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In less than a century, South Korea has remarkably transformed its image from one of the world's poorest nations to a center of global influence. Not just one but a series of so-called modern miracles transformed the country into an exceptional case of national image-making and image-shifting. In contrast with the utilitarian focus of much existing scholarship on miracle secrets, best practices, and means of reproduction, Irina Lyan deconstructs the meaning of modern miracles and how they serve as catalysts of imagiNation—the process in which national images are constructed, resisted, reproduced, and projected. By retelling South Korea's modern miracles through Cinderella fairy-tale narratives, with their stark contrast between the unsatisfactory "before" and the idyllic "happily ever after," the book sheds light on the role modern miracles play in the process of imagining a nation.
Irina Lyan is Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian Studies and Head of the Korean Studies Program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
"Decoupling material history from discursive myth, Irina Lyan wields with deftness the Cinderella lens to dissect South Korea's 'miracle' narrative. Fictions of a frictionless ascent, she reveals, ultimately mask the ex-peripheral anxieties that haunt the nation to this day."—Hyung-Gu Lynn, AECL/KEPCO Chair in Korean Research, University of British Columbia
"Lyan goes beyond cataloguing Korea's 'miracle' to examine how its narrative is constructed, challenged, and projected globally. An essential contribution to Korean studies and global modernity."—Doobo Shim, Professor of Media and Communication, Sungshin Women's University
"By employing the concepts of economic and cultural miracles, Lyan deftly engages with Korea's growth from a peripheral nation to a global player through a unique and unprecedented lens. She bridges studies of development, innovation, alternative globalization, and nationalism, making ImagiNation a must-read for scholars and students across many fields."—Dal Yong Jin, Distinguished Simon Fraser University Professor and Director of the Transnational Culture and Digital Technology Lab