Lanterns on the River Essays on Life and Culture in Contemporary South Korea

Lanterns on the River collects a series of reflective and interpretive essays on contemporary Korean life and culture. Diane M. Hoffman views Korea through a cross-cultural window, offering the non-Korean reader a base for understanding and appreciating aspects of Korean life. Among the topics these essays address are: the role of emotion in Korean life, the theme of conformity, the influence of religion, and the nature of the relationship between men and women. Hoffman has an anthropologist's interest in cultural meanings and values; however, the book also offers unique insights into themes not commonly addressed in the existing scholarly; literature. Lanterns on the River is thus a hybrid genre, and as such will have appeal not only for scholars of Asia and Korea and students of cultural anthropology and social psychology, but also for the general reader interested in the various dimensions of life in contemporary Korea.

Diane M. Hoffman is an assistant professor at the University of Virginia, Curry School of Education.