{"id":42433,"date":"2017-06-27T11:11:34","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T15:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=42433"},"modified":"2017-07-31T22:34:55","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T02:34:55","slug":"ten-works-contemporary-korean-literature-translation-booklist-reader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/ten-works-contemporary-korean-literature-translation-booklist-reader\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Works of Contemporary Korean Literature in Translation [in The Booklist Reader]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Despite Maureen Corrigan\u2019s rather nasty NPR review<\/a> of Korean author Kyung-sook Shin\u2019s 2011 Stateside debut, Please Look After Mom<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 her\u00a0phrase \u201ccheap consolations of kimchee-scented Kleenex fiction\u201d caused<\/a> particular<\/a> affront<\/a> \u2013 Mom<\/em>\u00a0became a major bestseller. In a stroke of well-deserved vindication, Shin became the first woman to win the\u00a0Man Asian Literary Prize<\/a>\u00a0and has been credited with revitalizing the Korean publishing industry\u00a0when her international critical success and strong sales figures sparked a worldwide interest\u00a0Korean fiction.<\/p>\n

In 2013,\u00a0Dalkey Archive Press<\/a>, in partnership with the\u00a0Literature Translation Institute of Korea<\/a>, began publishing the\u00a0Library of Korean Literature,<\/a>\u00a0intended to present \u201cmodern classics of Korean literature in translation, featuring the best Korean authors from the late modern period through the present day.\u201d The collection now has 25 novels and story collections readily available to anglophone readers.<\/p>\n

Since\u00a0Han Kang\u2019s\u00a0The Vegetarian<\/em><\/a>\u00a0won the\u00a02016 Man Booker International Prize<\/a>, all the more Korean fiction has made it west.\u00a0Here are 10 titles\u00a0to expand your reading horizons.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Black Flower<\/strong><\/a> by Young-ha Kim, translated by Charles La Shure<\/p>\n

Longlisted for the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize<\/a>, Black Flower<\/em> is a fictionalized account of\u00a0little-known, yet utterly fascinating historical events. In 1905, 1,033 Koreans left the port of Jemulpo (today\u2019s Incheon) on the\u00a0Ilford<\/em>, a British merchant ship, and arrived (after two deaths, one birth) in Mexico\u2019s Yucat\u00e1n as indentured laborers to be parceled out to\u00a0henequen<\/a>\u00a0plantations. The Koreans believed they were escaping the brutal Japanese colonization of their homeland; instead, they were sold into slave-like servitude. Within the Koreans\u2019 experience, Kim (The Republic Is Calling You<\/em>) also bears witness to local Mexican history, including the abuses of colonial Christianity, the mistreatment of the indigenous Mayans, and the Mexican Revolution, which eventually (surprisingly!) involves a small band of Korean nationals. Kim explains in his ending \u201cAuthor\u2019s Note\u201d that the genesis of\u00a0Black Flower<\/em>\u00a0is rooted in a second-hand airplane conversation that seemed \u201ctoo mythical,\u201d and eventually led Kim to M\u00e9rida in Mexico\u2019s Yucat\u00e1n, then Tikal and Antigua in Guatemala, to research this \u201cforgotten historical moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"The Boy Who Escaped Paradise <\/a><\/strong>by J. M. Lee, translated by Chi-Young Kim<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s silent protagonist sits in a New York City cell, accused of murder and terrorism. His more notable possessions include four fake passports and 19 pages of mathematical formulas written in an unidentifiable language. The nurse in charge interrupts an aggressive FBI interrogation to care for the protagonist\u2019s gunshot wound. Under her ministrations, the suspect will divulge the details a\u00a0quest that originated in North Korea and lands in North America.\u00a0He moves through a prison camp, casinos, hotel rooms, action flicks, and international markets \u2013 all to fulfill a childhood promise of everlasting care (and love).\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s magic in this world. And miracles,\u201d Lee (The Investigation<\/a>) <\/em>writes.\u00a0By the end of the book, you\u2019ll believe him.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"The Color of Earth <\/a><\/strong>by Kim Dong Hwa, translated by Lauren Na<\/p>\n

The first book in the\u00a0manhwa<\/em>\u00a0trilogy<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 which also includes The Color of Water<\/em> and The Color of Heaven\u00a0\u2013 <\/em>introduces English readers to two generations of strong women, a beautiful widowed mother and her blossoming teenage daughter, who share\u00a0their lives in early 20th-century Korea. The series follows the mother, who runs the village tavern and finally finds love with a handsome traveling salesman, and daughter Ewha, who eventually discovers first love. Their dual story is told through intricate, exquisite panels of Kim\u2019s gorgeous black-and-white pencil drawings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"The Hole<\/a><\/strong> by Hye-Young Pyun, translated by Sora Kim-Russell<\/p>\n

When Oghi wakes from his coma, the world doesn\u2019t align with his last memories. He survived a car accident, but his wife is dead, and he\u2019s completely paralyzed. Oghi is parentless, childless, and 47, with few friends among his colleagues at the university. His widowed mother-in-law is now \u201chis only family and legal guardian.\u201d In his mother-in-law\u2019s care, silently trapped in his damaged body, Oghi loses all control of what happens around, to, and because of him. As he remembers more about the\u00a0accident, his mother-in-law learns\u00a0intimate details about her deceased daughter\u2019s life. The facade of their\u00a0happy union cracks and crumbles, with terrifying results.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Human Acts<\/a><\/strong> by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith<\/p>\n

In her follow-up to The Vegetarian<\/em><\/a>, Han drops readers into a mass of deteriorating corpses that\u00a0came to a gruesome end: the student demonstrators of\u00a0South Korea\u2019s 1980 Gwangju Uprising. A 15-year-old boy searching for his missing friend enters a school where bodies are being collected and doesn\u2019t leave alive. In the five chapters that follow, using Rashomon<\/em>-like shifts in perspective, Han bears witness to what happened inside the death-filled building, as well as the decades-long, hellish aftermath for those who managed to get out. A\u00a0Gwangju native, Had adds her own urgent history in the epilogue, erasing any remotely comforting distance the word \u201cnovel\u201d might have provided. Lest readers think these events are specific to this place, this time, these people, Han demonstrates how inhumane human acts are \u201cimprinted in our genetic code,\u201d citing massacres in Nanjing, Bosnia, and \u201call across the American continent when it was still known as the New World.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly<\/a><\/strong> by Sun-mi Hwang, translated by Chi-Young Kim, illustrated by Nomoco<\/p>\n

At a mere 134 pages, Hen<\/em> is perfect to read in a single sitting, although the story\u2019s loving spirit is sure to linger. Confined to a tiny space all her life, Sprout decides one day that she will never lay another egg. She\u2019s soon culled from her coop, but survives the \u201cHole of Death,\u201d even escaping the murderous weasel with the help of a\u00a0friend.\u00a0In spite of her initial fear and worry, Sprout is newly empowered on her own. Out in the \u201cvast fields\u201d in which she can roam free, \u201cSprout stood tall and proud, clucking joyfully.\u201d Then her wildest dream comes true when she finds another animal\u2019s still-warm egg, protecting and nurturing it until Baby arrives to make her world wondrous and tragic, joyful and wrenching, and everything in between. In simple sentences, Hwang creates a multi-layered tale of the most improbable connections that make up a family. An international bestseller with over two million copies sold,\u00a0Hen\u00a0<\/em>arrived in the United States more than a decade after its native South Korean publication. Pair with Hwang\u2019s latest-in-translation, The Dog Who Dared to Dream<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Meeting with My Brother<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0by Yi Mun-yol, translated by Heinz Insu Fenkl and Yoosup Chang<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Korean War displaced and fragmented more than ten million families,\u201d writes Fenkl\u00a0in his introduction to his (and Chang\u2019s) new translation of Yi\u2019s novella about the first meeting between two adult brothers. Yi, one of Korea\u2019s most prominent literary figures, was victimized by the division of Korea. His father abandoned his mother and five young children to defect to the north in 1950, marking the family as guilty-by-communist-association targets. Yi learned of his father\u2019s fate in the mid-1980s: 30 years in prison camps, a second wife, five more children. Yi expands on his own history through a fictional alter ego who travels from Seoul to the Chinese-North Korean border to meet the eldest North Korean son of his late father. Their shared parentage contrasts sharply with their divergent experiences on either side of the DMZ.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Our Happy Time<\/a><\/strong> by Gong Ji-young, translated by Sora Kim-Russell<\/p>\n

Yunsu sits on death row, condemned for committing multiple murders. Yujeong lies in a hospital bed after her third suicide attempt. Yunsu confesses to\u00a0a tragically\u00a0difficult\u00a0life in numbered Blue Notes; Yujeong reveals the meaninglessness of her overprivileged existence.\u00a0On condition of her medical release \u2013 and to bypass further psychiatric treatment which has clearly\u00a0failed her \u2013 Yujeong agrees to accompany her maternal Aunt Monica, a nun, on her weekly visits to death row inmates. And so the two souls \u2013 both so damaged beyond their youth \u2013 meet, share, understand, and slowly\u00a0begin to heal through a story told in alternating chapters.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Please Look After Mom<\/a><\/strong> by Kyung-sook Shin, translated by Chi-Young Kim<\/p>\n

The Korean title of this indelible novel,\u00a0Omma rul put\u2019ak hae<\/em>, contains a sense of commanding trust that is missing in its English translation: \u201cI\u00a0entrust<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Mommy [to you].\u201d That trust is irreparably splintered when \u2018Mom\u2019 disappears after becoming separated from her husband on a busy Seoul Station platform. In four distinct voices, the character of Mom \u2013 a rural farmwoman whose \u201chands could nurture any life\u201d \u2013 is reassembled by her eldest daughter, whose books Mom couldn\u2019t read; her eldest son, for whom she could never do enough; her husband, who never slowed down; and finally, Mom herself, as she wanders through memories both strange and familiar. Shin\u2019s breathtaking novel is an acute reminder of how easily a family can fracture, how little we truly know one another, and how desperate need can sometimes overshadow even the deepest love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Recitation<\/a><\/strong> by Bae Suah, translated by Deborah Smith<\/p>\n

For Kyung-hee, a self-described \u201ctheatre actor specializing in recitation,\u201d the \u201croving life\u201d proves to be the only antidote to \u201ceverything [being] irresolvably vague and depressing.\u201d Traveling through Europe and Asia, she shares experiences and memories with new acquaintances and intimate friends. Wandering without any particular plans, she is often the beneficiary of the kindness of strangers for shelter, companionship, and connection. From the Starbucks logo as a familiar \u201cinternational ideograph,\u201d to dysfunctional families in which a sibling can choose to disappear literally overnight, to arbiters of culture as varied as\u00a0Reader\u2019s Digest<\/em>\u00a0and Swiss novelist \/ playwright Max Frisch, Bae explores, examines, and ultimately challenges today\u2019s global (non-) citizen. The author\u2019s unforeseen metamorphosis in the final chapter as a subversively unreliable narrator is an exceptionally adroit achievement.<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: “Ten Works of Contemporary Korean Literature in Translation,” The Booklist Reader<\/em>, June 23, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite Maureen Corrigan\u2019s rather nasty NPR review of Korean author Kyung-sook Shin\u2019s 2011 Stateside debut, Please Look After Mom\u00a0\u2013 her\u00a0phrase \u201ccheap consolations of kimchee-scented Kleenex fiction\u201d caused particular affront \u2013 Mom\u00a0became a major bestseller. In a stroke of well-deserved vindication, Shin became the first woman…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,37,7243,6535,66],"tags":[6798,793,6608,6668,7235,7131,794,984,2440,75,6743,10,11,5810,6744,68,4138,985,24,880,7180,7406,6439,2441,1050,2442,7263,986,5809,39,5615,7264,1051,987,45,7261,7262,796],"class_list":["post-42433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-fiction","category-korean","category-lists","category-repost","category-translation","tag-bae-suah","tag-black-flower","tag-bookdragon","tag-booklist","tag-booklist-reader","tag-boy-who-escaped-paradise","tag-charles-la-shure","tag-chi-young-kim","tag-color-of-earth","tag-death","tag-deborah-smith","tag-family","tag-friendship","tag-gong-ji-young","tag-han-kang","tag-haves-vs-have-nots","tag-heinz-insu-fenkl","tag-hen-who-dreamed-she-could-fly","tag-historical","tag-hole","tag-human-acts","tag-hye-young-pyun","tag-j-m-lee","tag-kim-dong-hwa","tag-kyung-sook-shin","tag-lauren-na","tag-meeting-with-my-brother","tag-nomoco","tag-our-happy-time","tag-parent-child-relationship","tag-please-look-after-mom","tag-recitation","tag-sora-kim-russell","tag-sun-mi-hwang","tag-war","tag-yi-mun-yol","tag-yoosup-chang","tag-young-ha-kim"],"yoast_head":"\nTen Works of Contemporary Korean Literature in Translation [in The Booklist Reader] - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/ten-works-contemporary-korean-literature-translation-booklist-reader\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ten Works of Contemporary Korean Literature in Translation [in The Booklist Reader] - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite Maureen Corrigan\u2019s rather nasty NPR review of Korean author Kyung-sook Shin\u2019s 2011 Stateside debut, Please Look After Mom\u00a0\u2013 her\u00a0phrase \u201ccheap consolations of kimchee-scented Kleenex fiction\u201d caused particular affront \u2013 Mom\u00a0became a major bestseller. In a stroke of well-deserved vindication, Shin became the first woman...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/ten-works-contemporary-korean-literature-translation-booklist-reader\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-27T15:11:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-01T02:34:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/06\/Ten-Works-of-Contemporary-Korean-Literature-in-Translation-Featured-630x316.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"316\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmithsonianAPA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ten Works of Contemporary Korean Literature in Translation [in The Booklist Reader] - BookDragon","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/ten-works-contemporary-korean-literature-translation-booklist-reader\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ten Works of Contemporary Korean Literature in Translation [in The Booklist Reader] - BookDragon","og_description":"Despite Maureen Corrigan\u2019s rather nasty NPR review of Korean author Kyung-sook Shin\u2019s 2011 Stateside debut, Please Look After Mom\u00a0\u2013 her\u00a0phrase \u201ccheap consolations of kimchee-scented Kleenex fiction\u201d caused particular affront \u2013 Mom\u00a0became a major bestseller. 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