Available Formats
Korean Pansori as Voice Theatre: History, Theory, Practice
By (Author) Chan E. Park
Series edited by Simon Shepherd
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Methuen Drama
12th June 2025
United Kingdom
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
History of Performing Arts
Asian history
Traditional and folk music
782.1095195
Paperback
256
Width 129mm, Height 198mm
This book introduces readers to the historical, performative, and cultural context of pansori, a traditional Korean oral story-singing art. Written by a scholar-practitioner of the form, this study is structured in three parts and begins by introducing readers to the technical, aesthetic, and theoretical components of pansori, as well as the synthesis of vocal and percussive elements that stage the narrative. It moves on to reflect on the historical contexts of pansori, alongside Koreas transformation from Joseon monarchy to modern statehood. It argues that with colonial annexation came modernist influences that Korean dramatists and audiences used to create new genres of performance, using the common thread of pansori. The books third part explores the interplay of preservation and innovation, beginning in the post-war period and continuing with developments in the 20th and 21st centuries that coincide with Koreas imprint on cultural globalization. Along with Koreas growth as a world economic center, a growing enthusiasm for Korean culture around the world has increased the transmission and visibility of pansori. This study argues that tradition and innovation are not as divergent as they are sometimes imagined to be and that tradition is the force that enables innovation. Drawing on Chan E. Parks ethnographic work and performance practice, this book interweaves expert knowledge of both the textual and performative aspects of pansori, rendering legible this dramatic tradition.
Chan E. Parks Korean Pansori as Voice Theatre offers a special journey into a distinctive Korean performance genre that mingles voice, rhythm, and gesture to populate and re-enliven the world of classic Korean tales. As both a scholar-ethnographer and as a seasoned performer of pansori, Park navigates a complex history, bringing her study into the present and engaging, first-hand, with some of the knotty issues at stake in heritage preservation. * Laurel Kendall, American Museum of Natural History *
Uniquely situated as a scholar of literature and theatre and as performer of pansori, raised in Korea, teaching at Ohio State, and lecturing and performing widely, Chan Park offers here an entre into the world of this remarkable genre, leading us through its technical basics and history to a nuanced consideration of its place in the 21st century. An engaging and fresh take on a genre she knows intimately. * R. Anderson Sutton, Professor of Music & Chair, Ethnomusicology Program University of Hawai'i at Manoa, USA *
Chan E. Park is a researcher and performer of pansori, and Professor Emeritus of Korean Literature and Performance at Ohio State University, USA. Her publications include Voices from the Straw Mat: Toward an Ethnography of Korean Story Singing (2003) and Songs of Thorns and Flowers: Bilingual Performance and Discourse on Modern Korean Poetry Series (2010-2015).