Scholar and translator Brother Anthony of Taizé (An Sonjae) explains why Korea's recent history has played such an important part in shaping its literature. The Korea Cultural ProgrammeOpens in a new tab or window. is at the London Book Fair this coming April. The greatest challenge facing anyone trying to introduce Korean writing to the outside world is the world’s general lack of knowledge regarding Korea’s recent history, which has had such a deep influence on its literature. Until the end of the 19th century, Korean poetry and fiction were mostly written in imitation of (Classical) Chinese models. There was no drama. The very simple 'Hangeul' alphabet, which had been invented in the 15th century to transcribe the polysyllabic grammatical structures of Korean and the sounds of Chinese words, was hardly used - despised by male aristocrats as 'women’s writing'.