Category: thoughts

유니게님의 글을 통해 알게 되어 최근에 읽기 시작한 이희재 저, 번역의 탄생 (부제: 한국어가 바로 서는 살아 있는 번역 강의). 무척 소중한 책이다. 이 책을 통해 우리말이 가진 묘미를 새롭게 발견하고 있다.]]>

아내가 지역 도서관에서 빌려온 C. S. Lewis의 The Magician’s Nephew. 무엇보다 반가운 것은 책을 읽어주는 오디오북 CD가 같이 포함되어 있다는 것. 내용을 아주 실감나게 낭독해 주는 덕분에 듣고 있으면 이야기의 세계 속으로 몰입하게 된다. C. S. Lewis 작품은 인물의 생각을 표현하거나 상황을 묘사하는 문장에서 느껴지는 쫄깃쫄깃한 언어의 묘미가 일품이다. 어렵지 않은 단어를 절묘하게 조합해서 사람의 복잡한 심리나 미묘한 상황을 실감나게 표현해 내는 그의 문학성에 나는 여러 번 매료되었다. 이에 비해 그의 작품을 영화화했을 때는 그런 문학적 특징을 충분히 반영하지 못하는 어려움이 있다. 아이들에게 C. S. Lewis의 작품을 소개하려면 영화보다는 책을 권한다.]]>

아프리카 동부에 있는 케냐라는 나라에 대한 궁금증이 생겨 검색 중 알게 된 책. 약간 비꼬는 유머가 담긴 독특한 글쓰기로 널리 알려진 빌 브라이슨 (Bill Bryson)이 케냐에 다녀온 짧은 여행기인 “아프리카 다이어리“를 구해서 읽었다. (21세기 북스, 김소정 옮김) 오랫만에 킥킥거리면서 읽게되는 책이었다. 물론 케냐라는 나라가 처한 현실적인 어려움은 결코 가볍게 웃을 수 있는 상황이 아니었지만 빌 브라이슨의 글쓰는 방식이 원래 그런 걸 어떻게 할까? 하지만 그의 냉소적 유쾌함 덕분에 케냐를 보다 긍정적인 관점에서 볼 수 있었고 자칫 우울해지거나 심각해질 수 있는 상황 속에서 오히려 밝은 희망을 가질 수 있을 것 같은 기대감을 느끼게 되었다. 잡지에 특집 기사 정도로 실려도 될만큼 워낙 짧은 책이어서 무척 아쉬웠다. 이 다음에 읽을 책은 케냐에 가서 5년 동안 생활하면서 사파리 전문 여행사를 운영하는 이승휘씨의 “케냐의 유혹” (문학동네).]]>

Aging Well on Amazon Kindle. Harvard Medical School followed the lives of many individuals for more than 50 years under the Study of Adult Development program and tried to find out what made someone have happier, healthier, and meaningful life. This book is about the result of that research, written by the director of the program. In the first chapter of the book, there is a story about Anthony Pirelli who was described by a psychiatrist who studied him as follows:

Unaggressive, sensitive and fearful of parental disapproval…. This is a very mild appearing boy. Wants to make a good impression. Does what he thinks is expected of him, never is quite at ease. Plainly quite insecure in a social way. On the whole, he is so conventional that it is very hard to get any true opinion that is his own. He is quite inhibited in action, never joined in any vigorous athletics but has numerous quiet hobbies of his own such as stamp collecting and ship model building. We do get the impression that he is quite sensitive and has aesthetic tastes.

The description seemed to fit me, too. So, I am already fully intrigued to find out rest of the story as the study follows his life for the next 50 years. You can read an excerpt (Chapter 1) of the book at eNotAlone.com.]]>

Kyu-Man Jung’s Family, ca. 1940

Great Great Grandfathers According to a record, the name of my great great grandfather was Hwa-Young Jung (정화영 鄭和永) (Another record says that his name was Soo-Sung Jung (정수성, 鄭秀性). It could be that in the old days people used two names. Or, it could be a mistake. I need to find out.) My great great grandmother’s name was Won-Tae Eun (은원태 殷遠泰). Based on what few records I have, they had at least three sons. One of them was In-Back Jung (정인백 鄭寅伯, married to Hyun-Rye Kim 김현례 金顯禮) and another was In-Key (정인기 鄭寅耆, married to Shin-Seok Han, 한신석 韓信錫). The record tells that In-Key was the third-born. Two Great Grandfathers There was no son between In-Back and his wife. In the old Korean tradition, when the elder son of a family does not have a boy, then it was required of the younger brother to give up his boy to the elder brother so that the family lineage can be maintained. Because of this situation, the son of the younger brother In-Key was adopted by the elder brother In-Baek. Some years later when In-Back passed away, the son was adopted back to his biological father. The son who was adopted back and forth was my grandfather. Thus, technically, I have two great grandfathers. I would call one the “elder” great grandfather and the other one “true” great grandfather. Somewhat complicated situation but that was how it was back then. An important thing happens to my “elder” great grandfather In-Back at around 1894 when he moved way up north to Seoul (which was called by the name of Han-Yang then) from his hometown of Kumi (which is located in southeastern part of Korean peninsula). It is rumored that he had to move to Seoul because he was in some way involved in a civil revolt that took place then and that he had to flee the police. Whatever the reason, he was in his 20s and, in Seoul, he met Horace Grant Underwood, a Christian missionary who came to Korea from US in 1885. Under the teachings of Rev. Underwood, he became a Christian. Several years later, he came back to his hometown Kumi where his family and relatives started a small gathering for worship service in 1901. The first members included his brother In-Key and his cousin In-Myung (정인명 鄭寅明). The gathering grew to be a church as more people joined the worship service. The church continued to grow for more than 100 years and it exists now as Kumi Sangmo Church. About My “True” Great Grandparents My great grandfather, In-Key Jung, was born in May 24, 1884. He got married to Shin-Seok Han in September 25, 1904. (Photo left) They had a son and five daughters. Great grandfather passed away on March 26, 1967 at the age of 84. My Grandfather, Kyu-man Jung Kyu-man Jung was born on June 11, 1911 to In-Key Jung and Shin-Seok Han. His birth name was Bok-Soo Jung (鄭福壽) He had four sisters and no brother. As said before, he was adopted by his uncle and then adopted back to his biological father. He got married to Young-Sook Kim in 1927 when he was 17 years old. He studied oriental medicine and, in 1943, move to Daegu, a much larger city than Kumi where he grew up. He opened up his own oriental medicine shop there. My grandparents had eight children. Two of them died early, one of them by disease and another one by a tragic accident which involved serious burn by boiling liquid. (There are two slightly different versions of story about this accident but I guess we can skip the sad details here.) Photo of My Grandparents, Kyu-Man Jung and Young-Sook Kim My grandparents were known to many mostly for their faith and obedience to God which involved generous giving and hospitality. Their stories, especially of my grandfather’s, have been widely told and retold within Christian circles for a while in the older days. As it often happens with the folklores, some of those stories about my grandfather seem to be somewhat exaggerated or fabricated so I think I’d better not reproduce them here unless more reliable sources are found. In any event, they lived a life of deep devotion to God. I think that is the most significant thing we remember about them. My grandfather passed away on June 24, 1969 at the age of 58 due to diabetes. to be continued]]>

facilities here in Suwon, thanks to which the city has become one of the highest tax-earning cities in Korea. The city of Suwon has rich cultural heritages, one of which is Hwaseong Fortress, a large park based on walled fortress that was built in late 1700s. It is said that one of the kings in Choseon Dynasty built it in memory of his father. My family had an outing to Hwaseong Fortress Park on a beautiful autumn day in October 2009. Here are some of the photos from the day: All photos taken with Nikon D90 + Tamron 17-50mm lens. © 2009 Soonuk Jung]]>

I started reading Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. Atul Gawande (born 1965) is surgeon and writer who wrote Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science and Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance, both of which were extremely fun to read. Many of Atul’s stories involve details of urgent situations taking place during surgical operations or in emergency rooms, because of which the book carries engaging suspense one can expect from books from thriller novelist like Frederick Forsyth. At the same time, his books are filled with interesting anecdotes and insights that you would expect from authors like Malcolm Gladwell. On top of that, the author’s writing style is so readable. The Checklist Manifesto is not necessarily a self-help book but the insights from the book are so incisive and penetrating that it would definitely help you improve your performance at work or at home.]]>

Newseum is a museum dedicated to news and journalism located in Washington D.C. I first heard of it from my sister Lois when I asked her for ideas on what to do in the capital of the United States. On the morning of February 3rd, 2010, I walked down from where I was staying, Normandy Hotel, to Dupont Circle, took the Metrorail from there to Archives/Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter Station. (It cost $3 for the round-trip.) Newseum was only about 5 minutes walk distance from there. Entrance fee to Newseum is $20, and it is good for two consecutive days. That is, you can get in the museum and come back again the next day to see the rest of the exhibition with the same ticket. I arrived at the museum at 9:30 AM. I had only about an hour and a half to enjoy the exhibitions before I had to return for the schedule at the conference I was attending. I had to be quick. The ushers suggested that I begin with the 8-minute, introductory video that gives the overview of what the museum was about. (Getty Center in LA also welcomed the first-time visitors with an introductory video. Perhaps it is a trend.) It helped me calm down myself so that I won’t rush myself in the excitement of trying to cover so much in so short time. The place was full of interesting exhibitions. There were blocks from the original Berlin Wall. “Today’s Front Page” section had the inkjet-printed images of the front page from selected major newspapers around the world. I especially liked Pulitzer Prize Photograph Gallery, along with the stories of the original journalists. Just to name a few. It was also interesting to note that almost every video and slide projection in the museum (there were lots of them) was in very crisp, high-definition image quality. I guess we will have such HD projections in our offices and conference rooms pretty soon. Thankfully taking photos were allowed in the museum. Here are some of the pictures I took at Newseum: All photos were taken with Nikon D80 + 50mm F1.8 lens. ©2010 Soonuk Jung]]>

Getty Center. Now it has come to reality. On my way back from the business trip to Washington DC, I decided to stop by Los Angeles and spend the weekend visiting relatives and old friends, and also visit two design-related places, which are (1) LA office of Continuum and (2) Getty Center. Getty Center is a fine arts museum located in Los Angeles. The buildings are designed by Richard Meier. According to Wikipedia, it took 13 years from the selection of the architect (in 1984) to its opening to the public in 1997. Entrance fee is free, but if you bring a car, you need to pay $15 for the parking. The museum allowed visitors to take pictures (no flashes or tripods) of art pieces with the exception of special exhibition and photography exhibitions. I am extremely thankful for their generous openness. Here are some of the photos from my excursion. This painting of a girl standing in front of a door is by Fernand Khnopff (Belgian, 1858-1923). The girl in the picture is Jeanne Kéfer, daughter of painter’s friend. I loved the soft emerald color of the door and the warm glow of the girl’s cheek. Seated Cardinal by Giacomo Manzù (1908-1991) All photos were taken with Nikon D80 + 50mm F1.8 lens. © 2010 Soonuk Jung]]>