Colin Marshall

Colin Marshall is a Seoul-based essayist on cities, language, and culture. His latest book, published in Korean, is 한국 요약 금지 (No Summarizing Korea, 2024).

Articles

Clarice Lispector Reborn in David Lynch's Seoul: An Introduction to Outsider Novelist-Essayist Bae Suah
Colin Marshall discusses the enigmatic and subtle qualities of Bae Suah's fiction.
Colin MarshallOct 25, 2020
The Woman Who Ran: The Cinematic-Romantic Collaboration of Hong Sangsoo and Kim Min-Hee Evolves
"The collision of the sexes in Hong's work has become more awkward and disembodied over time, and sex itself has dwindled to a conspicuous absence."
Colin MarshallSep 27, 2020
The Great Korean Plastic Surgery Novel: Frances Cha's If I Had Your Face
Colin MarshallSep 13, 2020
No Sex Please, This Is Korea: Jang Sun-woo's The Road to the Race Track (1991)
Colin Marshall continues his dive into the Korean Film Archive’s YouTube channel with Jang Sun-woo's "The Road to the Race Track" (1991).
Colin MarshallAug 30, 2020
The First Comprehensive Introduction to "K-Lit" Past and Present: Youngmin Kwon and Bruce Fulton's What Is Korean Literature?
Colin Marshall delves into the development of Korean literature as a genre, through Youngmin Kwon and Bruce Fulton's "What Is Korean Literature?"
Colin MarshallAug 16, 2020
The Korean Zombie Apocalypse: A Wave of Movies and TV Eerily Suited to the COVID Era
For this week's Korea Blog, Colin Marshall looks at recent(ish) films that presciently documented the same societal fears now exposed in the pandemic.
Colin MarshallAug 2, 2020
Six Expatriate Writers Give Six Views of Seoul in a New Short-Fiction Anthology, A City of Han
Colin Marshall explores a new expat story anthology, "A City of Han," collected by Sollee Bae, about living in Seoul.
Colin MarshallJul 19, 2020
The Book of Jiyoung: An Explosively Controversial Korean Feminist Novel Comes Out in English
Colin Marshall revisits "Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982," the debut novel by a former television writer named Cho Nam-joo.
Colin MarshallJul 5, 2020
In Praise of Pilsa, the Highly Uncreative Korean Method of Learning to Write
Colin Marshall discusses a maligned yet effective method of learning in Korea.
Colin MarshallJun 21, 2020
Rediscovering Korean Cinema: An Academic Look at the Zombies, Mutants, Criminals, and Prostitutes of South Korea's Silver Screen
Colin Marshall looks at a new essay collection about the history and influence of Korean cinema.
Colin MarshallJun 7, 2020
What Do They Know of English, Who Only English Know? On Gaston Dorren’s “Lingo: Around Europe in Sixty Languages” and “Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages”
Colin Marshall explores the allure of polyglotism and the perils of linguistic hegemony through “Lingo” and “Babel” by Gaston Dorren.
Colin MarshallJun 3, 2020
The Coronavirus Breaks Out in Itaewon, the "Gays-and-Foreigners" Seoul Neighborhood Celebrated in a Hit Netflix Drama
Colin Marshall delves into culture of an Americanized neighborhood of Seoul and a popular K-drama set there: "Itaewon Class."
Colin MarshallMay 24, 2020
Selling Your Body to Seoul: Kim Ho-seon's Yeong-ja's Heydays (1975)
For the Korea Blog, Colin Marshall discusses the evolving portrayals of Korea's cinematic prostitutes.
Colin MarshallMay 10, 2020
From Nation-Builder to (Would-Be) Apple-Killer: Geoffrey Cain's Corporate Biography Samsung Rising
Colin Marshall's latest Korea Blog entry looks at Korea's megacorp through the book "Samsung Rising" by American journalist Geoffrey Cain.
Colin MarshallApr 26, 2020
A British Denmark Expat Takes the Measure of Korea: Michael Booth's Three Tigers, One Mountain
For this week's Korea Blog, Colin Marshall reviews Michael Booth's "Three Tigers, One Mountain," a history of the geopolitical relations in East Asia.
Colin MarshallApr 12, 2020
Everything Turns into ASMR in Korea, Even Cultural Heritage
Colin Marshall explores Korea's fascination with other people's sounds.
Colin MarshallMar 29, 2020