Brian Reynolds Myers

Brian Reynolds Myers
Born Brian Reynolds Myers
1963 (age 53–54)[1]
New Jersey, U.S.
Other names B.R. Myers
Alma mater Ruhr University
University of Tübingen
Occupation Associate professor
Organization Dongseo University[2]
Busan, South Korea
Known for The Cleanest Race (2010)
A Reader's Manifesto (2002)
Website http://sthelepress.com/

Brian Reynolds Myers (born 1963), usually cited as B. R. Myers, is an American journalist and associate professor of international studies at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea, best known for his writings on North Korean propaganda. He is a contributing editor for The Atlantic and an opinion columnist for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Myers is the author of Han Sǒrya and North Korean Literature (Cornell, 1994), A Reader's Manifesto (Melville House, 2002), The Cleanest Race (Melville House, 2010), and North Korea's Juche Myth (Sthele Press, 2015).

Early life and education

Myers was born in 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 Korean studies with a focus on 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]

Career

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

Journalism

Opinion columns

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 a Stalinist state, but a "national-socialist country."[8] He has also commented in The New York Times on the common view of the ROKS Cheonan sinking in South Korea with regard to its perception of North Korea.[9] He stated that there was a lack of outrage over the incident among South Koreans due to the racialized nature of Korean nationalism; in other words, there was no major uproar over the incident in South Korea because of the concept of racial solidarity with the North Koreans that many South Koreans feel.[9] Myers stated that inter-Korean racial solidarity manifests itself by South Koreans supporting the North Korean soccer team at the World Cup and such.[9] He contrasted the racialized nature of South Korean nationalism with the civic nature of American nationalism, stating that South Korea's antipathy over attacks by North Korea was potentially dangerous to the national security of South Korea:[9]

South Korean nationalism is something quite different from the patriotism toward the state that Americans feel. Identification with the Korean race is strong, while that with the Republic of Korea is weak.
— Brian Reynolds Myers, "South Korea's Collective Shrug" (27 May 2010), The New York Times.[9]

Book reviews

His book reviews have included denunciations of American historian Bruce Cumings,[10] whom he says is an admirer of the North Korean regime, American author Toni Morrison,[11] American author Denis Johnson,[12] and South Korean novelist Hwang Sok-yong.[13] His most recent major review was an invective against American novelist Jonathan Franzen's celebrated novel Freedom.[14]

In September 2016 he published online a highly unorthodox retraction of an earlier "generally mixed" review of Charles K. Armstrong's Tyranny of the Weak, citing its sloppy citations, lack of accuracy in translations, and even hinting at its derivative nature from another work.[15]

Books

Myers' Han Sŏrya and the North Korean literature: The Failure of Socialist Realism in the DPRK (1994) was adapted from his 1992 dissertation at the University of Tübingen and published as the sixty-ninth volume of the Cornell East Asia Series.[16]

A Reader’s Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose (2002) was developed from his critical review essay of the same name published in the Atlantic in 2001.[17]

The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters (2010) is a discussion of North Korean propaganda, contending that North Korea under Kim Jong Il was guided by a "paranoid, race-based nationalism with roots in Japanese fascism."[18] Myers asserts that the North Korean political system is not based on Communism or Stalinism, and he contends that the official Juche idea is a sham ideology for foreign consumption and intended to establish Kim Il-sung's credentials as a thinker alongside Mao Zedong.[19] Myers also claims that 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 misguided and that the North Korean leadership is maternalist rather than paternalist.[20]

Reception and criticism

Myers’ book The Cleanest Race has been challenged by several academic critics.[21] Charles K. Armstrong of Columbia University suggested that the book "gives an intellectual gloss to attitudes many in the West already have about the DPRK".[22] Felix Abt, a Swiss business affairs specialist who lived in North Korea for seven years, describes Myers' claims in The Cleanest Race as "flawed" and "shaky". Abt wrote that it was "rather absurd" to describe Juche as "window-dressing" for foreigners.[23]

South Korean literary critic Yearn Hong Choi also regards the thesis of Myers' Han Sǒrya and North Korean Literature as erroneous:

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[24]

Tatiana Gabroussenko points out that Myers is the only Western academician who thinks that North Korean literature does not have the hallmarks of socialist realism.[25]

Russian historian Andrei Lankov, however, found Han Sǒrya and North Korean Literature to be "very interesting"[26] and favorably reviewed The Cleanest Race as taking a "fresh approach" on North Korea.[27] Lankov also says Myers' work is "informative."[28]

Personal life and politics

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

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Myers, B. R., 1963-". Lawrence Public Library Catalog. Retrieved February 1, 2010. Myers, B. R., 1963-
  2. ↑ "Dongseo 114". Dongseo University. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  3. ↑ Rosett, Claudia (August 30, 2002). "How Dare He! Reviled Critic Gets the Last Word". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 Kim, Sun-jung. "The Remarkable B. R. Myers Revealed". Korea JooAng Daily. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  5. ↑ Karen K. Smith. “KS Contact Info for Brian Myers?” KoreaWeb.ws. 20 November 2008. Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. (Accessed February 1, 2010)
  6. ↑ 북한학과 (Puk’an hakkwa; North Korean Studies Department). Korea University. Archived February 16, 2005, at the Wayback Machine. (Accessed February 1, 2010)
  7. ↑ 2006학년도 1학기 강연내용 (2006 School Year First Semester Lecture Content). Korea University. (Accessed February 1, 2010)
  8. ↑ “The Constitution of Kim Jong Il.” Wall Street Journal. 1 October 2009. Archived September 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. (Accessed February 1, 2010)
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Myers, Brian Reynolds (27 May 2010). "South Korea's Collective Shrug". The New York Times. New York: The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  10. ↑ “Mother of All Mothers: The Leadership Secrets of Kim Jong Il.” Atlantic. September 2004. Archived October 1, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. (Accessed February 1, 2010)
  11. ↑ B.R. Myers. “Mercy!” Atlantic. January/February 2009. (Accessed February 1, 2010)
  12. ↑ B. R. Myers. “A Bright Shining Lie.” Atlantic. December 2007 Archived August 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. (Accessed February 1, 2010)
  13. ↑ B. R. Myers. “The Caged Bird Sings.” New York Times. 8 September 2008. Archived September 3, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. (Accessed February 1, 2010)
  14. ↑ B. R. Myers. “Smaller Than Life Atlantic. October 2010 Archived January 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. (Accessed October 15, 2011)
  15. ↑ B.R. Myers. "Revoking a Recommendation - B.R. Myers" Archived December 20, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. (Accessed September 16, 2016)
  16. ↑ “Han Sŏrya and North Korean Literature.” Bibliothekskatalog Tübingen. Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. (Accessed February 1, 2010)
  17. ↑ B. R. Myers. “A Reader’s Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose.” Atlantic. July/August 2001. Archived January 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. (Accessed February 1, 2010)
  18. ↑ “Book Discussion with Author B. R. Myers.” North Korea International Documentation Project. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Archived June 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. (Accessed February 1, 2010)
  19. ↑ "Immersion in propaganda, race-based nationalism and the un-figure-outable vortex of Juche Thought: Colin Marshall talks to B.R. Myers, author of The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why it Matters". Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  20. ↑ Bunch, Sonny (2010-06-01). "North Korea's Cultural Shackes. The Cleanest Race by B.R. Myers". Policy Review. Hoover Institution (161 (June–July 2010)). Retrieved 2014-12-15.
  21. ↑ Charles K. Armstrong, “Trends in the Study of North Korea,” Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 70, 2011; and Suzy Kim, "(Dis)orienting North Korea," Critical Asian Studies, Vol. 42, No. 3, September 2010.
  22. ↑ Charles K. Armstrong, “Trends in the Study of North Korea,” Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 70, 2011, p 360.
  23. ↑ Abt, Felix (2014). A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom. Tuttle Publishing. pp. 62–63. ISBN 9780804844390.
  24. ↑ Yearn Hong Choi. Review of Han Sǒrya and North Korean Literature. World Literature Today. Vol. 69. No. 1. Winter 1995. p. 230. JSTOR. (Accessed February 1, 2010)
  25. ↑ Gabroussenko, Tatiana (2010). Soldiers on the Cultural Front: Developments in the Early History of North Korean Literature and Literary Policy. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-8248-3396-1 – via EBSCOhost.
  26. ↑ “Andrei Lankov. KS Re: Contact Info for Brian Myers?” KoreaWeb.ws. 21 November 1998 Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. (Accessed February 1, 2010)
  27. ↑ Andrei Lankov. Review of The Cleanest Race. Far Eastern Economic Review. 4 December 2010. Archived January 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. (Accessed February 1, 2010)
  28. ↑ Lankov, Andrei (2013). The Real North Korea. Oxford University Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-19-996429-1.

Further reading

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