October 8, 2004: Headlines: COS - Korea: Awards: Scholarship: Literature: Watetown Tab: David McCann was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea in the late 1960s, and Korea's influence on him has continued throughout his life

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Korea: Peace Corps Korea : The Peace Corps in Korea: October 8, 2004: Headlines: COS - Korea: Awards: Scholarship: Literature: Watetown Tab: David McCann was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea in the late 1960s, and Korea's influence on him has continued throughout his life

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David McCann was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea in the late 1960s, and Korea's influence on him has continued throughout his life

David McCann was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea in the late 1960s, and Korea's influence on him has continued throughout his life

David McCann was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea in the late 1960s, and Korea's influence on him has continued throughout his life

A life's passions rewarded

By Monica Deady/ Staff Writer

Friday, October 8, 2004

David McCann has come full circle.

The circle began when he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea in the late 1960s, and Korea's influence on him has continued throughout his life, weaving into his passions of history and poetry and coming to fruition with a prestigious award the country presents annually.

McCann, a Newton native and current Bellevue Road resident, received the Manhae Prize in scholarship, an award created to honor five individuals each year for world peace, arts, literature, religious practice and scholarship. He was the first non-Korean to receive the award for scholarship.

Manhae, McCann explained, was the pen name for Han Yongun, a Buddhist monk, Korean patriot and poet who lived from 1879 to 1944. McCann said the five major components of Han Yongun's life are reflected in the five awards that are given each year.

McCann, 60, was a member of the first Peace Corps group from the United States to go to Korea from 1966 to 1968, where he said he taught English conversation and worked on his knowledge of the Korean language by translating poetry on his own time.

He had a book of poems by the Korean poet Kim Sowol, and said he would sometimes talk to people on buses or that he met about Kim Sowol's poems, finding that many Koreans had a great appreciation for the early 20th-century man's work.

"There was a wonderful sense of excitement and interest that Koreans had because I was interested in their poetry," McCann said. "I just kept feeling their generosity of spirit even at this early age. They know I don't know Korean perfectly by any means, but I think they were saying thanks for putting in that effort."

After returning from Korea as a Peace Corps volunteer, McCann pursued a graduate degree in East Asian studies and later a Ph.D. in Korean literature from Harvard University.

He taught various East Asian topics at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and worked there as a writer for the university president's office for about 20 years before coming to Harvard to be the Korean Foundation professor of Korean literature.

McCann said that in the Korean culture, when an individual turns 60 years old, he or she has completed all the permutations of the 12-year cycle, which is important to their culture. At this point in your lifetime, you are free to do what you want. He said he thought it was especially neat that he received the award at age 60.

In addition to his most recent award, McCann has received numerous grants and other prizes, including poetry awards and a Fulbright predoctoral research fellowship. He has also published or translated more than 20 books, as well as written various articles and reviews.

Carter Eckert, the Yoon Se Young Professor of Korean History at Harvard, and one of McCann's colleagues, said although he hasn't read all of McCann's work, he appreciates it for its historical accuracy.

"As a historian, I really like his work because he has a very strong historical consciousness," Eckert said. "He really covers the whole breadth of Korean literature from postmodern classical Chinese literature ... as well as contemporary modern Korean literature with an emphasis on poetry."

He said McCann has helped build Harvard's Korean literature program immensely.

"This is a very prestigious award," Eckert said. "It's given to virtually anyone in the world. It's a highly prized and respected award in Korea."

Former South African President Nelson Mandela also received the Manhae Award this year.

McCann learned in late spring that he had won the award, and traveled to Korea in August to receive the award with his wife.

"I mean it's pretty overwhelming anyway, but to think that they kind of reached across the Pacific Ocean is really wonderful," McCann said.

Monica Deady can be reached at mdeady@cnc.com.





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Story Source: Watetown Tab

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Korea; Awards; Scholarship; Literature

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