercedes-Benz Beijing Liaison Office in 1996. Before his appointment at Dongseo University, Myers lectured in North Korean literature and society (북한문학/사회; Puk’an munhak/sahoe) at the Korea University
Korea University
Korea University is a prestigious nonsectarian, private research university located primarily in Seoul, South Korea, and one of the SKY universities, a historical acronym used in South Korea to refer to Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University. Founded by Lee Yong-ik in...

 North Korean Studies Department. He also taught globalization and North Korean literature (세계화와 북한 문학; segyehwa wa Puk’an munhak) at the Inje Universtity
Inje University
Inje University is a private university founded in 1932, located in Gimhae, Korea. As of Aug, 2009, it had 874 faculty members and 230 staffs in total, 14,373 Undergraduate students and 1,458 Graduate students. The University has 6 colleges and 5 graduate schools. The founding mission is to save...

 Korean Studies Department. Myers is married to a South Korean woman and lives and teaches in South Korea.

North Korea and post-modernism

Myers’ Han Sŏrya and the North Korean literature: The Failure of Socialist Realism in the DPRK was adapted from his 1992 dissertation at the University of Tübingen and published as the sixty-ninth volume of the Cornell East Asia Series. A Reader’s Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose was developed from his critical review essay of the same name published in the Atlantic in 2001. The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters is an examination of North Korean propaganda, arguing that North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

 under Kim Jong Il is guided by “a paranoid, race-based nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

 with roots in Japanese fascism
Japanese fascism
Statism in Shōwa Japan was a political syncretism of Japanese right-wing political ideologies, developed over a period of time from the Meiji Restoration...

.” Myers argues that North Korea's political system is not based on Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 or Stalinism
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...

, and that the juche
Juche
Juche or Chuch'e is a Korean word usually translated as "self-reliance." In the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , "Juche" refers specifically to a political thesis of Kim Il-sung, the Juche Idea, that identifies the Korean masses as the masters of the country's development...

ideology is not really an ideology at all but a sham to establish Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death...

's credentials as a thinker. More provocatively, Myers argues that the more recent post Cold War attempts to understand North Korea as a Confucian
Confucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...

 patriarchy based on the filial piety
Filial piety
In Confucian ideals, filial piety is one of the virtues to be held above all else: a respect for the parents and ancestors. The Confucian classic Xiao Jing or Classic of Xiào, thought to be written around 470 BCE, has historically been the authoritative source on the Confucian tenet of xiào /...

 of Kim Jong-Il
Kim Jong-il
Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim born 16 February 1941 or 16 February 1942 , is the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...

, and the dynastic transfer of power from his father are equally misguided, and that the North Korean leadership is maternalist rather than paternalist.

Myers’ opinion columns for the Atlantic, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal generally focus on North Korea, which he says is not a Marxist-Leninist or Stalinist state, but “a national-socialist country.” His book reviews have included critical appraisals of American historian Bruce Cumings
Bruce Cumings
Bruce Cumings is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History at the University of Chicago and the chairperson of the history department...

, American author Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...

, American author Denis Johnson
Denis Johnson
Denis Hale Johnson is an American author who is known for his short-story collection Jesus' Son and his novel Tree of Smoke , which won the National Book Award. He also writes plays, poetry and non-fiction.- Biography :...

, and South Korean novelist Hwang Sok-yong,. His most recent major review was a scathing takedown of American novelist Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Franzen is an American novelist and essayist. His third novel, The Corrections , a sprawling, satirical family drama, drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, and was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction...

's celebrated novel Freedom. Myers has also countered received notions of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

, saying, “Prophets are always choosy about their followers; Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

 spoke in parables so the multitude would not be saved.”

Politically, Myers is a supporter of the Green Party of the United States, veganism
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...

, and animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...

.

Myers recently explained the common public perception of the ROKS Cheonan sinking
ROKS Cheonan sinking
The ROKS Cheonan sinking occurred on 26 March 2010, when the Cheonan, a South Korean Navy ship carrying 104 personnel, sank off the country's west coast near Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea, killing 46 seamen...

 in South Korea in respect to its perception to North Korea.

Reception among academics

Myers’ books on North Korea have been challenged by some academic critics. South Korean literary critic Yearn Hong Choi, for example, was not convinced with the thesis of Han Sǒrya and North Korean Literature:

“How can Myers say that he [Han Sǒrya] is not a socialist realist? How can Myers say that Han's thought is not compatible with communist ideology? I can understand Myers’s views on orthodox socialist realism, yet I see socialist realism abundantly present in North Korean literature: North Korean writers still advocate socialist realism. Myers simply does not interpret socialist realism as they do.”

Russian historian Andrei Lankov
Andrei Lankov
Andrei Nikolaevich Lankov is a Russian scholar of Asia and a specialist in Korean studies. He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Leningrad State University in 1986 and 1989, respectively; He also attended Pyongyang's Kim Il-sung University in 1985...

, however, found Han Sǒrya and North Korean Literature to be “very interesting” and favorably reviewed The Cleanest Race as taking a “fresh approach” on North Korea.

Published books

  • Han Sǒrya and North Korean Literature: The Failure of Socialist Realism in the DPRK. Ithaca, NY: Cornell East Asia Program, 1994. ISBN 0939657848.
  • A Reader’s Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness of American Literary Prose. Hoboken, NJ: Melville House Publishing
    Melville House Publishing
    Melville House Publishing is an independent publisher of literary fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The company was founded in 2001 by the husband and wife team of Dennis Loy Johnson and Valerie Merians in Hoboken, New Jersey, a location Johnson jokingly called "the Left Bank" of New York City...

    , 2002. ISBN 0971865906.
  • The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters. Hoboken, NJ: Melville House Publishing, 2010. ISBN 9781933633916

See also

  • Green Party of the United States
  • North Korea
    North Korea
    The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

  • Postmodernism
    Postmodernism
    Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...

  • Socialist Realism
    Socialist realism
    Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...


External links

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