The Korean Myths

Korean mythology is one of the least well known of the world’s great mythological traditions in the English-speaking world — and one of the most extraordinary. Creation myths of dazzling strangeness. Gods who dwell in the spaces between heaven and earth. Shamanic rituals that have persisted from prehistoric times into the contemporary city. Narratives of transformation, transgression, and the permeability of the boundary between the human and the divine that reflect a worldview completely different from both the Western classical tradition and the more familiar East Asian mythologies.

Heinz Insu Fenkl’s presentation of the Korean myths is the most complete and most readable available in English — essential for anyone interested in world mythology, Korean culture, or the comparative study of religious narrative. Published by Thames & Hudson.