Whispers from the Rice Fields - Recollections of a Life in Korea

Product Description Memoirs are often confused with autobiographies. Indeed, whereas an autobiography is a chronology of a writer’s entire life, a memoir tends to focus on one or two specific periods or events in a person’s life. Sometimes memoirs emphasize something that needs to change or has changed based on significant life events. There is a greater focus on inner emotional experiences or interpretive themes as opposed to bare historical facts. People usually read autobiographies to learn about famous or historic individuals, while memoirs are read because they are about a certain subject or novel life experiences. Memoirs are unique because the authors select and shape facts and events in a unique way to explore important themes. This is the reason why memoirs are much more about seeing life from a particular angle rather than encompassing everything that happens. The hermeneutical element makes the story of the writer’s life more valuable to the world of the reader because it intersects with his or her horizons. In other words, those small significant moments shine a light on events that may help shape the broader world outside the text. Review "Throughout the memoir, the reader will find what some have called 'flashbulb memories' that reveal vivid and colorful depictions of early experiences that disclose deep emotions and striking images of both caring and inimical interactions." --C. Clark Triplett, Ph.D., Emeritus Dean of Graduate Studies and Professor of Psychology at Missouri Baptist University "Whispers from the Rice Fields is a unique memoir of John Han's youth, school years, and military training. It is a remembrance of life different from living in the United States yet similar in a desire to follow a dream. How life is full of unexpected events that unfold!" Terrie Jacks, a St. Louis poet and artist --Terrie Jacks, a St. Louis poet and artist About the Author Born in South Korea three years after the end of the Korean War, the author could have easily resigned to a peasant's life. With sheer determination and hard work, however, he moved to a bigger world, eventually becoming a professor of English and creative writing at an American university. In this memoir, Dr. Han shares the stories of his childhood, resolve to escape peasantry, pursuit of education, lifelong study of English, immigration to the United States, and nostalgia for the rice fields which he left behind fifty years ago.