Brian Reynolds Myers

Brian Reynolds "B.R." Myers (born 1963) is an American associate professor of international studies at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea, best known for his works regarding North Korean history.

Myers is a contributing editor for The Atlantic, and an opinion columnist for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Han Sǒrya and North Korean Literature, published by Cornell in 1994, A Reader's Manifesto, published by Melville House in 2002, and The Cleanest Race, published by Melville House, in 2010.

Early life and education

Myers was born in the U.S. state of New Jersey, spent his childhood in Bermuda and his youth in South Africa, and received graduate education in Germany.^[3][4] He earned an MA degree in Soviet studies at Ruhr University (1989) and a PhD degree in North Korean literature at the University of Tübingen (1992). Myers subsequently taught German in Japan^[4] and worked for the Mercedes-Benz Beijing Liaison Office in 1996.^[5]

Before his appointment at Dongseo University, Myers lectured in North Korean literature and society at the Korea University North Korean Studies Department.^[6] He also taught globalization and North Korean literature at the Inje University Korean Studies Department.^[7]

Career

North Korea and post-modernism

Myers’ Han Sŏrya and the North Korean literature: The Failure of Socialist Realism in the DPRK was adapted from his 1992 dissertation at the University of Tübingen and published as the sixty-ninth volume of the Cornell East Asia Series.^[8] A Reader’s Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose was developed from his critical review essay of the same name published in the Atlantic in 2001.^[9]

The Cleanest Race

The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters is an examination of North Korean propaganda, arguing that North Korea under Kim Jong Il was guided by “a paranoid, race-based nationalism with roots in Japanese fascism.”^[10] Myers argues that North Korea's political system is not based on Communism or Stalinism, and that the juche ideology is not really an ideology at all but a sham to establish Kim Il-sung's credentials as a thinker alongside Mao Zedong.^[11]

Myers argues that the more recent post Cold War attempts to understand North Korea as a Confucian patriarchy based on the filial piety of Kim Jong-Il, and the dynastic transfer of power from his father are equally misguided, and that the North Korean leadership is maternalist rather than paternalist.^[12]

Myers’ opinion columns for the Atlantic, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal generally focus on North Korea, which he says is not a Marxist-Leninist or Stalinist state, but “a national-socialist country.”^[13]

Book reviews

His book reviews have included critical appraisals of American historian Bruce Cumings,^[14] American author Toni Morrison,^[15] American author Denis Johnson,^[16] and South Korean novelist Hwang Sok-yong.^[17] His most recent major review was a scathing takedown of American novelist Jonathan Franzen's celebrated novel Freedom.^[18]

Myers recently explained the common public perception of the ROKS Cheonan sinking in South Korea in respect to its perception to North Korea.^[19]

Criticism

Myers’ books on North Korea have been challenged by some academic critics. South Korean literary critic Yearn Hong Choi, for example, was not convinced with the thesis of Han Sǒrya and North Korean Literature:

How can Myers say that he [Han Sǒrya] is not a socialist realist? How can Myers say that Han's thought is not compatible with communist ideology? I can understand Myers’s views on orthodox socialist realism, yet I see socialist realism abundantly present in North Korean literature: North Korean writers still advocate socialist realism. Myers simply does not interpret socialist realism as they do.

—Yearn Hong Choi^[20]

Russian historian Andrei Lankov, however, found Han Sǒrya and North Korean Literature to be “very interesting”^[21] and favorably reviewed The Cleanest Race as taking a “fresh approach” on North Korea.^[22] Lankov said Myers' and Tatiana Gabroussenko's works were informative of North Korea's propaganda and the flexibility of "Pyongyang's agitprop shock brigades".^[23]

Personal life

Myers is married to a South Korean woman and lives and teaches in South Korea. Politically, Myers is a supporter of the Green Party of the United States, veganism, and animal rights.^[4]

Bibliography

• Myers, Brian (1994). Han Sǒrya and North Korean Literature: The Failure of Socialist Realism in the DPRK. Ithaca, New York: Cornell East Asia Program. ISBN 0-939657-84-8. Retrieved March 23, 2013. 
• Myers, B.R. (2002). A Reader’s Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness of American Literary Prose. Hoboken, New Jersey: Melville House Publishing. ISBN 0-9718659-0-6. Retrieved March 23, 2013. 
• Myers, B.R. (2010). The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters. Hoboken, New Jersey: Melville House Publishing. ISBN 978-1-933633-91-6. Retrieved March 23, 2013. 

See also

• History of North Korea
• Postmodernism

References

External links

• B.R. Myers Dongseo University Faculty Page
• Recent articles by B. R. Myers The Atlantic
• Myers, B.R. (April 1, 2009). "To Beat a Dictator, Ignore Him". New York Times. 
• Myers, B.R. (May 28, 2009). "North Korea Will Never Disarm". New York Times. 
• Myers, B.R. (February 11, 2010). "The Cleanest Race". BookTV. C-SPAN.