THE DRAGON IS EASIER TO DRAW THAN THE SNAKE

A collection offers an interpretation of Korean proverbs that often illustrates their meanings with references to United States culture and history.

In this fourth installment of a series, Moo-Jung translates 100 Korean proverbs into English and furnishes a close reading of them, disentangling their often complex, even obscure meanings. His mission is to capture the “true element of the Korean proverb” and its susceptibility to transformation over time, rendering it open to different interpretations by readers as they mature. As he explains in his own poetic terms, “They are as if the sharp edges have been worn down through continuous use over many years. They are rolling hills under the blue sky peppered with lazy white clouds, never the Alps or the Himalayas under a windy snowstorm. They are small, gentle streams and the peaceful sound of a lullaby, never the deafening thunder of Niagara Falls.” And while the proverbs, which date back 5,000 years, express the “collective consciousness of the Korean people,” the author endeavors to make them comprehensible to a Western audience. To this end, he often draws on American culture to explain them. The book is brimming with references to the likes of Malcolm X, Anna Nicole Smith, and Al Capone as well as the Super Bowl and Covid-19. But while the accounts provided by Moo-Jung are often remarkably sensitive, many readers will tire of the repeated references to the turpitude of Donald Trump and the corruption of the Republican Party. Rather than achieve a modern contextualization of the proverbs, such political partisanship makes them feel historically bound and sacrifices an element of their timelessness. In addition, the author’s prose can be clumsy and sometimes confusing, and the messiness of the manuscript, including abrupt and inexplicable changes in font type and size, doesn’t help. Moo-Jung’s command of the proverbs is inarguably impressive. Nevertheless, this collection may not be the best introduction for U.S. readers in search of a counterweight to the vagaries of politics and culture.

Despite its virtues, this commentary on Korean proverbs becomes too wedded to American party politics.