Not Everything Unfolds as Anticipated: Selections from Yi Kyubo’s Tongguk Yi Sangguk Chip (University of Hawaii Press, 2026) comprises translations of poems, tales, letters, epitaphs, and funeral orations by Yi Kyubo (1168–1241), the foremost writer and poet of the Koryŏ dynasty (918–1392). Dr. Breuker’s translation and introduction humanize this celebrated poet, whom he reveals as not only a great writer, but a doggedly ambitious man with a reputation for drinking, a son weighed down by his family’s expectations of greatness, and a father who grieved for his dead son. Not Everything Unfolds as Anticipated” is an excellent book for anyone who wants to better understand the famed writer and the political, social, and literary context of the Koryŏ dynasty.
Remco Breuker is a Professor of Korean Studies at Leiden University. His research spans medieval and modern Korea and Northeast Asia, with a particular focus on historiography, identity formation, borders, state formation, and the uses of history in contemporary politics.
He has translated Korean literature into Dutch, and in 2025 he both contributed to and co-edited an English translation of the Samguk Yusa, an important Korean historical text.
Buy Not Everything Unfolds as Anticipated: here
Dr. Breuker’s LinkedIn: here
Dr. Breuker’s Bluesky: here
About the host: Leslie Hickman is an Anthropology graduate student at Emory University. She
has an MA in Korean Studies and a KO-EN translation certificate from the Literature Translation
Institute of Korea. You can contact her at leslie.hickman@emory.edu
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