William Elliot Griffis: standing between the orient and the occident

2016·3.1 MB·English

by  Won, Sami G.

ABASTRACT
Korea remained inaccessible and isolated from the world for centuries, until 1882.
That same year, William Elliot Griffis, an American orientalist, published Corea: the
Hermit Nation and provided an encyclopedic introduction of Korea to the world. Despite
the author's noble intention however, Korea was misrepresented, due to the author's lack
of first-hand experience of the country. His knowledge of Korea was reliant on his
missionary experience in Japan and the network of Japanese leaders he maintained since
his visit. However, his Japanese contacts being a post Hideoyshi generation living in the
Meiji Restoration period, the stories and documents he retrieved through them would
likely have been products of altered history and of the Japanese war legends. Therefore,
this thesis project will provide an analytical assessment of his book by examining the
context of his view of Korea to help the modern historians gain academic discernment in
their reference to Corea, the Hermit Nation.
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