English Summary
Title: Ask the Dolharubang for Directions
Korean Original: 돌하르방에게 길을 묻다
A literary travel essay that explores Jeju Island through a journey in search of the original Dolharubang statues, inviting readers to reflect on place, authenticity, and the self.
Book Summary
This book is a philosophical travel essay centered on a journey to locate the original Dolharubang statues scattered across Jeju Island.
The author sets out to trace 47 surviving original Dolharubang figures—statues whose existence remains largely unknown even among local residents—and records their forms, locations, and significance through photographs and reflective prose.
While most people are familiar only with the iconic wide-eyed Dolharubang commonly reproduced in tourist imagery, this book reveals the wide diversity of their original appearances and challenges the simplified image that has become dominant.
The journey described here is not only physical but also inward. As the author travels across Jeju Island, she poses questions about life, identity, and direction to the Dolharubang, transforming travel itself into a process of self-examination.
Drawing on the philosophical distinction between originals and copies—most notably Plato’s theory of forms—the narrative interweaves travel, reflection, and philosophy, shaping what the author describes as a “thinking travel essay.”
Rather than listing popular restaurants or cafés, the book invites readers to encounter the quieter layers of Jeju Island: its landscapes, its history, and its understated emotional depth. By the final page, a lingering question naturally remains—can we truly reach the essence of a place, and of ourselves?
English translation by ChatGPT (version 5.2).