[_list: Books from Korea] Vol.9 Autumn 2010 by LTI Korea Library

Vol.9 Autumn 2010

Special Section

Korean Art Publications Connect with Readers Interviews

Novelist Park Bumshin Director Lee Chang-dong The Place

Yi Sang’s “Wings” and the Department Store

ISSN 2005-2790

KLTI Grants for Prospective Publishers KLTI Overseas Marketing Grants

KLTI Overseas Publication Grants

Areas of Funding Publication marketing events and advertisements

Applicant Qualifications Any publisher who has signed a contract for the publishing rights of a Korean book. The book should be published by December 2010.

Applicant Qualifications Publishers who have published Korean books in translation within a year and are planning to hold promotional events. The event should occur within 6 months following the final application deadline. Grant Amount - Roundtrip airfare and accommodation expenses for the author, expenses for events and promotion, etc. - The amount will be determined by KLTI after due consideration of the marketing plan and scale. * The grant will be provided directly to the author or to the overseas publisher in two payments, before and after an event. How to Apply Register as a member on the website (www.koreanbooks.or.kr) and complete the online application form. Application Documents All documents should be scanned and uploaded on the application page of the website. 1. Introduction of the publisher, along with its history and past publications, including any previous books related to Korea 2. Breakdown of total event costs 3. A copy of the contract between the publisher and the translator 4. A copy of the contract between the publisher and the copyright holder 5. The translatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resume Other Information to Include 1. Detailed event plan including a breakdown of anticipated expenses 2. Publication cost 3. Total cost of event (marketing or promotion) 4. Requested grant amount Application Schedule Submission period: 2010. 1. 1 ~ 2010. 9. 30 Grant notification: monthly from February to October Contact Name: Oh Eunji Email: grants@klti.or.kr

Grant Amount - Part of the total publication expenses. - The amount varies depending on the publication cost and genre of the book. - The grant will be awarded after publication. How to Apply Register as a member on the website (www.koreanbooks.or.kr) and complete the online application form. Application Documents All documents should be scanned and submitted on the application page of the website. 1. Introduction of the publisher, along with its history and past publications, including any previous books related to Korea 2. Publication plan including the dates and budget for translation and publication in detail 3. A copy of the contract between the publisher and the translator 4. A copy of the contract between the publisher and the copyright holder 5. The translator's resume Application Schedule Submission period: 2010. 1. 1 ~ 2010. 9. 30 Grant notification: April, July, and October Contact Name: Oh Eunji Email: grants@klti.or.kr

Vol.6 Winter 2009 A Quarterly Magazine for Publishers Vol.6 Winter 2009 A Quarterly Magazine for Publishers

Top Five Questions for Vol.6 Winter 2009 A Quarterly Magazine for Publishers

Vol.6 Winter 2009 A Quarterly Magazine for Publishers

Vol.6 Winter 2009

1. What is list_Books from Korea,forand where can I find it? A Quarterly Magazine Publishers

Vol.6 Winter 2009 A Quarterly Magazine for Publishers

list is a quarterly magazine packed with information about Korean books. Register online at www.list.or.kr to receive a free subscription.

2. Can I get it in English? The printed edition of list is available in English and Chinese. The webzine (www.list.or.kr) is available in English, Chinese, and Korean.

3. What if I want information about Korean books more often? We offer a bi-weekly online newsletter. Simply email list_korea@klti.or.kr to begin receiving your free copy.

4. Who publishes list_Books from Korea? list is published by the Korea Literature Translation Institute, which is affiliated with the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. LTI Koreaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mission is to contribute to global culture by spreading Korean literature and culture abroad. Visit www.klti.or.kr to learn about our many translation, publication, cultural exchange, and education programs.

5. I understand there are grants available for overseas publications, right? LTI Korea offers many useful programs for overseas publishers, including Overseas Marketing Grants and Overseas Publication Grants. Visit www.koreanbooks.or.kr for detailed information.

Contact: list_korea@klti.or.kr

Foreword

Rediscovering Stories of Art Picasso said, “Art is money,” as though he had foreseen that one of the paintings from his Blue Period, “Boy With the Pipe,” would be auctioned off for $104,160,000. Picasso knew very well that art was subject to the supply and demand principle of the market. Paik Nam June also said, “Art is just fraud, everyone cheats one another. It is the highest form of fraud.” The works of Paik Nam June do not offer ordinary beauty to the viewer; rather, they perplex the public. Art, to him, meant doing something nobody else had done before; hence, it makes sense that he referred to art as fraud. So then, how does the public view art today? It has been a while since art was the exclusive claim of the aristocracy, and it is now easily available to the masses, but art is still not easy for us. It is difficult for us to come into contact with art that has become canonical in art history; and contemporary art, which over-emphasizes the novelty of form, engenders dismay. However, beginning around 2000, the Korean art market has shown signs of change. Extensive trips abroad by many Koreans have made it possible for the general public to see original artwork in the renowned museums of the West, and exhibits of famous paintings are frequently held during school breaks in Korea. There is the relatively new profession of an auctioneer; and art fairs where art works can be bought have increased in number, thus making it possible for people to get much closer to art. There are a large number of books on art that are contributing to making art more accessible to the public. The fall issue of list has a special on art books for the general public. There are many kinds of art books. Some explicate art in various forms, such as literature, art, comic books, mathematics, or a related humanities discipline; whereas other books deliver the know-how on how to collect art, or come in the form of guidebooks for art museums. Readers have shown a preference for books that deal with self-healing or developing creativity through art. The former especially targets women in their 20s and 30s, and these kinds of books have gained great popularity by introducing artworks by which readers can project their emotions and experience catharsis. The books by Lee Joo-eun and Kwak Aram fall in this category. In light of the hottest topic at present, which is creative management, how-to books on developing your creativity through art appreciation appeal greatly to business people. Yi Joo-heon and Savina Lee have written such books. In addition, thanks to writing by eminent art historians like Oh Ju-seok, Son Cheol-ju, and Choi Sunu, there is a greater interest in Korean art, which, compared to Western art, has not been as popular in the past. It is not clear if art is indeed also about money or fraud, but it is certain that it enriches our lives. Readers can encounter a wide variety of books on art in the fall issue of list. By Han Mihwa

Shin Yun-bok, Portrait of a Beauty

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 1

Are you looking for

a podcast about Korean literature? Or Korean writers? LTI Korea offers an introduction to Korean literature via your iPod or iPhone. Please visit our website at: http://www.klti.or.kr/eng

How to use

You can listen to and watch Korean literature podcasts on the iPod or iPhone. First touch the iTunes application on your iPod or iPhone. Second, touch the search icon and type “Korea literature,” “Korean books,” “writer’s name,” or “Korea Literature Translation Institute.” Third, choose one of the listed items and download.

Contents Autumn 2010 Vol. 9 01 06 07 08 10

Foreword Trade Report News from LTI Korea Bestsellers Publishing Trends

Special Section

Korean Art Publications Connect with Readers

12 Contemporary Art Books Hit the Mainstream 14 The Healing Powers of Art 16 Finding the Heart of Traditional Art 18 Embracing Art for Everybody’s Sake 20 A Journey into Art Interviews 22 Novelist Park Bumshin 28 Director Lee Chang-dong

Excerpts 26 EunGyo by Park Bumshin 32 “Agnes’ Song” by Lee Chang-dong

Overseas Angle

34 The Significance of Hong Sung-won’s Novel However 36 An Unavoidable Desire 67 Writer’s Note: Jeong Myeong-kyo 69 Book Lover’s Angle: Jaroslav Olša, Jr.

The Place

38 “Wings” and the Department Store

Theme Lounge

42 A Long Journey into Aging

Reviews

46 Fiction 60 Nonfiction 70 Children's Books

Spotlight On Three 50 Poems by Yoon Zelim 52 Poems by Heo Yeon 54 Poems by Lee Jangwook

Poets

Steady Sellers

59 The Bird 75 Yujin and Yujin

Meet the Publishers

76 Hyohyung Publishing 78 SAMTOH Publishing

New Books

80 Recommended by Publishers 86 Index 88 Afterword

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 3

Contributors Han Mihwa writes on the subject of

publishing. Her written works include Bestsellers of Our Time and This Is How Bestsellers Are Made 1, 2. She is also an editorial board member of list_Books from Korea.

Kim Dongshik is a literary critic

and a professor of Korean language and literature at Inha University. He is a contributing editor for the journal Literature and Society. He is also an editorial board member of list_Books from Korea.

Kim Ji-eun

is a writer of children’s stories and a critic of children’s literature. She currently lectures on theories of writing fiction for children in the Department of Creative Writing at Hanshin University. She is also an editorial board member of list_Books from Korea.

Hervé Péjaudier

is a playwright and editor-in-chief of “Scènes Coréennes,” a series published by the French press Imago. He has written numerous plays including Souverain Fou, Actes Sud, and also radio plays for the station, France Culture. He is the recipient of the Prix Culturel FranceCorée 2000.

Jang Sungkyu

is a literary critic. He currently lectures at Kwangwoon University.

was former editor-in-chief of the monthly Misulsegae and editor of the quarterly Emotion. Jeong is currently CEO of the art press Artbooks and writes for many arts-related publications. Jeong has written such works as Jeoung Minyoung’s Art Book Planning Notes and is the co-author of Our Hero, Twisted, Art of the Capital, and Korean Culture in 29 Keywords.

Kwak Aram

is a reporter at the Culture Department of the Chosun Ilbo. Her series introducing masterpieces of art, “The Masterpiece Files by Kwak Aram,” was serialized in Chosun Ilbo’s weekend supplement “Why” in the first half of 2008. Her works include Said the Picture to Her: Working Women in Their Thirties and When I Have to Wait, I Read. is a Korean literary critic. He is a professor of Korean literature at Yonsei University. His works include Yi Sang: The Rhetoric of Grief, The Birth of Opbba, Memories of a Waiting Room, and The Book of Customs in Early Modern Korean Literature.

the JoongAng Sunday, published by the JoongAng Ilbo.

She is presently an editorial board member of Literature and Society, and has published a collection of criticism called A Beautiful Language. She also won the Changbi Prize for New Figures in Literary Criticism in 2002.

4 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

writes children’s books. Currently, he is editor-in-chief of the culture and science section of SisaIN, a weekly magazine and is a member of the World of Children’s Story Society. His books include Tori Is Escaping from Game Land and The Amazing Mystery of Our Body.

Sohn Cheolju

is a veteran arts reporter who headed culture departments at various newspapers. He now works for Hakgojae Publishing and as an art columnist. His works include Entranced by Blossoms, You See What You Know, and Seeing More Is Seeing Better.

Yi Soo-hyung is a literary critic and

a senior researcher at the Seoul National University Academic Writing Lab. He studied contemporary literature, and has taught at Hongik University, Seoul Institute of the Arts, and Korea National University of Arts.

Pyo Jeonghun

is a book reviewer, columnist, translator, and freelance writer. He has translated 10 books into Korean and written Books Have Their Own Destiny, A Short Introduction to Chinese Philosophy, and An Interview with My Teacher: What Is Philosophy?

Richard Hong is a book columnist

and the head of BC Agency. He translated 13: The Story of the World’s Most Notorious Superstitions, appeared on KBS 1 Radio’s “Global Today,” and writes columns for The Korea Economic Daily and Posco News. He is also an editorial board member of list_Books from Korea.

You Yong-joo is a Korean poet and novelist. His works include the poetry collections The Lightest Load and Massive Silence, the essay collections But I Will Survive and Let’s Have Soju, and the novel Finding Marine.

Shin Junebong

Jung Hyungmo is culture editor of

Kang Gyesook is a literary critic.

a.k.a. Lee Chungwoo, is an art and design critic and founder of the DT Network. Past positions include assistant curator at the Artsonje Center, editor-in-chief of the quarterly Craft and Culture, editor-in-chief of Center for Art Studies/ Sigong Art, and editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Art in Culture. His works include Crazy Art Made in Korea, Off Kilter: Notes from a Study of Contemporary Korean Artists, SKMoMA Highlights, and What is Art? - From the Modern to the Post-Contemporary.

Oh Yunhyun

Lee Kyoung-hoon Jeoung Minyoung

Lim Geun-jun,

Lee Sang-young is a movie critic

currently working as a programmer for the Pusan International Film Festival. His major works include All That Cinema Allows. His next project is a book dealing with both movies and literature.

is a journalist on the Culture Desk of the JoongAng Ilbo. He received his MA from Goldmiths, University of London in 2008, and is interested in theoretical analyses of literature, cultural phenomena, and customs. He is also an editorial board member of list_Books from Korea.

Shinfune Kaisaburo

is a literary critic and editor-in-chief of Honnoizumi, as well as editor of the quarterly Riron (李論).

Yoo Kyung

is a freelance social worker and a senior rights advocate. She also teaches classes on mature education. She has written such works as The Greener After Fading and From Forty to Ninety.

Yu Youngjin is a critic of children’s

literature and a teacher at Ja-un Elementary School. He is the author of The Body’s Imagination and Fairy Tale.

Translators Ann Isaac

has a BA and MA in Classics and English Literature from Cambridge University, and an MA in Japanese Studies specializing in translation from the University of Sheffield. After moving to Korea in 2001, she studied Korean language at various institutions and currently translates from Korean to English, with a special interest in literary translation.

Brother Anthony

is a member of the Community of Taize, studied at the University of Oxford and has taught English literature at Sogang University for a long time. He is currently professor emeritus at Sogang University. He is especially credited for being one of the first non-Korean translators who have contributed to making Korean literature known to the international scene. He has translated twenty-five volumes of modern Korean literary works including poems and novels.

Chae-Pyong Song

is assistant professor of English at Marygrove College. He translated Jane Jeong Trenka’s The Language of Blood, which was published in 2003 in the United States, into the Korean.

H . Ja m i e C h a n g

re c e i ve d h e r u n d e r g r a d u a t e d e g r e e f r o m Tu f t s University. She is a Bostonian/Busanian freelance translator.

Inyoung Choi

i s an ar t is t an d translator. She has been translating for over 20 years. She specializes in Korean literature and the arts.

Jaewon E. Chung

is working on several translation projects under the guidance and support of the International Communication Foundation and the Korea Literature Translation Institute. For his translation of Hwang Jung-eun’s “The Door,” Chung received the 38th Korea Times Modern Literature Translation Commendation Award.

Jung Yewon studied interpretation and

translation at GSIT, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. Jung has worked for Bain & Company, Korea and various other organizations, and is currently working as a freelance interpreter/translator. Jung received the Daesan Foundation Translation Grant in 2009. She is currently working on No One Writes Back, a novel by Jang Eun-jin.

Kim Hee-young

is a freelance translator. She is currently working on the translation of a collection of the experiences of comfort women titled Histories Behind History.

Peter J. Koh is a freelance translator/

interpreter. He is currently participating in the KLTI’s 2010 Intensive Workshop in Literary Translation.

Yang Sung-jin

is currently a staff reporter at The Korea Herald, covering new media and books. Yang wrote a Korean history book in English titled Click into the Hermit Kingdom and a news-based English vocabulary book, News English Power Dictionary. He runs a homepage at http:// web.me.com/sungjin.

Y i Je o n g - h ye o n

i s a f re e l a n c e translator. She has translated several books and papers on Korean Studies, including Korean Traditional Landscape Architecture (2007), and Atlas of Korean History (2008).

Yoonna Cho studied English Literature at Yonsei University. She currently attends the Graduate School of Interpretation and Translation at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. She is a translator and freelance interpreter.

Editors Kim Stoker earned a Master’s degree in

Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii. She is currently a full-time lecturer at Duksung Women’s University.

Krys Lee

is an editor, translator, and fiction writer. She also teaches full-time at Duksung Women’s University. She is currently finishing a short story collection.

Cover Art Yoo Seungho won the 22nd Suk Nam

Arts Prize and started gaining a reputation as an artist in 2003. Through landscape paintings rendered with brushwork, he has made numerous paintings that play with language, and demonstrated his capabilities at many Korean art fairs and beyond. He has had seven solo exhibitions and several group exhibitions in Korea and abroad. The front cover is based on a segment of Gwak Hui’s landscape painting from the Northern Sung period that reminded Yoo of a launching rocket scene. The artist magnified the particular segment and wrote the word “shoooo,” taken from a comic book, and wrote it repeatedly over the original outline of the segment, like a painting.

Vol.9 Autumn 2010 A Quarterly Magazine for Publishers

PUBLISHER _ Kim Joo-youn EDITORIAL DIRECTOR _ Kim Yoonjin MANAGING DIRECTOR _ Park Kyunghee EDITORIAL BOARD Han Mihwa Kim Dongshik Kim Ji-eun Richard Hong Shin Junebong OVERSEAS PUBLICATION COMMITTEE Joseph Lee Paek Eunyoung Rosa Han EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kim Sun-hye MANAGING EDITORS Cha Youngju Kong Min-sung EDITORS Kim Stoker Krys Lee ART DIRECTOR Choi Woonglim DESIGNERS Kim Mijin Lee Jaehyun Jang Hyeju PHOTOGRAPHER Lee Kwa-yong PRINTED IN _ EAP

list_ Books from Korea is a quarterly magazine published by the Korea Literature Translation Institute. All correspondences should be addressed to the Korea Literature Translation Institute at 108-5 Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea 135-873 Telephone: 82-2-6919-7700 Fax: 82-2-3448-4247 E-mail: list_korea@klti.or.kr www.klti.or.kr www.list.or.kr Copyright © 2010 by Korea Literature Translation Institute ISSN 2005-2790

Cover art © Yoo Seungho, Shoooo, rotring art pen, 129.6 x 72.3cm, 1999~2000

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 5

Trade Report

The No. 1 Summer Read in France

On July 1, 2010, Le Monde, the French newspaper, published a list of 20 books to take on vacation, under the title, “Ten Books that Resonate in Our Hearts.” The list featured 10 fiction and 10 nonfiction titles. Number one on the fiction list, surprisingly, was Shim Cheong, the novel, by Hwang Sokyong. The fate of Shim Cheong in the 19th

century is taken up in the whirl of history, in which one can’t see an inch ahead, and in the ruthless desires of men. In this odyssey of pleasure, bought and sold with money, Ulysses is an immigrant, and a woman. The epic poem by Hwang reaffirms that he is, beyond doubt, a master writer. Shim Cheong, translated by Choi Mikyung and Jean-Noël Juttet with a grant from the Korea Literature Translation Institute in 2006, was published in January 2010 through Zulma, a French publisher, and has sold three printings and 8,000 copies as of the end of June. Works by Hwang are especially popular in France. The Old Garden was selected as “book of the year” by Le Monde in 2006, and Hesperus was serialized on the Internet in April 2009, heralded by Le Monde as “a work by a major Korean writer, read by two million readers online.” In Europe, books are published in hardcover, then in paperback, depending on reader response. In the case of Hwang’s works, contracts have been signed with Seuil, a leading French publisher, for paperback publication of A Chronology of Mr. Han, The Road to Sampo, and Shim Cheong. Hwang’s works have been published in

The Formidable Gust of the Why? Series Various series of educational graphic novels of Korea are gaining great popularity in the worldwide publication market. In April this year, a contract was signed with the Thai publisher Nanmeebooks Publications Co., Ltd. for the foreign publication rights of Lee Mido’s Ice Cream English Grammar series, and negotiations are under way with publishers in China and Taiwan. Contracts were also signed in 2009 with Kim ĐÔng, a Vietnamese publisher, for graphic novels on Barack Obama, Charles Darwin, and Bill Gates in the Who? Series: Biography Comic, published by Daesan Book s, a nd more rec ent ly, add it iona l contracts have been signed for those on Martin Luther K ing, Hillar y Clinton, Stephen Hawking, Oprah Winfrey, and Steven Spielberg. The Who? series has already garnered positive responses from children in Taiwan after its publication. The Why? series, which set a record of “accumulated sales of over 30 million copies” in May this year, is slated to be published in France, China, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia, as well as numerous Arab 6 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, and Algeria, through the recent signing of a contract with the UAE. A total of 10 books are to be introduced to the Arab-speaking countries including The Universe, T h e Hu m a n B o d y , T h e Environment, and Inventions & Discoveries. The books a re to be published a nd distributed by Mediterranean Publishers of Tunisia, the largest publisher in the Arab region, and Dal Al Manhal Publishers of Jorda n. The total amount of accumulated sales for the Why? series in the first quarter of the year is 1.56 million copies, and specific discussions are under way with Vietnam for foreign publication sales. By Richard Hong

several languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese, and works including A Chronology of Mr. Han, The Road to Sampo, The Shadow of Arms, The Old Garden, The Guest, and Shim Cheong have been brought to French readers through Zulma. By Richard Hong

News from LTI Korea

KLTI Paris Forum

The KLTI Paris Forum was held from June 2 to 3. The KLTI Forum, held in major cities of the global publication market, was launched with the aim of determining the current status of, and future challenges for, translation and publication of Korean literature. The Paris Forum was the second in a series of these forums held in 2010. On the first day of the forum, an academic conference was held under the theme of “Acceptance of Korean Literature in France,” and on the second day, a discussion was held between Korean and French writers on the theme of “The Universality and Distinction of Literature.” The forum was attended by Hwang Sok-yong, Lee Seung-woo, Shin Kyung-sook, and Kim Young-ha, recently celebrated writers in France, and received attention from the French media. In addition, LTI Korea made a visit to the Culturesfrance during the event, and the two reached an agreement on a jointly sponsored biennial literature exchange event to be launched in 2011. Furthermore, many local readers participated in the exchange, including the literary event in Aix-en-Province on June 4th and the book reading held at Gutenberg Bookstore on June 6th, attesting to the increased popularity of Korean literature in France.

Korean Literature Events Held in Northern Europe In early June this year, the Korea Literature Translation Institute toured Northern Europe and held a number of literary events. Starting in Finland, a ‘Meeting of Korean-Finnish Authors’ took place on June 9. At this event, the first formal introduction of Korean literature in Finland, Korean writers Hwang Sok-yong and

Kim Young-ha met three Finnish writers including Leena Krohn, for a discussion of each others’ works. A series of events aimed at introducing Korean literature to local readers also took place in Sweden. Korean writers Yi Munyol and Kim Young-ha, and Korean critic Jeong Myeong-kyo, took part in the ‘Meeting of Korean-Swedish Authors’ on June 14 alongside Swedish authors such as Niklas Rådström and Lena Andersson. Two days later, Korean writers and Swedish writers, critics and publishers got together and engaged in lively discussion at a ‘Meeting with Swedish Authors and Critics.’ T h e K LT I S c a n d i n a v i a n F o r u m o n t h e t h e m e o f “Translating and Publishing Korean Literature in Sweden” was held in Stockholm on June 15. A highlight of this event, two representatives from Swedish publishing companies with experience in publishing Korean literature in translation gave presentations, providing practical information on the topic. It is anticipated that the literary events arranged in Northern Europe by KLTI will act as a catalyst for continuous exchange and distribution in the future.

Korean Plays Promoted

The 9th Internationa l Work shop for the Translation and Publication of Korean Literature, a forum for exchange between translators and publishers from home and abroad, was held this summer. The workshop, attended by 90 participants, was held on Friday, June 25, at the COEX in Seoul. The annual workshop, launched in 2002, seeks to promote discussion on ways through which Korean literature can advance into overseas markets. Held under the title of “Translation and Publication for the Introduction of Korean Plays Abroad,” this year’s workshop served as a forum for discussions on plays and the modern theater. The workshop began with a keynote lecture by Professor Lee Youn-Taek, a pioneer of experimental Korean plays, on the overseas advancement of Korean plays, and was followed by discussions on the various ways through which the advancement could be made. Matthias R. Entress, a presenter from Germany, informed the audience, based on various data, on how pansori is performed in Europe. In addition, Hervé Péjaudier, a translator specializing in Korean plays, received great response from the audience by singing “Heungbu-ga,” a pansori classic, in French. There was also an impromptu performance by Professor Chan E. Park, who sang her own interpretation of “Chunhyang-ga” in English.

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 7

Bestsellers

What We’re Reading Fiction Somewhere There’s a Phone Ringing for Me Shin Kyung-sook Munhakdongne Publishing Corp., 2010, 380p ISBN 9788954611275 A new novel by Shin Kyung-sook, a major woman writer of Korea. Set in the 1980s, during which the anti-government student movement reached its pinnacle, the novel deals with the confusion, despair, wounds, and love experienced by four students.

Dreams of Gangnam Hwang Sok-yong, Changbi Publishers, Inc. 2010, 380p, ISBN 9788936433765 A novel delving into the shadow of capitalism in Korea, which saw rapid growth in a short period of time, by examining the lives of people who live in the Gangnam area. The novel is based on the collapse of a large department store in Seoul, which occurred in 1995.

The Big Picture Douglas Kennedy, Balgeunsesang 2010, 492p, ISBN 9788984371026 A thriller by Douglas Kennedy, a U.S.-born author that spends most of his time in England. The novel focuses on the story of a man who was pressured by his parents into becoming a lawyer when his dream had always been to be a photographer. In a fit of rage, he kills a photographer who is having an affair with his wife, and from there, the story unfolds.

Dreams of Gangnam

8 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

Nonfiction Et Après… Guillaume Musso, Balgeunsesang 2010, 424p, ISBN 9788984371019 The novel that raised the French author, who is more popular in Korea than in France, to stardom. Written around the theme of attachment to life, the novel tells the story of Nathan, a lawyer who loses his son. He transforms into a believer of success, then loses his wife, who has a doctor, a “messenger,” foretell his death.

Breaking Dawn: The Twilight Saga, Book 4 Stephenie Meyer, Bookfolio Co. 2009, 824p, ISBN 9788937832543 The last book in the Twilight Saga, a suspensefilled romance framed around the love between a vampire and a human.

The Rules of a Detective Higashino Keigo, Jaein 2010, 372p, ISBN 9788990982377 An omnibus novel about a cop and a detective solving 12 murder cases based on variations of typical tricks often employed in mysteries. The novel was made into a TV series in Japan in 2009.

Please Look After Mom Shin Kyung-sook, Changbi Publishers, Inc. 2008, 299p, ISBN 9788936433673 A novel told through alternating perspectives of different family members about the disappearance of “Mom,” who comes from a rural town up to Seoul. Over a million copies were sold within the first 10 months after its publication.

The Devil's Dictionary

Giving Up Myself to Become a Greater Self Park Ji-sung, Joongang Books 2010, 268p ISBN 9788927800309 In this essay collection, Park Ji-sung chronicles how he has emerged as a national icon and a worldrenowned athlete even though he was originally sidelined due to his physical disadvantages.

Humor Is A Winner's Secret Shin Sang Hoon, Sam & Parkers Co., Ltd. 2010, 272p, ISBN 9788992647830 A survey says the defining difference between ordinary and excellent executives is a sense of humor. This book aims to help readers upgrade their sense of humor, a new success factor in leadership and business.

Beautiful Finish Beop Jeong, Forest of Literature 2009, 244p, ISBN 9788995904961 A masterful collection of essays written by Venerable Beop Jeong, who passed away in 2010. The Buddhist monk, also known as a celebrated author, delivers a message in this book that each moment in life should be a beautiful finish as well as a new beginning.

Be the Origin Kang Shin-Jang, Sam & Parkers Co., Ltd. 2010, 271p ISBN 9788992647915 The author, who spearheaded Korea’s largest CEO online community called ‘SERI CEO,’ shares his insights into creativity and innovative thinking.

The Private Life of My Child

These totals are based on sales records from eight major bookstores and three online bookstores from May to July 2010, provided by the Korean Publishers. The books are introduced in no particular order.

Children's Books The Devil's Dictionary

Fake Perfect Score

Cloud Bread

Park Kwang-Soo, Hongik Books 2010, 300p, ISBN 9788970652535 A cartoon essay collection. Ordinary objects such as toilets, school, minor league, and drinks are redefined in an engaging and entertaining way.

Kwon Taemoon, Korea Reading Guidance 2010, 104p, ISBN 9788977883109 With parents and school emphasizing the importance of studying and grades, children are confused as to what the purpose of life is. Can you live a good life as long as you’re ahead of others? Are you a good person if you get good grades? This book helps children understand the value of life, easily forgotten, and continues to be popular with parents and children.

Back Heena∙Kim Hyangsoo, Hansol Education 2008, 32p, ISBN 8953527058 The book, well received at home and abroad, has gained renewed popularity with the production and release of the children’s musical based on the book. The book tells a lovable tale about how kittens that have eaten bread made of cloud dough help their dad get to work.

The Private Life of My Child EBS The Private Life of My Child Production Team Sigongsa Co., Ltd. , 2010, 440p ISBN 9788952755988 Based on a famous television documentary of the same title, the book explains what parents should know—the latest education theories and practices involving parenting, neuroscience, and differences between men and women.

Art Speech Kim Mi Kyung, Book21 Publishing Group 2010, 327p, ISBN 9788950923846 Speaking skills often define a person’s annual income. The book presents tips and techniques designed to deliver messages more effectively and stir up positive responses from the listener.

School of Lies Jeon Seonghee; Illustrator: So Yunkyoung Munhakdongne Publishing Corp. 2009, 224p, ISBN 9788954609623 One of the things that society must never teach children is to lie. This book criticizes society for urging people to give up the value of truth in order to profit. The author received the Munhakdongne Children’s Literature Award with this book, which was hailed by readers and critics alike.

The Bicycle Thief Pak Wansuh, Houyhnhnm 2007, 208p, ISBN 8937842998 Pak Wansuh is one of the most beloved authors in Korea. Her works, including The Bicycle Thief, have appeared in elementary school textbooks, and provide the basis on which to build a literary foundation for reading other works of Korean literature. The Bicycle Thief is a steady seller especially popular among the upper levels of elementary school.

1 Night and 2 Days with a Stingy Family Lee Bong-gi; Illustrator: Ryu Soo-Hyung Jaemibooks Publishing Co., Ltd. 2009, 201p, ISBN 9788960241909 A graphic novel about the economy that has become one of the top bestsellers among educational graphic novels for children. The book explains basic economic concepts, including how to save up, dealing with everything from principles of home economy to business economy, and the national economy.

Fake Perfect Score

1 Night and 2 Days with a Stingy Family

Tales of Wisdom 1, 2, 3 Beop Jeong, Eastland 2003, 79p, ISBN 8984411345 With the passing of Beop Jeong, the highly respected Buddhist monk, his book, written for children, has remained on the bestseller list. The book contains tales handed down from long ago, interpreted from a Buddhist point of view.

Treasure Hunting in South Africa Gomdori Co.; Illustrator: Kang Gyung-Hyo I-seum, 2010, 205p, ISBN 9788937848124 The books in the “Treasure Hunting” series always get on the bestseller list, but the newest book in the series has done so more quickly than usual with the 2010 South Africa World Cup. This newest publication in the “Treasure Hunting” series, an educational graphic novel, deals with the geography and history of the Republic of South Africa.

The Alligator that Built a House with Books Yang Tae-seok, Junior Gimm-Young Publishers, Inc., 2010, 64p, ISBN 9788934936855 Four books, whose subject is books, have made it to the top of the bestseller list. The number one bestseller in the first half of the year, The Fox Who Ate Books by Franzisca Biermann, continues to be popular partly for the same reason. The book tells the story of an alligator that finds a friend through reading.

Tales of Wisdom 1, 2, 3

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 9

Publishing Trends

Children’s Books Take a Hit

Bestsellers in the First Half of 2010 Business Management, Self-Help Books Grow Despite the sluggish economic recovery, the business management book market grew 12.6 percent in terms of sales and 9.9 percent in the number of copies. The figures for the self-help section were 9.4 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively. Ac c ord ing to t he be st sel ler d at a compiled by Kyobo Book Centre, seven business management titles and 12 selfhelp books made it to the top 100 list in the first six months of 2010, a performance that is slightly poorer than previous years. Among business management titles, lawyer Kim Yong-cheol’s Reflections on Samsung stood out, securing the No. 8 slot in the total bestseller rankings. Kim, who worked on Samsung’s legal team for seven years, lays bare a variety of irregularities committed by the conglomerate. Due to its sensitive topic, some daily newspapers, m i nd f u l of t hei r a dver t i si n g c l ient Samsung, allegedly declined to carry an 10 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

advertisement for the book, prompting local Twitter users to stage a campaign for purchasing the controversial title. Among the top 30 list were Nudge, which preaches the importance of decisions and behavior design, and Hon, Chang, Tong: Do You Have These 3?, a collection of Chosun Ilbo Weekly Biz team’s interviews w it h world-re now ne d m a n a g e me nt gurus, with an emphasis placed on three keywords. The Secret, which stresses an individual's focused positive thinking as a key element to pull off life-changing results such as increased wealth, health, happiness and more, and its sequel, made it to the bestseller list again. Another continued trend was the popularity of selfhelp steady sellers such as Beyond Your Work, Aim for Performance, 30 Minutes Before Sleep, and Study Enthusiasts Survive. These books emphasize qualities needed to weat her t he prolonged economic downturn. Overall, the popularity of business management and self-help books slowed down a bit in the first half of 2010 amid the uncertainty-laden economy at home and abroad, and the slow-paced trend is expected to continue for a while. By Richard Hong

I n t e r m s o f s a l e s , c h i l d r e n’s b o o k s experienced a severe slump in the first half of 2010, compared with 2008 and 2009. According to sales rankings compiled by Kyobo Book Centre, only two titles made it to the top 100 list, which is a sharp decrease from six titles in 2008. It is also surprising that no single title in the children and early childhood categories made a cut in the top 100 list. There was one book included in the bestseller list, but it was a comicsbased education title, underscoring that children’s titles are increasingly dominated by education and entertainment content. Steady sellers continued to reta in their market power. Franziska Biermann’s The Fox Who Ate Books ranked No. 1 in the category, followed by Hans Magnus Enzensberger’s The Number Devil, José Mauro de Vasconcelos’s My Sweet-Orange Tree, Kwon Taemoon’s Fake Perfect Score, and Ahn So-young’s Bookworms. Kwon’s Fake Perfect Score was a No. 1 title in the category in 2009. Comics-based education series, including A Thousand Magic Chinese Characters, Comic Maple Stor y, Why, Tomorrow’s Experiment King, and Treasure Hunting, set the trend in the children’s category by catapulting latest installments to the bestseller lists. As Apple’s tablet PC iPad made its debut in the United States and elsewhere, t he publ ic at tent ion towa rd e-book s was stronger than ever, but the e-book publication of children’s titles actually went down slightly, compared with the same period a year earlier. Early childhood

e-book titles decreased to 0.7 percent this year, down from 0.9 percent in 2009, while children’s e-books also edged down from 3.9 percent to 3.8 percent in the same period. This is not only because the Korean e-book market is still in its infancy but also because readers who previously bought e-books out of curiosity are reluctant to buy more titles. E-book publications, backed up by software development, are lagging behind the colorful publicity generated by the local media. It remains to be seen whether e-book sales will indeed pick up on the introduction of e-book reader devices.

baseball. In addition, the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa encouraged local companies to publish soccer-related titles. With the launch of new routes by budget airlines targeting Korean tourists who want to visit Japan, China, and Southeast Asia, select travel guides such as Close-Up Hong Kong, Enjoy Tokyo 100 Times made it to the bestseller lists. In addition, travel books powered by the authors’ personal experiences continued to sell at a solid pace in the first half of 2010. By Han Mihwa

By Kim Ji-eun

How-To Books Dominate Nonfiction Nonfiction titles including ‘how-to’ books show two primary trends. First is an effort to publish a book based on a television d o c u m e nt a r y pr o g r a m . S e c on d i s a publication of practical tips serialized by a famous blogger on the Internet. Titles such as The Private Life of My Child, The Miracle of Family Dinners, and Baby Growth Report generated positive reviews in the publishing market after their television documentary versions gained popularity among local viewers. The surging popularity of television programs exploring the efficacy of dietary choices to lower the risks of high blood pressure and other diseases boosted the sales of health-related books including Brown Rice Vegetarian Diet and Extreme Dietary Choices to Treat High Blood Pressure. In the cookbook category, bloggers remain as powerful as ever. Both Moon Sung-sil’s Refrigerator Dish and Today’s Special Searched by 40 Million Users compile power bloggers’ recipes. A host of titles including Café Food School and Parandal’s Café Brunch hit the bookshelves, weaving tales about cafés—the favored venue for meeting with friends or musing without distraction. Sports-related titles, meanwhile, had trouble drawing public attention. The only exception was baseball, thanks to the heated boom started in 2009. This unique trend is largely due to the intricacy of baseball rules and regulations. A Woman Who Knows Baseball a nd Pro Baseball Scouting Report 2010, which sums up pro baseball player and manager profiles, similarly ref lect the characteristics of

Literature Sales Buck the Trend The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, local elections, the precarious inter-Korean confrontation sparked by the sinking of the Cheonan naval submarine by an alleged North Korean torpedo. These are some of the major incidents that stole the attention of Korean readers in the first half of 2010. It is natural to expect that people wouldn’t be spending much time poring over a book as long as daily headlines are more interesting and exciting than fantasy and information provided by books. The heart-pumping pace of breaking news, in other words, underscores the harsh reality facing publishers. However, the sales figures bucked expectations. According to Kyobo Book Centre, a major book seller in Korea, the number of books sold here rose 9.1 percent in the first half of 2010, compared with the same period of last year. The figure for retail sales also rose 7.3 percent in the corresponding period. In particular, the public attention toward e-books climbed, thereby leading to a whopping 80 percent increase in the sales of e-books. Kyobo Book Centre said that the death of Korea’s most venerated Buddhist monk Beop Jeong, the popularity of the social network service Twitter, and other factors helped shore up the domestic publishing market in the first half of 2010. Also notable is that an online serialization of a novel before a formal publication in the book format is now regarded as a standard practice. T he most d ra mat ic de velopment in the first half of 2010, however, was the groundbreaking success of Princess Deokhye, a historica l novel that sold

about 500,000 copies in the six-month period since its debut in December 2009. Kyobo Book Centre data shows that Princess Deokhye outsmarted even Haruki Mura k a mi ’s 1Q84 a nd ot her high ly favored competitors to become the No. 1 bestseller title not only in the fiction category, but also in all the categories combined. Princess Deokhye, the youngest daughter of King Gojong in the late Joseon period, led a tragic life. She was forced to marry a Japanese nobleman but was locked up in a hospital for more than 10 years due to mental illness. Following a one-sided divorce, she returned to her homeland after 37 years of neglect and isolation, only to keep a solitary life until her low-profile death in 1989 at the age of 77. Princess Deokhye's runaway success was a big surprise because the author did not have any major bestsellers under her belt, and news media had not paid much attention to the obscure historical novel. Several factors seem to have contributed to the success of the novel. First, the year 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of the Japanese annexation of Korea, which fueled patriotism in local readers. Second, the tragic life of the Princess Deokhye also appealed strongly to female readers, leading to bigger-thanexpected sales. Third, the current global economic downturn highlighted the impact of a national crisis on the life of an individual, thereby prompting some readers to pay attention to a comparable life story changed by a nation's troubles described in the novel. By Shin Junebong

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 11

Special Section

Korean Art Publications Connect with Readers

Contemporary Art Books Hit the Mainstream South Korea’s art publishing market witnessed a major change in 2000. In the past, art books primarily targeted artists, and their style was austere and authoritative. With the year 2000 set as a milestone, a growing number of art books adopted a style and content designed for mainstream readers.

Art is rooted in daily life. At least, it was up to the Joseon dynasty. Art was an everyday fixture in the home, from decorative scrolls and screens to embroidered blankets and towels and painted fans. With the advent of Western art, however, art enjoyed in everyday life turned into art to be admired from afar. Art in the home disappeared, while spaces for exhibitions multiplied. Then art itself became more complex, as paint gave way to technological innovations like video. On the one hand art for art’s sake flourished, while on the other hand people were attempting to re-popularize art. Popularizing art, however, did not prove to be easy. The approach was flawed from the start, as the attempt to break down the barriers separating art from daily life manifested itself in the form of cultural largesse. Former art lovers were not easily wooed. Most art books, likewise, were published in the form of textbooks for specialists and art students. There was little consideration for the ordinary reader or to explain how art could be a part of everyday life. However, with the changing times, this too changed. The liberalization of traveling abroad, the five-day work week, the spread of the Internet, mega exhibitions of influential Western artists in Korea, and the revival of the global and Korean art market all brought art closer to the public eye. Once haughty, art now wore a friendlier expression. Interesting, more accessible exhibitions catered to the crowd. Art books, likewise, came down their pedestal back to the ordinary reader. A notable trend is the growing demand for books in which art is applied to another subject, rather than being the focal subject itself. Museum guides to art, art guides to finding business wisdom, and art as a means of boosting creativity or for therapy, are only a few examples. These books remind us that art is not removed from everyday life. If art books in the past appealed to the reader’s senses, books that apply art appeal to the reader’s sensibilities. The former were focused on informing the reader of objective facts that had little 12 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

to do with their lives, and thus held little interest for them. The latter, however, are related to their lives. They speak deeply to the reader’s psyche and penetrate their everyday routine. Moving the reader’s sensibilities and appealing to their daily lives proved to be a surefire way to boost sales. This trend became clearer in the 2000s. The once empty slogan of popularizing art became a reality in the hands of art book readers. What, then, are the trends that rekindled the public’s interest in art and show how the industry has changed? First is the increase of museum guides. In addition to art, these books have the practical advantage that they can be used as guidebooks. After it became possible to travel abroad freely and view famous art in European and American museums, the museum guide became a fixture for Koreans traveling abroad. Such guides are mostly devoted to museums in Europe, notably France, as well as the United States and Russia. The father of them all is 50 Days Around the Museums of Europe (by Yi Joo-hun, two-book set). This was the first museum guide to combine art with traveling, which inspired many other similar publications. Second is the popularization of art appreciation. For the longest time art appreciation was left to experts like art historians or aesthetic theorists. It was accepted that there was a fixed, objective way to view art, based on art history facts. Even if people were touched by a painting, they would keep their impressions to themselves for fear of being wrong. Then came The PictureTeller by Jemma Han. Her liberal interpretations sprinkled with personal anecdotes were a message of hope to the ordinary artviewer. Readers hailed her book as the gospel that anybody could appreciate art, without feeling intimidated by their ignorance of

art history, style, composition, or technique. Third is the growing interest in older forms of Korean art. Older forms of Korean art and traditional-style Korean art created today using ink are unpopular genres even within the Korean market. They fetch much lower prices than Western oil paintings, and each year fewer art students elect to major in traditional Korean art. The outlook for traditional art was grim. A light in the darkness, however, was Oh Ju-seok’s Korean Aesthetics by Oh Ju-seok that recaptured the public’s interest in traditional Korean art. This book reacquainted the Korean reader, now more familiar with Western art, to the fact that traditional Korean art was as beautiful and certainly as interesting as any of the Old Masters. Fourth is the strong performance of books on the art market. After art auctions became common in the 2000s and art fairs became more widespread, more people started buying art. This has seen a corresponding boom in publications on the art market, auctions, the value of art as an investment, and building collections. One outstanding example is Art Shopping by Rhee Kyu-hyon. Lee reassures art lovers wary of connecting art with financial gain that “art shopping” is the best way to show one’s enthusiasm for art. Taking away the seriousness of buying a work of art by calling it “shopping,” he makes building a collection sound as interesting as a shopping spree. Fifth is the appearance of books that apply art to other subjects. These books are not about appreciating works of art in themselves, but using them as tools to build creativity, boost management skills, or even use as a means of therapy. A CEO Reading Paintings by Savina Lee introduces art appreciation as a creativity-building tool, while Hearts Ease: Healing Through Art by Lee Joo-eun applies art to therapy. These books use art as a means of developing creativity and psychological healing. From a broader perspective, they also help to popularize art, in the sense that they free art from the monopoly of experts and apply it to the demands of ordinary readers. They show that art can be used as a tool to develop creativity and gain managerial wisdom. Sixth is the surge of books that combine art with a related discipline, such as art and film, art and literature, art and fashion, art and comic books, art and mythology, or art and music, as a way of killing two birds with one stone. Art draws on the entire human experience, from history and myth to science, sociology, economics, nature, and religion. The applications of art are limitless, depending on what perspective one takes. The fusion of disciplines in art books is a strategy of sorts that uses a more familiar genre to lure in readers wary of art. It is, in turn, the exact way many new products are developed in this age of convergence. Art publishing in Korea has thus remade itself into a more reader-friendly industry, from art for art’s sake to art for the ordinary reader. It was the industry’s response to readers who wanted art closer to their everyday lives. The outlook for publications that speak to the reader’s sensibilities in everyday life remains bright for the future.

By Jeoung Minyoung

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 13

Special Section

Korean Art Publications Connect with Readers

The Healing Powers of Art Mainstream art books are reshaping the publishing industry previously dominated by titles packed with art theory. Several recent titles continue to grab the attention of readers. One defining characteristic of these new books is that they exhibit insightful perspectives and more personable writing styles in a way that satisfies the intellectual curiosity of readers while allowing art to enter everyday life.

As all art lovers know, pictures talk. Their language is clearer, warmer, and more forgiving than mere words. It has a powerful attraction for people feeling lonely, disheartened with life, or depressed after love has eluded them or has left for good. Here are four writers who are close listeners of art. Lee Joo-eun listens to pictures and tells their stories to people in need of comfort. Kwak Aram shares her favorite pictures with the reader over a friendly chat. With Sienna Hwang, mythological paintings are brought to life, while Min Bom-nae’s postcards capture moments of perfect joy and happiness.

Lee Joo-eun: Hearts Ease: Healing Through Art “If you lose something, you find something.” A picture with the caption ‘Lost’ heads this collection of essays by Lee Joo-eun, who says she prescribes herself a picture and meditates whenever she feels down. The caption is her way of asking, “Is this where it hurts?” Next we turn to a picture with the caption, ‘Found.’ In between the captions is her gentle advice that tells us, “This will make it better.” A look at the chapter, “Did I Really Love You?” serves as an example. The author first presents a painting by C. Eckersberg, Female Model Standing Before a Mirror (1841), and tells the reader why mirrors were forbidden in 19th-century nunneries. It is because looking in the mirror is the beginning of narcissism, and narcissism is the first step to falling in love. She then moves on to Manet’s Chez le Père Lathuille (1879). A young man gazes deep into the eyes of the woman seated next to him, while she steadily returns his gaze. Lee says, “Imprinting your likeness in your lover’s eyes is the beginning of love.” It is, she says, as if “you have become his mirror, and he, yours.” 14 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

The selection of pictures in her book is a reflection of her life, and ours. After going through an enormous struggle to earn her driver’s license, the author drives cautiously until she discovers Tamara de Lempicka’s Tamara in the Green Bugatti (1925), after which she becomes “a proud woman charging the world head-on.” The reader marvels at the author’s mother, who reads the dignity of every wife and mother who sacrificed their lives for their families in Vermeer’s The Milkmaid (1658), and is touched by the author’s sensitivity in perceiving that her mother deserves business cards of her own.

Sienna Hwang: Picture Perfect Myths

1. Said the Picture to Her Kwak Aram, Artbooks Publishing Corp. 2008, 259p, ISBN 9788961960243 2. From Art with Love Min Bomnae, Artbooks Publishing Corp. 2010, 327p, ISBN 9788961969601 3. Picture Perfect Myths Sienna Hwang, Artbooks Publishing Corp. 2009, 316p, ISBN 9788961960304 3

4. Heart's Ease: Healing Through Art Lee Joo-eun, Alice 2010, 327p, ISBN 9788961960601

And what is a mirror? A mirror reflects. Therefore the essence of love, according to the author, is “seeing yourself in your lover.” The reason people are hurt by love, likewise, is because “you feel that your lover does not really see you.” Her pre scr ipt ion, i n t he end, i s t h i s: “ Tr ue love i s understanding that just as you search for yourself in your lover’s eyes, so does he.”

Kwak Aram: Said the Picture to Her: Working Women in Their Thirties As the poet Jin Eun-young observed, to working women making their way in society and business after college, turning 30 is like “an unwanted breath of air.” Life is no more certain, one feels no more prepared, but suddenly one is 30. Reporter Kwak Aram’s essays directed at her peers, working women in their 30s, offer a very personal glimpse into the author’s life from the upbeat to the melancholic, the bubbly to the bittersweet. Even in the midst of a hectic day, or rather because it is a hectic day, there are moments when one feels as if in a vacuum. When she feels that way, Kwak Aram looks at pictures. Forlorn, desolate pictures, if she feels like flirting with melancholia, and bright, vibrant pictures, if she needs cheering up, is the recipe that works best for her.

One spring day, magazine editor Sienna Hwang says that she suddenly thought, “I have to read some mythology.” A clear, dry wind was blowing, and she was feeling equally lonely and bored. This book collects her impressions on over 30 books of mythology, which she divides into love, desire, sorrow, and loneliness. One by one, the author visits the love of Ariadne, who foresook her family and country to follow Theseus; the desire of Pygmalion, who loved and desired Galatea, a statue of his own creation, over any living woman; the profound sorrow of Medea, who kills her children out of revenge. At first glance it appears to be a collection of 16 figures in Western mythology and paintings that depict them, but the author has done her work better than that. ‘A Myth Miscellanea’ section complements each story, mentioning George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion in tandem with the original or describing how Dante Gabriel Rossetti was entranced by other muses besides his wife.

Min Bomnae: From Art with Love: 50 Picture Postcards TV writer Min Bom-nae has a knack for capturing the joys, fears, regrets, and hopes of everyday life. It is a delight to read such sentences as “A person as welcome as spring, like shoots that suddenly appear and startle the cold,” or “We laughed so much.” The pictures in the book are the perfect complement to her prose. The story that begins with her young grandmother, who was killed in a bus crash but saved her then 10-year-old mother by throwing her out the window, reaches its climax with the accompanying Mother Combing the Hair of Her Child by Gerard ter Borch. The reader is affected by a burst of tenderness when sentences like “For some reason it saddened me to see my father’s face in sleep, and then I would feel relieved that he was safe and sound,” are coupled with Jean-François Millet’s First Steps (1858). Or with J. W. Godward’s The Tambourine Girl, which reminds the author of the late Kim Kwang Suk’s folk music. The perfect combination of text and image—reading Min Bom-nae sates the reader’s intellectual and sentimental cravings at once, a rare treat indeed. By Jung Hyungmo

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 15

Special Section

Korean Art Publications Connect with Readers

Finding the Heart of Traditional Art Korean art cannot be separated from the lands and waters of Korea. It is like an old tale passed on from generation to generation, the accumulation of sighs and laughter, like a patch of humble pine mushrooms that appear suddenly in a field of old pines; it thus expresses the heart of Korea.

A Korean heart and Korean appearance are the essence of traditional Korean art. Traditional art is a genre that provides a thorough look at the lasting identity of nations. Korean traditional art is characterized by idiosyncrasies unseen in art of other countries. In Korean art, appearance and action go together. Looks never disappoint, you do what you are and you are what you do. The patience and grit, the easygoing banter, and boisterous humor of Koreans are apparent in traditional art. The same goes for writing and pictures. Pictures are in poetry, and poetry is in pictures. This principle goes back to the Chinese saying that poetry and pictures share the same roots, and in the Joseon dynasty, no member of the ruling class would have dreamt of going against the maxim. Also, the written and spoken word had to match. The spoken word, the written word, appearance, and action are key to understanding Korean traditional art. It is difficult to explain Korea’s traditional art by taking the spoken and written words and everyday life separately. Numerous books have been published in Korea on the understanding and appreciation of Korean traditional art. Among many such writers are Choi Sunu, Lee Won-bok, and Oh Ju-seok, art historians who write about the art of the people in the language of the people. What is the language of the people? It is a tool of communication that holds knowledge for knowledge’s sake and sophistry at bay, as well as a way to avoid the world of dubious abstractions. These writers know how to turn the spoken word into writing. Their writing is addressed to the public. Interestingly, all three share something in common; they have all been, at one time or another, director or academic researcher at the National Museum of Korea. Obviously they used their time there well, becoming much better acquainted with the museum artifacts than most people and conversing silently with the distant past. Choi Sunu’s Leaning Against an Entasis-style Pillar of Muryangsujeon is an excellent case in point. First published in 1994 and re-issued in 2008, it has sold over 500,000 copies to date. Choi Sunu dedicated his life to uncovering, nurturing, and spreading word about the beauty of Korea with a missionary zeal. The beauty he sought, cherished, and disseminated was, of course, a quintessential Korean beauty. Choi writes 16 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

on how a discerning eye and appreciative feeling for of beauty is born: “True beauty is found within, from the roots of its growth, and is neither haughty nor obsequious.” According to Choi, this is the essence and definition of true beauty. His eye for beauty and impeccable prose seduced countless readers, and his explanation of the beauty and spirit of Korea in this book won him the admiration of art historians. The passage in question follows: “Korean art cannot be separated from the lands and waters of Korea. It is like an old tale passed on from generation to generation, the accumulation of sighs and laughter, like a patch of humble pine mushrooms that appear suddenly in a field of old pines; it thus expresses the heart of Korea. Korean art is never hurried. It is not ambitious. The spirit of Korean art is making do with what materials are available, not making a fuss over great skill, an elegance that is never overly loquacious or harried, that neither gives way to acute despair nor giddy joyfulness...there is no room for jealousy, hypocrisy, or pretension here.” This book covers practically all branches of traditional Korean art. Paintings from the early to late Joseon dynasty, traditional architecture and crafts, Buddhist statues and stupas, and ceramics are all examined and appreciated from a universal as well as individual point of view. If Leaning Against an Entasis-style Pillar of Muryangsujeon is dedicated to the beauty of traditional art, Choi’s Beauty of My Own takes on the prerequisites for art to be beautiful, one by one. Choi emphasizes that art is not created in a day, and is not the result of a glib, fleeting inspiration. Cleverness is not the same as art, that is. He says, “I believe that true art is born out of a dedication that gives itself up entirely, body and soul, to the lonely path that only thinks of art in sleep or in waking.” This book is not only about the formal beauty of art. Choi takes the reader to the realm of beauty visible to only the enlightened, from hidden slopes and streams to everyday objects in the home. The shadow of the moon against a papered window, a chime dangling from the corner of a rafter, a chimney facing faraway hills, and a glowing pot of coals on a frosty night are, to Choi, all fast-disappearing treasures that speak as much about the Korean soul as any great work of art. He concludes, “All that disappears is beautiful.” The last chapter of this book shows a painting of a beautiful couple from the Joseon dynasty. How could the green hills and sparkling waters of Joseon give birth to any other? Blessed are all births, and beautiful are all those who are born. The author emphasizes that beauty is not made. The roots of Korean beauty run deep. How can the beauty of yesterday assume relevance in the lives of people today? Like Choi Sunu, Lee Won-bok is another writer who wrestled with this question. In his book I Go to the Museum to Study, the attractions and artifacts of old are presented in a manner perfectly appealing to people today. Interestingly, Lee turns to the rich cadence of Korean itself in search of ancient beauty. He finds pieces that perfectly fit such adjectives as elegant, dazzling, bountiful, forgiving, and f lawless, seducing the reader with example after example of symmetry. Individual

pieces speak for the author, showing the reader how alike the unchanging beauty of traditional art and the purity of the Korean language are. The adjectives and pieces are such a good fit that the reader cannot help but come away convinced. Oh Ju-seok’s Korean Aesthetics by Oh Ju-seok details the excruciating joy of losing oneself in a good picture. This book collects Oh’s lectures on the beauty of traditional paintings. His encyclopedic knowledge and extensive reading is apparent in his clear, confident prose. The author has just one piece of advice for the appreciator of old art. That is, if one does not look with the heart, one looks but sees nothing, and listens but hears naught. He urges the reader to “look and hear with the eyes and ears of the people of the past, and feel with their heads and hearts.” The beauty of all art is lost on the impassive viewer. One needs to love art to see it, and have patience to appreciate it. The last chapter of this book is “The History and Culture of Joseon Told in Old Pictures.” Oh explains the five elements on the grounds that one must understand the philosophy of the ancient past to understand the art, and uses the yin and yang symbol to analyze the composition of Jeong-Seon’s Mt. Geumgang, one of the greatest works of Joseon painting, truly a work of genius and aweinspiring dedication. By Sohn Cheolju

1. I Go to the Museum to Study Lee Won-bok, Hyohyung Publishing Co. 2003, 268p, ISBN 8986361906

2. Beauty of My Own Choi Sunu, Hakgojae 2002, 280p, ISBN 8956250057 3. Leaning Against an Entasis-style Pillar of Muryangsujeon Choi Sunu, Hakgojae 2008, 519p, ISBN 9788956250823 4. Oh Ju-seok’s Korean Aesthetics Oh Ju-seok, Sol Publishing Co. 2003, 249p, ISBN 8981335990

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 17

Special Section

Korean Art Publications Connect with Readers

Embracing Art for Everybody’s Sake With audiences finding more opportunities to encounter art than ever, artists, too, are adapting their attitudes to the increasing commercialization of the Korean contemporary art scene. 2 1

The first decade of the 21st century saw a surge of public interest in contemporary art (actually, though I say “public interest,” the phenomenon is more of an illusion created by the branding of artists and aggressive marketing by their sponsors). Korea is no exception, and it is common to see pretentious articles on contemporary art even in fashion magazines. The hype is not without its uses, however. It has translated into the publication of a variety of books that cover a broad spectrum of contemporary artists. The first of such books that come to mind are The Cool Beauty (2004) and The Studios of the Korean Contemporary Artists (2008) by Kim Jieun, a television broadcaster at MBC. The author claims, “I used my first paycheck to buy art, and have been collecting art for 12 years since,” and that The Cool Beauty is the result of putting her love affair with art down on paper. By all means it was a fairly serious project, so much that an exhibition of the works mentioned in her book was held to celebrate its publication. The Cool Beauty’s strength lies in the author’s relaxed approach to contemporary art as a non-expert. However, the egoistical style of the book, differing from most celebrity writers, and her quixotic choice of artists has readers divided. On the other hand, in her latest work The Studios of the Korean Contemporary Artists, Kim focuses on the artists. She visits the studios of 10 artists ranging from Yun Suk-nam to Son Dong-hyun, and gives a measured account of what she saw and the conversations that took place. Je Miran’s I Am Deadly: Women Who Cross Borders and Their Art is a collection of interviews by the feminist author with 14 female artists including Yun Suk-nam, Ham Youn-joo, and Song Sang-hee, written in the form of a travelogue. The overarching theme is the artistic experience and development of women. The author writes in journal form, which limits the possibility of close 18 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

1. Crazy Art Made in Korea Lim Geun-jun, Galleon 2006, 479p, ISBN 8901062488 2. The Wonderful Reality of Korean Art Kang Sumi, Hyunsil Cultural Studies 2009, 367p, ISBN 9788992214698 3. I Am Deadly Je Miran, Artbooks Publishing Corp. 2010, 277p, ISBN 9788961960595 4. The Studios of the Korean Contemporary Artists Kim Jieun, BookSea Publishing Co. 2008, 311p, ISBN 9788974833503 5. The Cool Beauty Kim Jieun, Artbooks Publishing Corp. 2004, 383p, ISBN 8989800390

analyses of the works introduced. It is, however, an interesting text from an anthropological point of view. Reading Je Miran, however, one begins to wonder, “Since when was Korean feminist art so moderate?” The author does not include any radical feminists or lesbian artists. Could it be that the politics of identity or radicalism that swept the ‘90s has now run its course? Come to think of it, one does detect a hint of so-called second generation feminism that emphasizes and mythologizes the particularity of the female experience. If the aforementioned books are somewhat amateur efforts (not in the negative sense), art critic Kang Sumi’s The Wonderful Reality of Korean Art: Aestheticism and Violation, the Constellation of 29 Artists (2009) is expert. This book takes 29 artist profiles written by the author, a dedicated researcher, from 2003 to 2009, and rearranges them according to the five key words of seduction, observation, boundaries, expansion, and politics. As the title suggests, The Wonderful Reality of Korean Art offers a comprehensive snapshot of Korean contemporary art. It also showcases the author’s foresight and ambition as a critic, as evinced in her words: “This book was never conceived intentionally, but rather grew unconsciously out of my desire to draw a constellation of Korean artists and their art across the sky of ‘Korean contemporary art.’” The book is dedicated to the late Bahc Yiso, who passed away in 2004 (Bahc Yiso’s real name was Park Cheol-ho; he also used the alias Bahc Mo. He was the joint owner of Minor Injury, an alternative venue in Brooklyn in the mid to late ‘80s, and was a central critic of contemporary Korean art after his return to Korea in 1994). The last book I would like to mention here is art and design critic Lim Geun-jun’s Crazy Art Made in Korea: A Contemporary Collection of Madness and Obsession (2006), by yours truly. It is my answer to a very simple question: what kind of contemporary art is being created in Korea today? In January 2004, I set myself a few rules before embarking on my study of contemporary art: First, I would select one artist each month to study in depth. Second, I would only select active artists who had succeeded in creating a fully operational bank of meaningful questions (I set Choi Jeong-hwa, born in 1961, as the maximum age for artists I was looking for, and did not set any minimum). Third, I would collect and systemize all data I could get my hands on. Fourth, I would write about my findings, but in story form. Fifth, each individual story would be linked to one single story—the common path art is blazing today. Although the criticism is not light reading for non-experts, apparently it has attracted enough readers for a third printing in 2009. Six chapters of Crazy Art Made in Korea were translated by Iris Moon and published by Specter Press in 2007 under the title Off Kilter: Notes from a Study of Contemporary Korean Artists. Postwar contemporary art in Korea is not very well known abroad, but has a surprisingly long history and encompasses a range of styles from Informel to Libertarian art to vernacular kitsch to visual opportunism. Contemporaneity and cultural diversity in Korea came at a price, however, and each turning point in history saw heated debates on formal ideals. Such historical landmarks include: the democracy movement of June 1987 (the goal of democratization was partially achieved, and cultural diversity entered the public consciousness), the Seoul Olympic Games of September 1988 (the economic

wealth that followed gave birth to quasi-postmodern art and the enfants terribles of the “386 generation”), and the financial crisis of December 1997, when the country succumbed to a huge bailout and consequent monitoring by the IMF. After the financial crisis of the late 1990s, the landscape of contemporary art in Korea has undergone seismic changes. A post-386 generation wave of new artists born in the 1970s, in Korea’s industrialized years, along with the enfants terribles of the 386 generation, ushered in the era of biennales, contemporary museums, and alternative spaces. These artists were born in an industrialized society and spent their 20s in a de-industrializing society. The social, cultural, and political whirlwinds of their youth in Korea is an experience unparalleled by that of any other generation. When anyone asks, hence, what defines Korean contemporary art today, I answer that it is “an abnormally conscientious and obsessively playful attitude towards capitalism and materialism.” What that is, exactly, can be seen at once by examining a collection of excellent work. If you have the eye to do so, that is. By Lim Geun-jun, a.k.a. Lee Chungwoo

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 19

Special Section

Korean Art Publications Connect with Readers

A Journey into Art With a heightened public interest in all things art, more and more Koreans are flocking to foreign art galleries. Detailed art gallery guidebooks in the form of travelogues have become hits with the public, making art accessible and alluring.

It doesn’t have to be an elaborate journey. You could be on a hectic business trip overseas, but if you just take the time to make a short detour to a museum, the pictures you see there will become part of the landscape that you will always remember that city by. Like Dorothy’s ruby slippers, pictures always transport me to different worlds. Admiring a collection of pictures is like taking a trip around the world, as a picture is a projection of the world and acts like a window into a particular place and time. The following titles not only offer excellent advice for those preparing a trip to museums abroad, but in themselves prove to be the next best thing to the real experience. 50 Days Around the Museums of Europe by Yi Joo-heon is an invaluable guide for those planning to make an art tour. Written by one of the most inf luential art writers in Korea, 50 Days Around the Museums of Europe is the result of Yi and his family’s trips to European museums in the mid-1990s and remains a steady seller over a decade after its initial publication. It is no longer uncommon to see art lovers consulting the beloved guide in museums all over Europe. The author and his family’s visits to about 30 museums in 12 countries including the UK, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain are recorded in a clear yet engaging style that instantly grips the reader’s attention. He makes it a point of elaborating on a few key pieces at each museum so that even first-time visitors to European museums can navigate a sometimes bewildering maze efficiently. Yi’s guide also stands out for its reader-friendly approach. The author uses his sons’ nicknames, Ttaeng-i and Bang-gae, 20 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

2 3

1. Onzzogi Hayerin Goes to Paris Choi Hayerin; Illustrator: Choi Jung-hyun, Designhouse 2003, 180p, ISBN 8970418660 2. 50 Days Around the Museums of Europe Yi Joo-heon, Hakgojae 2005, 334p, ISBN 8956250383 3. A Real Trip Is When You Get Lost Choi Young Mi, Munhakdongne Publishing Corp. 2009, 248p, ISBN 9788954608732 4. Journey to the Soul of Latin by Kim Byung-jong Kim Byung-jong, Random House Korea 2008, 280p, ISBN 9788925516486

Journey to the Soul of Latin by Kim Byung-jong is not, in the strict sense, a museum guide. A renowned artist and professor at Seoul National University, the book collects the author’s drawings and writings from traveling around North, Central, and South America. Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Brazil—the author’s bold colors and strong lines capture the raw scenery of countries whose very names evoke passion. His writings on his travels are equally engaging, but the true attraction here is his simple yet powerful drawings. Visiting Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul in Coyoacán, Mexico City, the author ponders what colors would truly represent Kahlo, finally settling on a crimson sun against the dark blue of the house and a grey cat with yellow eyes against the backdrop of green and yellow palm trees. In Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, he is reminded of Borges. His sketches of people reading, a drawing of an old bandoneon player, and other drawings are postcard-perfect. A Real Trip Is When You Get Lost collects the essays of Choi Young mi, poet of At Thirty, the Party’s Over. The author, who studied art history in graduate school, devotes the first half of her book to her visits to museums in Europe. She recalls old visits to the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Käthe Kollwitz Museum in Köln, and also writes about movies, music, and other branches of art. While she does mention works of art, her focus is on her interpretation of the piece in question rather than to provide any scholarly commentary. On van Gogh’s Blossoming Almond Tree, the author muses, “The paradox is that these beautiful blossoms were born out of the artist’s pain…surely that must be art.” Blossoming Almond Tree, in turn, reminds her of Park Su-geun’s Magnolias, which makes a reappearance later in the book in an essay on Park Su-geun. The author connects Magnolias with the artist’s last years suffering from cataracts and partial blindness, saying that, “You have to shut your eyes and open them again to see the flowers, as if sleepwalking.” It is an excellent companion to the author’s The Melancholy of Time, a more serious art book published 10 years ago. Onzzogi Hayerin Goes to Paris by Choi Hayerin and illustrated by Choi Jung-hyun shows the art of Paris from a child ’s perspective, by a 10-year-old who visited Paris with her father. The comical cartoons accompanying the text are by her father, Choi Jung-hyun. The charm of this book is that it offers a child’s utterly literal, fresh interpretations of great works of art. At the Louvre, the author notices that the Nike of Samothrace as well as Venus de Milo has no arms. Most adults would never think to make that connection between the two sculptures, fixed as they are on Nike’s wings. The author wonders, “The Goddess of Victory doesn’t have any arms, either, but why isn’t she as famous as Venus?” It is a perfect read for children interested in art and parents keen to introduce their children to art. By Kwak Aram

throughout the text, and illustrates the perils of traveling with small children with such anecdotes as being robbed of their diaper bag in Paris. This unpretentious, humorous touch shows that art appreciation is not only for the wealthy at leisure but for ordinary families looking for a good field trip with their children. His clear, detailed commentary also wins bonus points for readability. The author sums up the Pergamon Altar in Berlin in the words “the aestheticism of size,” and describes the scenes of honor and disgrace depicted on the altar. Of Jan Sanders van Hemessen’s Tearful Bride in the Flemish Room at the Sternberg Palace in Prague, he calls the artist’s comical treatment of the model’s despair “cruel realism.” list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 21

Interview

A Writer of Perennial Youth, Park Bumshin Park Bumshin calls Cholatse, The Mapmaker, and EunGyo as the ‘trilogy of yearning.’ In Cholatse, the author describes the limitation of humans’ vertical willpower against the backdrop of the Himalayas. In The Mapmaker, he portrays the horizontal yearning of a dream by tapping into historical time. In EunGyo, he finally returns to reality, exploring and chronicling the innermost human desire and its origins. The Korean peninsula has joined the subtropical climate. Gone is the rainy summer monsoon; Korea is now said to be divided into the wet season and the dry season. Entering the second week of July, the streets of Seoul were ablaze with scorching heat. The streets and buildings and cars all appeared to have melted under the sun and swelled up like rising pastry. Who is feeding the furnace-fire? The entire world is aching from global warming and unseasonably high temperatures: the glaciers of the North Pole are melting, snow has fallen along the equator, and sea levels continue to rise. Is the earth headed for another ice age? Where are all these people and cars sweeping the streets headed? In the middle of chaotic downtown Seoul, a city of over 10 million, I narrowed my eyes as I waited. It was the day I was scheduled to meet Park Bumshin, the fiercest writer—with a “volcanic” heart—on the present literary scene in Korea. Tall and handsome, with deep eyes, a stately nose, prominent cheekbones, and grizzled hair, Park resembled the first wave of a tsunami. He was like the wind. White sneakers, worn jeans and a blue button-down shirt, he was still young. He suddenly reminded me of the leopard in Hemingway's “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.” Not an ounce of flab in sight. Or maybe he is like one of those mules that climb up and down the snowy mountains of the Himalayas. His bones are rough. If he were a tree, he would be a well-dried oak. He could also be a Chinese ash tree that dyes the water blue. Without any detours, I take a direct shot. You Yong-joo: Your cheeks are a little red. Have you been drinking? Park Bumshin: You need an occasional drink in your life. The world is such a mess I can’t bear to face it dead sober. YY: You described love as a crazy, mysterious racing emotion. Where does that passion come from? Writing a novel is hard work—does this mean you’re crazy? PB: You calling me crazy? I’m not crazy. But if you look carefully inside my ribcage, you’ll find a nut job hiding in there. I’m not the one who wrote EunGyo. A beast-like fella in here. He and I, we don’t always see eye to eye. Sometimes I want to beat him to death. That’s the relationship we have. There’s an odd22 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

looking fella inside me. YY: In your novel, there’s an old poet named Lee Jeok-yo, a young writer named Seo Ji-wu, and the high school girl EunGyo. The way I see it, Lee and Seo are the two faces of the same person. Is that maybe you? PB: Oh wow, you’re right on the money. How did you know? How could anyone write without inner conflict? That’s the source of my energy. I want to die and I also have an intense will to live. I want to give up on life and I also want to hold onto it fiercely. Pretty big mood swings. That’s where I get my energy. In literature emotional fluctuations refer to the inner conflict; without such fluctuations, how are we supposed to excite ourselves? We become excited through these fluctuations and we write to death because we are excited. YY: You write more than most young authors. Do you exercise to keep yourself in shape? PB: No, I hate exercise. But when I’m not writing, I’m always on the move. I just came from working in the field. I enjoy plucking and fixing and building things. I don’t wear gloves when I work outdoors. You see all these scars? If I get hurt while working with my bare hands, it makes me feel so alive. It makes me happy to get bloody. Maybe it’s a kind of addiction to physical labor? When I’ve got nothing to do, I reorganize my bookshelves. I work well past 2 a.m. I’m the happiest when I’m lying down from exhaustion. I was running even during my Himalayan trek. All my fears disappear when I feel one with nature. One’s true nature lies not in the body but the mind. When I was young, I was so frail that my mother sent me away to live with a shaman. And in middle school, I walked to school carrying my rice-andbarley lunch, 16 kilometers, round-trip. If you take everything into account, I probably walked around 50 ri [about 19.65 km] every day. That walk was encoded into my DNA. YY: Your novel depicts the love between an old man facing his death and a 17-year-old girl. It’s such a frank portrayal of envy, jealousy, and lust. Is it a depiction of what you hope for? PB: Yeah, you’re right, the novel reflects my desires. Doing it with women is not that important to me. You don’t have to understand EunGyo in such realistic terms. It’s just a depiction

Interview

reporter You Yong-joo and novelist Park Bumshin

of an ideal world. She’s a 17-year-old girl, yet sometimes she feels like my 37-year-old wife and other times, like a middle-aged woman in her late 40s. Eungyo is at once my young bride and my desire for things of immortal value. My yearning for things that possess absolute beauty—that’s Cholatse and The Mapmaker and EunGyo—something hot and surging from within. Sometimes it’s a woman and then it becomes Mount Everest and later a poem or a novel. YY: You wrote the novel EunGyo in a month. What fueled this runaway train? PB: I didn’t want to live this long. I wanted to become oxidized. Like the kamikaze unit, to use the Japanese expression. If I only think of absolute beauty as an ultimate value, I just want to fly away and burn into ashes like a fire-moth. It’s been a long dream of mine, but I keep carrying on like this instead of fulfilling it. I wanted to at least make like I was doing it. All I did was write, hardly ever stopping to eat or drink. The suffering that comes from time is enormous. It’s been over 10 years. I haven’t resolved my inner conflict yet, but I do want to confront the finitude of life head on. I don’t want to just give in, accepting defeat. There is a universal seat in society for people in their mid60s. I don’t want to sit there. That’s not a seat I have created for myself. I don’t want to act or write according to what the world, the universal cycle, wants or demands. Because I’m responsible for my own existence. I’m going to take responsibility for what remains of my life in a beautiful way. I want to build myself a more beautiful chair than the one given by the world. That’s my way. YY: Why do you communicate with young writers and readers through various channels such as the Internet? PB: As people grow old, they want to be treated with respect. I’ve never wanted that. If I had to choose, I’d want to be loved. I’ve never repressed young people, either. If I don’t respond and stay open to new cultures and new times like a weather vane, that’s death for me. It means I’m lonely, too. You have to open up yourself to new ideas, new generations, and always bear in mind something that will be useful to them. If you demand respect just 24 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

“Literature is an unconditional path, you can’t just write in your free time. You have to sacrifice everything else. If you only write in your free time, what kind of work do you think you’ll produce?”

1. The Mapmaker Park Bumshin, Munhakdongne Publishing Corp. 2009, 360p, ISBN 9788954608275 2. Cholatse Park Bumshin, Prunsoop Publishing Ltd., Co. 2008, 330p, ISBN 9788971847671

based on your age, you can’t help but become lonely. I pioneered publishing serialized novels on the Internet. That’s what I intended all along. I thought younger writers would have it easy if I opened up the way. The results were mixed, maybe half successful. The Internet as a medium has both good and adverse effects. My hope is that publishing companies and writers will work at it together to bring progress. I serialized EunGyo in my personal blog instead of making it available to all online because I was worried about the adverse effects and because I yearned to write more freely. I hope to provide younger writers with more opportunities. I want to be someone who helps them without anyone knowing about it. I’ve been teaching for so long that it’s become a habit to help them. It pains me to see impoverished young students. YY: What do you think about electronic books? PB: In Korea, I was the first major writer to make a new work available as an e-book and in print at the same time. A lot of older works have become available in electronic form. Truth be told, I don’t really understand e-books. I still write by hand on lined manuscript paper. But you can’t block off a new culture. You should take advantage of it. You have to accept it and conquer it— try to adopt it as your own and rule over it. When you’re writing a new novel, you can’t negotiate with the reader—but the author is by nature a dictator, so he doesn’t negotiate anyway. If your novel is precious to you though, you should try to reach as many readers as possible with your work. The author’s responsibility doesn’t lie in academic postures. You shouldn’t rest content on the foundation of nobility and yangban [gentry]. Since literature is a statement about life, it needs to work fiercely to reach the reader. YY: You cite many poems from both the East and the West in EunGyo. PB: I read most of them in the 60s and 70s, in my youth. Bookstores carry a lot of poetry collections. I cultivated my sensibility through poetry. A poem can rise to heaven in an instant. That’s not possible with a novel. That’s why poetry is compared to canonization. The novel, on the other hand, can be likened to the Chinese character for house. It’s like building a house on the ground. But there’s a great variation within the genre of poetry; some poets are stuck in the gutter, while others have reached the heavens. Poetry is what always nourishes our intuition and emotions. YY: Some advice for young writers. PB: Young writers have helped expand the horizon of the Korean novel. Subject matters and perspectives that weren’t handled in the past have proliferated. Great literary style and sensibility, too. My one concern is that they might be a little lacking in terms of the red-hot passion, the singular devotion to literature. I think it’s problematic to only get the benefits without consideration for due effort. Literature is an unconditional path, you can’t just write in your free time. You have to sacrifice everything else. If you only write in your free time, what kind of work do you think you’ll produce? That’s why I think a writer might have to endure some discomforts in life. My values are set: in my social life, I try to help younger writers, and I write novels for myself. YY: Do you set aside a regular time for writing? What’s your writing style like? PB: There are many possible methods. Balzac set aside time for writing and wrote regularly. Once he entered into a novel, he put a complete stop on his social life, not seeing even his lover. The best method depends on how much you’re willing to sacrifice for literature. There’s no such thing as an absolute relationship. When my generation was coming of age, literature was absolute.

Someone actually wrote “Literature, a tree I’d gladly hang myself on” in his acceptance speech for the Spring Literary Prize, so you can imagine what it was like back then. I can’t force the younger generation to be that committed. I myself am struggling to hang myself, so to speak. You see, I wanted to provoke the reader’s instincts in my new novel. You’ll be made to see the desolate stillness within yourself no matter how respectable and dignified you are. In other words, I’m picking a fight with the reader. Work hard during the day and observe your instincts at night. Rediscover your instincts that have been repressed in the name of the world. Reflect on the meaning of your instincts at the very moment you get an erection. I wrote day and night, hoping to see the comeback or resurrection of instincts. EunGyo is stuck in the world of fiction like an apple seed. It’s a novel that made me happy. YY: You have about a year left until retirement. What are your plans? PB: I want to return to the country. I thought about moving to the country in anticipation of my retirement, but my wife doesn’t want to. I’ve been mulling over it and I think my plans might change. Let’s see, the year was 1993—I was just wandering about, having stopped writing altogether, and then I moved into a country cottage near Yongin. I was happy at first. Then I was sad, crying a lot. Every day for a whole year, I just drank soju, ate, slept, and cried. After a year passed like that, I was met with the blessing of nature. It had an unbelievable power of healing. I was really happy in nature. You don’t have to move to the country to be closer to nature. But now that I’m old, I want someone to take care of the cooking for me. The meals pose a problem. I could cook for myself, but the problem is, I’d have to eat alone. You can work alone, but you shouldn’t eat alone. Eating with other people also helps with digestion. Nature is beautiful to be sure, but if a novelist turns his back on people to retreat into nature, he has to go out of business. A writer is a part of nature too, so he should live together with other people. YY: How can one live a true life? PB: What you need is complete combustion at all times. I have a strong desire to die in action. God has given everyone equal talent. And I use all of mine. I give my everything to write novels, my everything to teach my students, my everything to maintain my relationships with my family and neighbors, and my everything in my social life. I live every moment as if it was my last. You think it’ll be the end if you use it all up now, right? But if you get to the other side, you find yourself with more energy. It might be mathematically impossible but it’s possible in life. The way I think is, I’d be happy to collapse and die right after I finish writing this novel. In living your life, always conserving 30 to 40 percent of your energy for writing is certainly rational, but what you can achieve with rationality is obvious. You can view it as a reasonably comfortable life. But the people who are always exhausting themselves 100 percent, they’re the real deal. They may be nut jobs, but that’s how they survive. The human existence is incredible. Your energy is like the widow’s cruse of oil. The more you conserve your energy, the more lethargic you are. You know the saying “your body is a temple full of gods.” Everyone’s body is a temple so it is constantly replenished. The energy you expend on labor is always renewed. You should believe in that. A fundamental respect and utmost kindness for the people I’m with, that’s my way. Always full of energy from a well that never runs dry. By You Yong-joo

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 25

Excerpt

I’ve already reserved a ticket on a carriage headed for death. My darling Han EunGyo, will you listen? Last night in my dreams, I stopped by a ticketing booth to reserve a ride to the other world. “If possible, I would like to get on that carriage within the year,” I said. The guy selling the ticket answered with a smile, “We’re backed up with a lot of passengers trying to leave.” The agent’s face and ears were long, like a donkey’s. He was so funny-looking that I couldn’t help but laugh. “I can’t just issue you a ticket just because you want it. I’ll put you on the wait-list instead.” Listening to his explanation made me angry, briefly. I’d been living my whole life like this, and even here, I had to take a number and just sit around? “You can purchase some tools if you like. We have a variety of knives and guns. Nylon cord, denim cord, Our Mama’s jeogori strap, even a silk strap. And on the more inexpensive

EunGyo Park Bumshin, Munhakdongne Publishing Corp. 2010, 408p, ISBN 9788954610681

side, we have razor blades—doruko double-edged. But if you go this route, when it comes time for your trial, you cannot file an audit, revision or an appeal.” The ticket agent added, “Would you still like to use the tools?” I shook my head. “That’s fine. I can wait. Better to receive a formal trial.” I gave him a shrug, rather pleased with myself, and burst

One year has passed since Lee Jeokyo, widely admired as a great poet, died. Lawyer Q decides to open the poet’s notes as dictated by his will, but hesitates after reading them in private. In the notes, Lee confesses shocking truths including his romantic feelings toward 17-year-old EunGyo and the murder of writer Seo Ji-woo, who wrote Heart. All the more disturbing is the fact that Lee ghostwrote all of Seo’s works, including Heart.

out laughing again. The agent’s ears were so long, they had fluttered in the wind. “Why are you laughing?” “You,” I tittered. “You look like a donkey.” “The expression, ‘The pot calling the kettle black,’ we have it in this world too.” Looking back at me, the ticket agent laughed even louder. In any case, my name was put on the wait-list. Even if the wait was long, it was looking like I would get on the carriage before spring. I waited for the day I would get on the carriage and listened to the creaking of the world, the sounds of barking. I found myself laughing often. Much like the French poet Henri Michaux. My boyhood was coming to an end. I’d sunk into a swamp. Barking came from several directions, in bursts. I

26 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

was told, “If you’re not willing to bark, you won’t be able to understand those barks. So bark!” but I could not bring myself to do it.

I had a sickly appearance, and I could not have looked more hideous. I was covered with liver spots, I’d lost patches of hair,

A few years later, I arrived on much firmer ground. There

my cheeks were swollen and my eyes were sunken, like pits.

I could hear something creaking ceaselessly—one creak after

They said the cancer had reached the liver. I was diabetic

another. I heard it coming from everywhere. I wanted to

and suffering from retinitis, not to mention kidney failure.

make the sound, but you couldn’t do it by slapping your flesh

Objects appeared vague to me. Only when the new glasses

together.

came could I make out letters. The doctors warned me that

I wasn’t even able to sob. I thought to myself how I’d already become an adult.

I would eventually lose sight in both eyes. I was about to go blind. Then I wouldn’t be able to see you. I wouldn’t even be

The creaking hasn’t stopped, and it’s been twenty years.

able to write you a letter. But I firmly refused any treatment.

The sound was coming from every object. Slowly, the barking

“Please prescribe some painkillers. As for the illness, I have

began sounding more severe. So I began to laugh. Now that

my own ways to treat it,” I told the doctor laughing. I self-

I’d lost hope, my laughter was full of barking, even full of

medicated with alcohol. I drank every day. Of course, my

creaking, and like this, I fell into despair and found myself

health deteriorated rapidly. It actually made me happy, to see

satisfied.

my body falling apart. This was because my own ‘execution’

But the barking did not end. Nor did the creaking. My

had been my final announcement in life. Except, it pained me

laughter could not be stopped. My laughter was occasionally

to think she had to see me in such an ugly state. How could

accompanied by agony. To keep my heart satisfied, my

I bear to show myself to you after turning into an abandoned

laughter had to have many different kinds of sounds.

house from sitting around day after day? Your light was more

intense and luminous than all the sunshine in the world,

This terrible century, this is how it passed by. And time, it

and you would see me so clearly. “Grandpa, I’ll put it by

still passes……

your pillow. Look at them and think of me.” You pushed the flowers in the vase into my side of the screen. I took it and set —H. Michaux, “Creaking Sound”

it beside my head. The brushing of your hand sent a current of electricity deep into my chest. “Baby’s breath means bright

Today, you brought me a bouquet of baby’s breath.

spirits, promise and passionate joy.” I was going to tell you

Their white glimmer was visible through the screen as a

that white baby’s breath can also symbolize death, but I let

faint outline. “Grandpa, look at these. When I look at baby’s

it go. I didn’t want to sully your gesture of love. “Something

breath, I think of the Milky Way.” “Milky Way? What do you

funny happened in school today. Our teacher…” You went

mean?” I answered in a husky voice.

on, your voice like the clear warbling of a skylark. You talked about your school, your friends who were anxious about

I sat on the bed in my library, you on a chair. We were

becoming juniors in high school, and about your younger

separated by a screen woven with reed. Ten days ago, I’d put

siblings, your mother. I listened to you without a word. Do

nails in the ceiling to hang it, blocking the view of the bed.“If

you know? That your words as they ring through my ears

you come across the screen, your Grandpa won’t see you ever

transform into the most beautiful song in the world?

again!”This is how I threatened you when you came to see me in the afternoon. You pouted your lips sullenly and said,

Translated by Jaewon E. Chung

“What? Don’t be so childish!” Since then, this was the third time we were meeting, separated by the screen.

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 27

Interview

Director Lee Chang-dong on Poetry and the Meaning of Life Lee Chang-dong's latest film, Poetry explores the unfinished spaces between audience and art, reality and films, and unfinished endings. Lee Chang-dong first began as a novelist. Then in 1997 he made his feature film debut with Green Fish, and since then he has made five films. After he was awarded Best Director at the Venice Film Festival, his film Secret Sunshine won for Best Actress, and Poetry, which was screened in 2010, won for Best Screenplay. Lee, who has also served in the past as the Minister of Culture for the Korean government, is one of the leading figures of Korean culture today. The interview did not last long enough to capture his wide-ranging experiences in literature and film, but it boiled down to the problem of agonizing over whether it is possible for movies to keep throwing questions at today’s rapidly changing audience. This question arises from the nature of the film industry as well as the rapidly changing cultural environment and experience. Nonetheless, Lee has held onto the belief that he will continue to create new stories using a variety of tools, just as he always has, from the pen to the camera. That’s because he believes that it is at once the fate of art and the path of the storyteller towards the meaning of life. I met Lee in the Gwanghwamun movie district to ask him about his search for the meaning of life, just days before the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival where he had been invited as a jury member.

Lee Chang-dong Green Fish (1997)

28 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

Lee Chang-dong Secret Sunshine (2007)

On Poetry Lee Sang-young: Poetry can be described as a film that shows the process by which Mija (played by Yoon Jeong-hee) continues to write poetry. The film’s development—such as the scene of Mija thinking up a poem during class and the scene of her writing a poem while looking at an apricot—has in mind the process of writing poetry and the past achievements. Lee Chang-dong: I had the process of poetry writing in mind from the very beginning. And I thought up the idea to title the film Poetry and to make a film about poetry writing at the same time. After reading about the gang rape of a female middle school student in the news, I decided to turn the incident into a film, but I had trouble figuring out how to do it. I didn’t want to take a typical approach, so I was trying to come up with a new way to capture the issue. Then by chance, I watched this television channel for tourists in my hotel room during a visit to Japan. It was a program showing Japan’s scenery to tourists who couldn’t fall asleep. While I was watching a scene of a fisherman casting a net and catching fish in some river or the ocean, the concept of Poetry suddenly came to mind. I thought I should cover the gang rape together with poetry. The story of a woman in her mid-60s who learns poetry for the first time and her grandson who takes part in a violent crime came to my mind. And then I thought up the title. Since the film is about a woman in her 60s writing poetry for the first time, an adventure that unfolds in a way befitting of her, it needed the process of poetry writing. How a woman who has hitherto lived a very practical life approaches poetry in the very beginning wasn’t really important to me. At first, her entry into the world of poetry appears to be similar to that of most other people. She begins to write poetry, completely intoxicated by external beauty, but later as she realizes the formidable power of such beauty, she enters deeper into a kind of mysterious land. LS: Didn’t you write poetry in your teens? How did you personally arrive at poetry writing? LC: When I first started writing, I wanted to write a novel. It was a terribly juvenile, short piece, but it assumed the form of a novel. What I mean is, it was a story I invented. Then in high school I had to participate in an exhibition of illustrated poems, just as all the literary types did. That’s when I had an interesting experience. Unlike the novel, which is all invented, poetry has a

Interview

On Everyday Life

reporter Lee Sang-young and director Lee Chang-dong

narcissistic side. I found that very interesting. Poetry made me drunk on my own voice. That was somewhat unnerving. In any case, I did write poems from time to time through my earlytwenties. LS: The period when you were making a name for yourself as a novelist was the time when poetry had the greatest influence in Korean literature. LC: That was especially true in my case. As a writer, I belong to the 1980s in terms of Korean literary history, as well as from a personal standpoint. The conventional wisdom of Korean literary history is to classify writers by their decade. In the case of the writers of the 80s, they were a generation strongly associated with public and ethical responsibility. Their starting point was the Gwangju Democratization Movement, which broke out in the early 1980s. They fell under the rule of Theodore Adorno’s famous dictum that questioned whether poetry was still possible after Auschwitz. Not only did their starting point burden them like an original sin, they also closely experienced the structural contradictions of Korean society as they lived through the decade. Beyond individual differences, no one could be truly free due to the ongoing conflicts within the Korean intellectual world. This may sound like an excuse, but the 1980s was a period when writers agonized over their responsibility and usefulness, while actually censoring their own writerly imagination. So naturally, the imagination found itself shrinking. Since poetry is emotional in nature, a separation from poetry was inevitable. Among the poetry of the 80s, there were the “May Poems;” but if you take a close look at poems by Pak No-hae, they were actually a departure from the existing poetry. They were distinct from the emotional, self-absorbed poetry and poems that sang of the soul. Technically, they seemed more inflammatory than lyrical in nature. The 1980s was a time when the fighting power of poetry was the most heavily discussed. Of course, there were exceptions like the literary movement whose center was Kyung Hee University, but that wasn’t the dominant discourse of that period. Looking back on this time period, I’ve developed this dreary nostalgia. It’s similar to the feeling I get about an old lover who left a long time ago.

30 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

LS: The Ilsan area depicted in your first feature film Green Fish and the space of your novels all give the impression that you’re more interested in the fringe areas than the center. LC: While periphery is a familiar term to me, I’m not sure if I personally deal with it in my work. You see, there’s a part of me that thinks characters in a film or a novel are not really on the fringes. I’d say that I don’t really make that kind of distinction. Independent of this idea, I don’t find the people or space of Gangnam interesting. Do these people and their space comprise the center? I don’t think so. Paradoxically enough, I think Gangnam is the periphery, because the lifestyle and practices of people living there are quite distinct from the rest of the country. I get a strong impression that it’s a distinctive space that has been formed as a result of changes in Korean society. I often gather these impressions from talks with the audience. One time I was quite surprised during a talk at a theater in the Gangnam district, after observing that the audience found the protagonist of Poetry utterly unfamiliar and could not relate to her. They could not understand Mija as a character or the life she led. Personally, I’d tried to make Mija’s life and space as vague as possible, to depict her as a universal character in Korean society. I’d tried not to make her too badly off, so I found this response interesting. LS: Compared with your previous films, the space of Poetry gives the impression of being even more intimately in touch with everyday life. What is the principle behind how you approach space? LC: I wanted to create an unfinished space and an unfinished character. Figuring out how to mediate the gap between reality and films, which has long been a concern of mine, is not an easy problem. Not only is it difficult to recreate reality exactly as is, I often get the feeling that the audience also doesn’t want the gap to close any further; otherwise, they display some serious friction or tension in the process of accepting the film. The more I narrow the gap between reality and films, the more I’m driven towards the fundamental question of “what is a film?” In fact, I get the sense that the audience doesn’t just not care for the closing of that gap but actually hates it. It’s a really difficult problem. The audience comes to the theater and watches the film, once the lights turn off. But as soon as they recognize that the film unfolding on the screen bears a relationship to their reality, they become antagonistic. It’s not just that they feel like they have wasted their money watching the film, but they actually get angry. I worry a lot about that state of mind. LS: In terms of the problem of acceptance, it sounds like you’re saying you had it easier back when you were a novelist. LC: That might be the case, if you compare literature and films only in terms of creation and acceptance. Literature is completed by the reader anyhow. So in literature, how the reader completes the work is important. Literary ventilation through language is therefore an important power. However, films are shown in their completed form. The audience watches the film and thinks that’s all there is to it. If they have come to the theater to escape reality yet are shown a reality that mirrors their own, they’re not just uninterested, they’re furious. LS: Dealing with uncomfortable truths is a dominant trend in literature. But that’s not easy with films. Is it possible to on the same level as the audience? LC: I’m inclined to believe that it’s not possible because I think it’s not practically possible. Films making a connection

with reality can also be described as films posing questions to the audience. No matter the question, it’s uncomfortable and painful for the audience. But can not asking any questions be part of the nature of film? LS: The scene of the gang rape in Poetry reminded me of the scene with the kidnapper’s daughter in Secret Sunshine, the scene in which she is abused by a group of boys. LC: The gang rape actually took place in Milyang. I was preparing to shoot Secret Sunshine (Korean title: Milyang) at the time. As I thought of adapting Lee Chung-joon’s A Bug’s Story into a film, I realized the film would inevitably be a story about the city of Milyang in some respects, even if it dealt largely with salvation or the meaning of life. Then I began to think that turning a blind eye to the gang rape that had taken place in Milyang, and instead, importing an invented story would be dishonest. I agonized over this for quite some time. In the end, I decided to pursue the project that I’d prepared, but I ended up getting another try through Poetry. LS: The most interesting scene in Poetry is the one in which the detective comes to arrest Mija’s grandson, while he’s playing badminton. The scene is open to several interpretations; for instance, it’s possible that Mija was the one who contacted the police. For me, it also seems like a kind of judgment scene. LC: My intention was to develop the story after parenthesizing the possibility that Mija had done something about her grandson. I did plant the suggestion that Mija might have reported him to the police. I hoped that the audience would fill in the answer. It would be hard to view either answer as fitting better with the rest of the story. I didn’t want the audience’s emotional response resolved completely. Regardless of what they believed, their responses would seem natural to themselves. The funny thing about film is that you accept it in the way you perceive it. Anyhow, my intention was not to reveal the answer. One thing

1. There’s A Lot of Shit in Nokcheon Lee Chang-dong, Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. 1992, 302p, ISBN 8932005796 2. Burning Ritual Paper Lee Chang-dong, Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. 2003, 392p, ISBN 8932014558

for certain was that Mija’s choice would feel like a punishment she is imposing on herself. Mija has no other choice. She makes the choice instinctively with the weight of her life on her shoulders. Her choice can be thought of as a punishment, since it makes her suffer.

On the Meaning of Salvation LS: In your work, I get the impression that you’re constantly asking questions about salvation. LC: Truth be told, I don’t believe in salvation. The term carries too many religious connotations. The term as I understand it is not salvation in the general sense of the word but in a different way. How can I describe it? I ask myself, what does it mean to live? Does it have a meaning? The meaning of life, I think, might fall within the broad meaning of salvation. Having arrived in this world, you have to live your life in some way, so how to live your life becomes the issue. LS: Can poetry (the arts or film) save us? LC: The meaning of life and poetry are one in the same thing, in my opinion. I often think it’s pointless to seek meaning. Poetry guarantees nothing—not pleasure, not desire, not even life. Still, despite the saying “poetry won’t feed you,” we still read and write poetry. Here lies the most simple as well as the most fundamental truth. We still write poetry, even though it can’t feed us. At the very least, I believe that we have to write poetry and that poetry is necessary. Poetry here can be replaced by film or the arts. By Lee Sang-young

A scene from the movie Poetry

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 31

Excerpt

Agnes’ Song In the last scene Poetry, Mija’s spiritual voice is transcribed into a poem. Here’s the full text of her poem, “Agnes’ Song.”

* Director Lee Chang-dong’s ”Agnes’ Song” was originally designed for a screenplay, not as a separate poem. Director Lee expressed his concern that it might be subject to misunderstanding or distortion unless it is read in the context of the screenplay. In addition, given the plot of the film, ”Agnes’ Song” is intended to be a poem composed by an amateur poet.

32 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

How is it over there? How lonely is it? Is it still glowing red at sunset? Are the birds still singing on The way to the forest? Can you receive the letter I dared not send? Can I convey the confession I dared not make? Will time pass and roses fade? Now it’s time to say goodbye Like the wind that lingers And then goes, just like shadows. To promises that never came, To the love sealed till the end, To the grass kissing my weary ankles, And to the tiny footsteps following me, It’s time to say goodbye. Now as darkness falls Will a candle be lit again? Here I pray nobody shall cry… And for you to know How deeply I loved you.

The long wait in the middle Of a hot summer day. An old path resembling my father’s face, Even the lonesome wild flower Shyly turning away. How deeply I loved. How my heart fluttered at hearing your faint song. I bless you Before crossing the black river With my soul’s last breath. I am beginning to dream… A bright sunny morning again I awake, Blinded by the light and meet you Standing by me.

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 33

Overseas Angle

The Significance of Hong Sung-wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Novel However However Hong Sung-won, Honnoizumi, 2010

34 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

This year marks the 100th anniversar y of the Japanese annexation of Korea. A turning point in Japanese history, various attempts to re-examine the relationship between Korea and Japan once again are appearing in a variety of forms such as publications, symposiums, or special TV and newspaper reports. Looking back at Japanese modernization and the neighboring countries plundered in the process (the Japanese took over the Korean peninsula, Taiwan, and northeast China, and founded a puppet country, Manchuria) is an important exercise not just in learning from past mistakes, but in looking to the past to understand where Japan is today. The contempt and prejudice with which many Japanese regard Koreans is a product of history that dates back to Japanese modernization. The animosity has not vanished in spite of the 65 years, almost double the span of Japanese occupation, that have passed since the 36 years of colonization. This

However, a novel by the late Hong Sung-won, was published in Japan in April, marking the second anniversary of his death. The novel depicts a character that staged a fight against imperialist Japanese to secure independence for Korea but later betrayed his own country and led a shameful life. The novel chronicles the miserable life of the turncoat and the tragic life of his descendants. The editor who helped publish the Japanese edition explains the significance of the novel. may be attributed to the greater complexity of ideas that formed in the past 65 years as compared to those of the colonial period. Underneath all the complexity is the notion that the Japanese could no longer be a free people after Japan’s defeat in World War II and Japan’s military and economic subordination to the United States. This collective feeling of suppression is, in turn, the result of further social stratification in the course of economic development that has in recent years created a perception of Japanese society as one polarized into the “victorious” and the “defeated.” In ruling over those different from they, the Japanese have created a social structure that discriminates and excludes. Koreans, Okinawans, and the Ainu from the northern Japanese islands have thus functioned as “psychological pedestals” for the Japanese who have wanted to be better than the rest, if by a small margin. Correction: The Japanese have intentionally marginalized them to use them as “pedestals.” The recent issue of moving the U.S. army base in Hutenma, Okinawa reflects this idea. This past June, the new prime minister Kan Naoto thanked the Okinawans for sharing their space with the U.S. army base. But there is no word or hope of negotiating to take back the land the U.S. took by force with rifles and bulldozers 65 years ago and continue to occupy today. The Japanese pander to the powerful and demand acquiescence from the weak. It appears it has not occurred to the prime minister that Okinawans are also Japanese, nor has he pondered on the meaning of continued U.S. military presence in Japan. He who does not understand what it is like to be oppressed cannot recognize that he himself is also oppressed. I wanted to share Hong Sung-won’s full-length novel, However, with Japanese readers because of the place Japan is in right now. I have realized that it is the task of the Japanese is to find out what they must do to become free people and a free country, and part of that education is finding common ground with neighboring countries. This novel explores issues that cannot be overlooked for many reasons. Finding viewpoints in novels may not make sense in light that fiction is fiction, but this must be excused when one needs all the help one can get in finding answers. The first issue is how one should see the Japanese annexation, that is to say, Korea’s colonization by the Japanese. The second is whether one should leave the division between the proJapanese and anti-Japanese the way it is now. The latter is also related to the theme of the novel, the relationship between truth and history. The third is how one should see the circumstances that turned some anti-Japanese to pro-Japanese—the conflict that arose between the authoritative Japanese rule and unstable

infrastructure of anti-Japanese organizations. The fourth is how one should see Chinese socialism or socialism itself. The author deals with these issues through the stories of celebrated anti-Japanese fighters Hyeon-san Han Dong-jin, and a man, Dong-pa Seo Sang-do, from the same village who participated in the March 1st movement but are now criticized for later siding with the Japanese. The characters that push the plot along are Kim Hyeong-jin, an ex-news reporter novelist who was commissioned to pen Han Dong-jin’s biography, and Eda Saiko, a Japanese writer. Kim Hyeong-jin was married to Han Dongjin’s great-grandchild who died in a car accident, and Saiko is the daughter of a daughter Han Dong-jin had with a Japanese woman he met in northeast China. An affection for Saiko grows in Hyeong-jin as he sees his dead wife in Saiko, and their love drives the plot along to the end. What particularly intrigued me were the three aforementioned issues usually brought up by Kim Hyeong-jin’s friend, Im Jeongsik, who studies modern Korean history at a university in Seoul. Im Jeong-sik offers several new perspectives on the anti-Japanese, the despair and destitution of those who had to flee to northeast China to escape Japanese prosecution, the hostility and terrorism that hatched within anti-Japanese movement organizations, the dreadful descent to self-destruction, and the breach of the barrier between the anti and pro-Japanese. Japan was carrying out expansion plans across Asia, which no international power including the League of Nations was willing to check, and Nissen Itai, the idea that Japan and Korea are one, was propagated throughout, turning Korea into Japan. Under such deplorable circumstances, anti-Japanese revolutionaries sought asylum abroad to find no solution or plan but to bide their time. Cut off financially, they had to devote their time to living hand to mouth. Their enthusiasm and faith began to peter out. I find it heartbreaking that it was the Japanese that stamped out the very existence, the very humanity of such people. We must not dismiss this story as a tale from long ago. From a neutral area, this novel poses the question of whether a true reconciliation between Korea, who refuses to forgive, and Japan, who refuses to apologize, is possible. Such problematization is, in my opinion, absolutely necessary, but what is more important is that the Japanese give some serious thought to what it is that they must apologize for. Such contemplation is closely associated with the Japanese recovery of their pride as a member of humanity. This novel will provide them with the opportunity for such contemplation. I met with Hong Sung-won in Seoul three years ago and spoke with him about Korean literature. He said, “I believe that there aren’t any writers in the world today that can have a far-reaching influence like Camus or Sartre yielded in their day. Even if the message goes far, they are not understood. Humanity is becoming shallow all over the world. Our job is to recover maturity.” Japanese literature today also tends to avoid this important task for humanity as works that burrow deep into the private lives of writers and hide in the miscellaneous details flood the literary world. I am uncertain how much popular acclaim However will receive in a market such as this, but this novel asks fundamental questions about the meaning of life. I am confident that However holds the key to the future of history. By Shinfune Kaisaburo (editor of Riron, a quarterly periodical, and literary critic)

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 35

Overseas Angle

36 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

An Unavoidable Desire Wanting to Go Insane, Yet Unable Yi In-seong, Imago, 2010

Yi In-seong’s full-length novel has been published by Imago in France, with the French title set as Interdit de Folie. The novel introduces a central character who has lost both his youth and love during the 1980s at the height of the student-led democracy movement against the military regime in Korea. The novel follows the character’s attempts to figure a way out by writing.

It is quite interesting to examine what kind of route it takes for works of Korean literature to be translated into French and reach bookstores in France. It is especially the case with Yi Inseong’s full-length novel, Interdit de Folie (Wanting to Go Insane, Yet Unable). This novel came to our attention through Jean-Noël Juttet with whom we are well acquainted. Juttet knew very well that Imago Publishing was interested in publishing high-quality works of literature; he thought we were the ideal publishing company to introduce this difficult work through our Korean series. The two translators, Choe Ae-young and Jean BelleminNoël had trouble finding a major publisher, so we decided to take a look at the manuscript. In effect, this book had two issues we had to deal with: first, it was a novel; second, the style of writing was very modern. Imago had already published through its Korean Literature series called “Scènes Coréennes,” modern Korean plays by Cha Bum-suk, Yi Kun-sam, Heo Kyu, Choe In-hun, Roh Kyeongshik, Lee Hyeon-hwa, and Lee Kang-baek. However, we were well aware that as a company publishing primarily plays, we ran a risk of alienating ourselves from bookstores and the publishing world at large. The reason why Jean-Noël Juttet did not initially contact us was that he firmly believed that our company published only plays. Therefore, in order to overcome the possibility of being isolated, Imago went ahead and also published different works of prose, namely an anthology by Seoun Hwi, a full-length novel by Nam Sang-sun, a book of proverbs by Lee Hyeon-joo, and the work of an anthropologist, Alexandre Guillemoz’s masterpiece, The Fan, the Shaman. We found Yi In-seong’s book fascinating, and it was translated exceptionally well. But we encountered a second problem. The fact that the style of writing was overly modern ran counter to the classical style that the editorial staff at Imago preferred. Moreover, what is evident in Yi In-seong’s writing is the influence of the nouveau roman writers, such as Claude Simon; we thought this could hinder and bore readers who are more accustomed to a traditional narrative. That is why we spent a long time exchanging interesting ideas and opinions about the literary tradition, and in particular, the poetic language of Yi In-seong. Finally, I was able to persuade the editorial team to make the bold decision of introducing a Korean novel with a new

writing style that no other French publishing company had tried. It is undeniable that the support from the Korean Literature Translation Institute helped greatly. After that, Jean Bellemin-Noël and I embarked on the editing process. Through e-mail correspondence, we delved into the specific problems, like the source of the poems quoted in the text, the sentence structure, and the title. The new title of the translated work is very different from the original, but in the end we decided to use it for a greater effect. Next, we had to search for a cover illustration. The “Scènes Coréennes” series apply the principle of using a contemporary Korean photograph to emphasize one aspect of the given work. I selected several photographs that showed bleak and solitary images, like the night scene of a small PC room surrounded by massive buildings, a flashy car that is an advertisement for a night club, and a picture of a stingray with a bizarre smile. The editorial staff chose a closeup color picture of frowning masks. This is how the book found itself to be in the bookstores of France. We do not expect such a book to become a bestseller, but we are infinitely proud that readers in France will have an opportunity to read this book. Lastly, I would like to tell an exciting epilogue. The encounter between Jean Bellemin-Noël, who is not only the co-translator, but also German and a scholar of psychoanalysis, and Imago, which primarily publishes books on psychoanalysis and the theory of the imaginary, has resulted in another collaboration. That is, the translation of Gradiva by Wilhelm Jensen, the German author who is known through his research of Sigmund Freud. Meanwhile, Jean Bellemin-Noël was in charge of the “Korean Writer Special” in the prestigious French literary magazine, Europe (May, 2010 No. 973). Imago is pleased to be part of an endeavor to show that high-quality literature is free of national boundaries, and will thereby continue to promote Korean literature in France.

By Hervé Péjaudier (playwright and editor, Imago Publishing)

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 37

The Place

“Wings” and the Department Store This year marks the 100th commemorative anniversary of Yi Sang’s birth. Yi Sang, whose life was difficult and work was complex, is one of Korea’s most loved writers. Through the use of stories particular to a space (department store) in his most famous short story “Wings,” we can rediscover Yi Sang.

The Mitsukoshi Department Store in Seoul in 1930 (right)

38 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

Yi Sang’s “Wings” has turned the Mitsukoshi Department Store into one of the most notable places of colonial Korea. The protagonist finds himself on the roof of the Mitsukoshi Department Store after wandering aimlessly around. There, he watches goldfish or looks down on the streets. These episodes embody profound social and historical meaning. The protagonist wanders the streets here and there like someone who has lost his bearings because he has no money. He had originally intended to drink coffee at Kyeongseong Station, but he could not get in without money. Without a destination, his wandering was inevitable. Until he reached the roof the Mitsukoshi Department Store, he had no idea where he was. When he notes, “Even if I had five won on me, I wouldn’t have been able to make my way home before midnight,” it reveals the fundamental principles of a modern city. In modern society, one needed five won to stay out in the city past midnight. He can buy himself a place in modern society as a consumer. A member of a modern society thus becomes part of time and space through exchange and consumption. It is then ironic that our layabout of a protagonist went to Mitsukoshi. It doesn’t make sense for him to be at a department store when there’s nothing he can buy. However, one thing to take note of is that department stores are open to everyone, rich or poor, to encourage and promulgate exchange by advertising products and creating the desire for consumption. In addition, as a spectacular Renaissance-style building by the standard of the period, Mitsukoshi enthusiastically embraced the role of a fairground and an expo hall, drawing in potential consumers. One can imagine its popularity by the fact that Mitsukoshi was part of a Kyeongseong city tour bus route, which included the Joseon Shrine, Bakmun-sa (temple), Changgyeong-won (garden), and the Imperial University. Mitsukoshi had its groundbreaking on March 17th, 1929, and was completed on October 21st, 1930. In addition to boutiques, display windows, and a tourist bureau, the Mitsukoshi Department Store also included the Mitsukoshi Hall (theater space), a food court, a rooftop garden, a gallery, a shrine, a greenhouse, a soda fountain, and an observation deck. The fact that one could enter a department store without money must have dominated the protagonist’s subconscious, which led him to Mitsukoshi. In short, it was the Mitsukoshi’s management policy that made it possible for the protagonist to watch the goldfish. “The canary in the cage at the rooftop garden, its wings limp, closes its eyes like a nihilist,” says Kim Ki-rim in “Rooftop Garden.” The aquarium where the protagonist watched the goldfish was, like the birdcage, part of the department store’s facilities. This is also related to the scene in which the protagonist looks down on to the street below or says, “Let’s fly. Let’s fly. Let’s fly. Let’s fly once more yet.” This is reminiscent of an ad for the department store that claimed that looking down over the city from the rooftop garden was as fun as “a bird looking down from above” (Hatsuda Touru, The Birth of a Department Store). The rooftop garden, in other words, gave people artificial “wings.” The things they bought at the department store also “gave them “wings.” Through the description of the goldfish fins and the view from the rooftop, Yi Sang’s vigorous depiction of the modern system comes through. The protagonist refers to the streets as the “streets of obscurity” and said that “there a life of fatigue waved about languidly, just like a goldfish fins.” He discovers people who “were bound by invisible, sticky ropes.” At the department store, he meditates on the “merciless dynamics” of modern society “seeping in through the walls” (Yi Sang, “Spider Meets Pig”). The protagonist’s stroll to Mitsukoshi is not unrelated to honbura, which means to wander (burabura) through Honmachi, the center of the Japanese area, Namchon, which also happened to be the

The writer Yi Sang (1910-1937)

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 39

The Place

The Complete Works of Yi Sang 1, Poems Yi Sang, edited by Kwon Young-min Literature Edition Ppul 2009, 404p, ISBN 978890109393

The Complete Works of Yi Sang 2, Fiction Yi Sang, edited by Kim Ju-hyeon Somyong Publishers 2009, 407p, ISBN 9788956264400

1. The Anthologized Yi Sang Yi Sang, edited by Kim Ki-rim Baegyangdang Publishers, 1949 2. The Complete Works of Yi Sang Yi Sang, edited by Lim Jong-kuk Taeseongsa Publishers, 1956

40 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

The Complete Works of Yi Sang 2, Novels Yi Sang, edited by Kim Yoon-shik Munhaksasangsa Co., Ltd. 1991, 404p, ISBN 8970122184

The Complete Novels of Yi Sang Yi Sang, edited by Lee O-young Gabin Publishers, 1977

commercial center of Kyeongseong. Honbura comes from the ginbura custom, which means to wander through Ginza, Tokyo. Yi Sang says in Tokyo that, “When women buy new shoes, they must tread the pavements of Ginza before they climb into an automobile,” and Yi T’ae-jun describes a female protagonist who spends “an hour on ginbura” in “Stars in Every Window.” The residents of colonial Korea adopted ginbura and invited each other: “Sister, won’t you go honbura?” (Park Tae-won, “Welldressed Women”) Mitsukoshi was a central part of honbura, which rose from a time when “Mitsukoshi things couldn’t help but appear attractive.” (Lee Kwang-soo, “That Woman’s Life”) The colony was the market of the empire where goods were “displayed disjointedly like the display windows in the consumption section of the paper” (Kim Ki-rim, Unfortunate Aspects of Joseon Literature), people “took the elevator to the top of the five-story building to look at the crumpled clouds instead of the blue ocean.” (Kim Ki-rim, “Yearning for the Sea”) The colony was thus completed in the “Oriental autumn of Coty” (Yi Sang, “Au Magasin de Nouveautes”). Mesmerized by the “beauty of the colorful tags,” “the hems of the pink skirts,” and “the scandalous calves” (Yi Sang, “Autumn of Promenades”), the colonial subjects could not tell the difference between aspirin and Adalin. There is symbolic significance in the misinterpretation of “Wings.” People often believe that the protagonist is at the Mitsukoshi rooftop garden when he says, “Let’s fly. Let’s fly. Let’s fly. Let’s fly once more yet.” But the protagonist was not at the rooftop garden when he felt an itch around the armpits as he listened to the “noon siren,” but in the “streets of obscurity.” Nor did he shout, “Sprout, “wings!” He had already left the department store at that point, and felt like stopping in the street and shouting those words. But what is more significant is that the misinterpretation heightens the importance of “Wings” and Mitsukoshi’s literary significance. The misinterpretation came about because the protagonist’s desire for “wings” and flight fits in well with the height of the roof. The multi-story building that provides this height is the product of science and technology

Books by Yi Sang that have been published overseas

that grew on capital. In other words, Mitsukoshi alone embodied not just the industrial planning of a colony “whose benefit was the advancement of commerce and industry” (Lee Kwang-soo, “Heartlessness”), but also the architectural ambition of the colonial subjects who built slipshod western imitations of “three-story buildings” (Yom Sang-soep, “The Green Frog in the Taxidermy Room”). The building snuffed all possibility of other perspectives by limiting the vision to its own view. Thus, the misreading of “Wings” expresses the skyrocketing modernist drive that monitors from above and creates blueprints, and the concession and naturalization to this process. Behind all these was, of course, the empire. On the other hand, the high rise, “the first floor under the second floor under the third floor under the rooftop garden,” (Yi Sang, “Motion”), also symbolizes the danger and fear of falling. It symbolizes social stratification and its violence. For example, unlike Chun-sim who could beg for Yun Jik-won to buy her nanchi (lunch) at Mitsukoshi (Ch’ae Mansik, “Peace Under Heaven”), Shin-cheol comes face to face with “his own insignificance” (Kang Kyeong-ae, “Human Problem”) there. To Bong-ik, Mitsukoshi was “worlds away from him” (Yom Sangsoep, “Fig”). In short, the department store open to all was also a place where people came to affirm the all-pervasive deprivation and poverty. The display windows showcased products and social inequality. Perhaps the penniless protagonist of “Wings” finding himself at Mitsukoshi was as great an inevitability as was this chewing and swallowing Adalin. Bidding farewell to all the aspirin and Adalin that deceived him, he arrived at a hodgepodge of modern issues. Your everyday department store was thus elevated to the status of a definitive literary backdrop. By Lee Kyoung-hoon Illustrations in “Wings,” drawn by Yi Sang (Chogwang, September, 1936 )

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 41

Theme Lounge

A Long Journey into Aging In an aging society, what matters most is not longevity but aging well. Well-aging is not anti-aging that rejects aging altogether, but a movement that accepts aging naturally and enjoys it in a way that maintains health.

I used to host a radio program for senior citizens. I became interested in the welfare of our senior citizens later on and became a social worker, and have spent 20 years working with the elderly. Nowadays, people come up to me and ask how itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possible for them to age gracefully. By aging gracefully they usually mean that they want the following: financial security, soundness of body and mind, some form of distraction or amusement, and friends to share the joys of everyday life. Aging, however, is not an easy affair at all. The four hardships of old age, it is said, are disease, poverty, loss of purpose, loneliness, and exclusion. It is difficult to even imagine suffering from these hardships when one is y ou n g. T he lon g jou r ne y of a g i n g s t a r t s w it h acknowledging such difficulties and making peace with them. Hardships and pain await us on the way. At the same time we are enlightened to the joys and pleasures of old age that we were unaware of in our youth. Finding these joys and pleasures are the key to aging gracefully. The following books provide invaluable guidance towards that path.

42 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

Sympathy for Bok-hee

The Loneliness of You

Park Wansuh, Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. 2007, 302p, ISBN 9788932018140

Park Wansuh, Changbi Publishers, Inc. 1998, 303p, ISBN 893643652x

Park Wansuh: The Loneliness of You; Sympathy for Bok-hee

Aging brings many changes in our selves and in our hearts. Our relationships with family and friends also change. Park Wansuh’s fiction is as good an any scholarly tome on the subject. Her work is even more realistic than real life, as she herself is in her 70s. Her works are not comparable with the works of younger writers who are not able to draw on the same kind of experience. One of the stories in the collection The Loneliness of You, “Dried Flowers,” depicts the romance and parting of an elegant woman in her 60s and a dashing older gentleman. The story shows that old age has nothing to do with falling in love or the pangs of drifting apart. “For Longing,” one of the stories in Sympathy for Bok-hee, tells of an old lady who settles down in Saryang Island with a soul mate she has found late in life. “Candlelit Table” is the story of an old couple that live where they can see the window of their son’s house but cannot visit him as they please. Their son and his family, in turn, live with their lights turned off so they can pretend they are not at home. The stark reality that parents and children today are reluctant to admit is exposed for all to see. The story is unsettling, more truthful than real life. The stories on old age and the daily lives of the elderly are richer in detail than any textbook on welfare for the elderly. Experience, it seems, is superior to mere information in this case. The lives of the seniors in these stories help one imagine what life may be like later on.

Kim Yol-kyu: De Senectute

The author is a former university professor. At the age of 60 he goes back to his hometown and takes up farming. He drinks tea, listens to music, and writes. His retirement is as enviable as one might wish for. The author does not brag about the peaceful life he enjoys, however. He writes, in an unaffected way, about the true meaning of old age and the hidden beauty and strength, and the joys and pleasures he has discovered. Words like senile, infirm, decrepit, worn-out, feeble, and frail are not the most pleasant words one associates with old age. Words like ‘veteran,’ ‘weathered,’ ‘wise,’ ‘sage,’ ‘seasoned,’ and ‘mature,’ however, are more than welcome. The author thus gently points out that old age has its virtues. His positive attitude towards old age is apparent on every page. Most of the time when we think of old age we think of numbers, of the ever-growing aging population, of the increasing burden of health care and welfare costs. The picture the author paints of the golden years, however, with his gentle allusions to art and literature, puts this view to shame. Our default stance has been to think of the elderly as a problem. We think of senior citizens as a burden on younger generations. This is unfair. The elderly are just like us. They are simply older than we are. This book speaks of an active old age, a dignified old age, an old age beyond loneliness that causes the reader to think about his or her present life. The author’s advice based on his own experiences at the ripe old age of 70 pushing 80 is more practical

De Senectute Kim Yol-kyu, Viabook 2009, 240p, ISBN 9788993642063

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 43

Theme Lounge than any self-help book. He shows that old age and retirement can be as enjoyable as any stage of life.

Kang Full: I Love Thee

I Love Thee 1, 2, 3 Kang Full, Munhak Segye-sa 2007, 262p ISBN 9788970754123

I laughed and cried over this comic book. It was more useful than any of my difficult gerontology textbooks. The heroes and heroines of this book are stooped and wrinkly. They have liver spots, are hard of hearing, and their eyesight is not what it used to be. They are poor, and sometimes senile. They are, however, very much alive. They are not stopped in time. They breathe, move, work, drink coffee, and love. They look after one another, have friends, cry, and laugh. They disagree and shout at each other. They share each other’s sorrows and pain. They are living, active people. In other words, they are the same as us. The stories they tell of their past are poignant, sometimes painful. Their present, however, is even more so. These are seniors who must work for their daily bread. They work not for some noble sense of fulfillment, but for their very survival. One old man yells every day. The reason turns out not to be because of a sour disposition, but because of poor hearing. Another old man is overwhelmed by the daily struggle of caring for his senile wife. Still he battles on, determined not to be a burden to his children. These are the same kind of stories that I hear every day working with the elderly. The author’s powers of observation are such that the characters seem to step out in real life. Some are driven to suicide. Reading about these characters is an experience impossible to define in a few words. It is heartbreaking to imagine the depth of despair that must lie behind those decisions. One feels the unrelenting harshness of society. It is impossible to age well on one’s own. Social protection is needed to guarantee at least the most basic needs of life. That is why we work so hard when we are young.

Lee Joung Ok: Letting Half Go: The Way to Happiness

Letting Half Go: The Way to Happiness Lee Joung Ok, DongA-Ilbo 2009, 384p, ISBN 9788970907024

44 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

“For 20 years I worked at a magazine. I have never married. I retired a decade earlier than most people and went to live in the country. I had planned beforehand and invested my assets wisely, so I was able to move into an exclusive retirement home.” The author’s prose is sparse and concise, as befits a former reporter. Some call it staccato. She is evidently not the type to wear her heart on her sleeve. She takes good care of herself. Her descriptions of her housemates at the home are candid. She is equally vocal about the problems that she believes could be improved upon. Death is also dealt with matter-of-factly, illustrated by real-life examples. The author calls for increased awareness, matched by institutional reform. The seniors at the retirement home are all different. Their histories are unique. It is not easy for them to live together. Tiffs and quarrels are common. Moreover, the members of the home are there by choice, not by charity. They paid out of their own pockets to live there. If the service bothers them they make their voices heard; their demands are many, their standards high. These are the people who are living in a shared space. Because they live a communal life, privacy is impossible. Secrets are accidentally spilled. Difficult situations are inevitable. The author does not side with the elderly unconditionally. She does not use old age as an excuse for everything. She merely describes what

she sees, and what she sees as the key challenges to keep in mind when planning one’s retirement. First, one makes a plan. Then one puts the plan to practice. One then enjoys a satisfactory, independent old age. That peace and satisfaction, however, is too often shattered by the violence of institutions. Still, the writer is never defeated. She draws upon experience and accepts her place in life. And she aspires to attain true maturity within that space. Out with the wrong, she says. Her calls for reform are strong. Truly this is a lesson well-learned from a person wiser in the ways of life.

Friends of the Elderly: Aging as a Path of Life

A group of people from teenagers and octogenarians are asked: What does aging mean to you? What are old people to you? And, What kind of old age do you dream of? Their answers are as varied as their stations in life. Each age group has something different to say about aging. The book is aptly subtitled, ‘Eight points of view on aging and old age.’ The spokespersons for each age group were not chosen by any statistical basis or scientific criteria. They are members of a gerontology study group. Their answers are those of ordinary, unpretentious people. Each age group has different ideas and feelings about aging. Of course, that is to be expected. This book offers a glimpse into how people of all ages think and feel about aging and old age. The responses of people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s are particularly insightful as to what aging gracefully means. The sexagenarian confesses that he has finally learned how to enjoy life. Some people insist that the 60s don’t really count as ‘old,’ but others accept their age with good grace. They say that living until 60 has finally given them some perspective on life. Speaking for people in their 70s, Professor Chung Chinhong, a religious scholar, says he thought he would have become a saint by the time he reached the seventh decade of his life. He writes that when he became 70, however, he was still very much a mortal man, and not necessarily a better one. I beg to differ, however, as I think it may just be possible to become a saint at 70. One might become a greedy old miser, depending on how one lived before turning 70. However, surely one could make it up even after 70 if one tried. I like to think that at least that possibility is open. The octogenarian says that he f inally feels grown up. Looking back on the twists and turns of his life, he reflects that “aging is the process of growing up.” Reading his words, I feel repentant for acting as if I had seen everything and knew everything. I may have lived for 50 years, but in front of an 80-year-old I am still young and learning. I would have to be at least 80 if I want to attain some sense of humility and kindness. To age gracefully is to grow up in the true sense of the word. Even today I ponder how I must go about doing so.

Aging as a Path of Life Friends of the Elderly, Kungree Press 2009, 246p, ISBN 9788958201663

By Yoo Kyung

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 45

Reviews Fiction

The Lives of Others Are Not So Different from Our Own Nana at Dawn Park Hyoung-su, Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. 2010, 406p, ISBN 9788932020587

The best novels depict the journey the protagonist takes to find their true self. The best novels are also sociological or anthropological studies on the characters and the world in which they live. Good novels, therefore, involve the physical or mental growth of a character, which in turn sheds light on the mysteries, wonders, and wisdom the world has to offer. Park Hyoung-su’s novel, Nana at Dawn, meets all of these criteria. Nana at Dawn is set in a Thai redlight district, the largest in Thailand and perhaps the world, that formed around a train station called “Nana.” The plot revolves around three generations of prostitutes, Gia, Floy, and (perhaps soonto-be) Rano, taking the readers to places beyond imagination even for those of us who are accustomed to modern city life. The story creates a Rabelaisian carnivallike atmosphere and evokes the magical realism of South A merican literature such as One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. One’s understanding of the world reaches only as far as one’s imagination, and so it goes without saying that the main character who ends up in Thailand en route to A f r ic a h a s a h a rd t i me understanding Nana and its residents. The main character happens upon Floy on a street in Bangkok, falls in love at first sight, follows her home, and lives with Yon, Lisa, and many other prostitutes. The narrator notes, “I thought I’d be able to come pretty close to understanding their lifestyle, though it may be impossible to fully accept it. Looking back, I think

I’ve completely failed at that, too. More difficult questions came up with each passing moment.” The main character who believes that he is in love with Floy cannot make sense of her chronic lying and cheating him for his money, and so boards a plane back to Korea in the end, penniless. But these incomprehensible incidences a re up on re c on sider at ion t he mo s t fundamental incidences we have left buried under layers of contemporary life in a city we must always return to when the journey is over. After spending six months in Nana confronting the most fundamental questions in life such as “W hat is life?” the protagonist keeps returning to Nana. As the narrow-minded, pett y undergraduate who traveled to Bangkok before graduation grows into a man with a wider perspective, he comes to realize that his life is no different from the lives of the Nana prostitutes. Looking back on his previous life, he says, “It was sad. It was sad that my potential was so apparently finite. But it was on the other hand somewhat comforting to know that we were all murderers once. All of us were once traitors, thieves, and scapegoats. The eternal wind blowing from the windmill of reincarnation evened out the track records of every soul. The only difference is the role we were assigned today, in this life. All of us were once prostitutes.” If life repeats eternally, we must have lived as traitors, scapegoats, or prostitutes for at least one of those countless lives, and so there is no reason for us to not understand them. If we are ready to

understand others, the ability to see our past lives is perhaps unnecessary. It is perhaps the connections we have forged with others in past lives that enable us to understand them. By Yi Soo-hyung

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 47

Reviews Fiction

Quirky Reads on Modern Life Table for One Yun Ko-eun, Moonji Publishing, Co., Ltd. 2010, 397p, ISBN 9788932020495

Yun Ko-eun has a brilliant imagination that shatters readers' prejudices. This attribute is reflected in the author's first story collection, Table for One. Things that do not exist in real life, whose existence is nevertheless oddly appropriate, appear in this novel as though they are the most natural things. A woman who has a hard time getting along with her co-workers takes “eating alone” classes to overcome the awkwardness in “Table for One.” A lice problem plagues a man who has just returned from vacation abroad in “Sweet Holiday.” He turns himself into a host and sets off on an unending journey to exterminate the lice. An impoverished, budding novelist uses department store bathrooms as her writing studio in “Invader Graphic,” and dreaming on someone else’s behalf as a profession becomes all the rage in “Park Hyeon-mong’s Dream Oracle.” These are all rather odd premises

that reflect reality in ways that cannot be dismissed as plain silly. Exclusion is part of everyday life, contributing to the rising number of people who eat alone. Microorganisms and bugs once believed to be extinct have struck back with a vengeance in large cities, and department store bathrooms do provide customers with some of the most technologically advanced facilities a layperson would find in day-to-day life. Given this, Yun Ko-eun’s literary imagination is far from surreal, but firmly rooted in the unquestionable reality of our world. A slight modification of reality creates a surprising perspective that draws readers’ attention to the things they might have overlooked or taken for granted. The lighthearted stories in this collection depict just how conscious we are of others’ opinions, how the modern person obsesses over little things, and how prioritizing customer service above all else can have unfortunate effects on the poor. The cheery tone belies the keen intellect that delineates the incongruities of the civilized world. By Kang Gyesook

Overwhelmed by Family Alchemy The Water Kim Soom, jaeum & moeum 2010, 300p, ISBN 9788957074886

Kim Soom has a distinct style. Her previous works were noted for their meticulous, detailed dissection of objects that led to grotesque imagery. For instance, in her first novel, Idiots, Kim depicts a father who, having a hard time readjusting to reality after returning from a Middle Eastern construction job in the 1970s, buries himself in sand. The Water, her third full-length novel, takes her narrative a step further. The objects that correspond with the characters overwhelm their humanity. In other words, the characters come to embody the characteristics of the objects that symbolize them. The novel is about a six-person family living on a former reservoir that 48 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

used to hold three million tons of water. The mother, a central character, represents water. Her aquatic attributes are manifested through the metamorphoses of her being. The mother turns from water to ice with no particular provocation or warning. She sometimes turns into an ambiguous, vague cloud of vapor. The father stands for fire, the narrator stands for salt, “my twin” stands for gold, and the youngest sister stands for air. The dynamics between matter apply to the dynamics of the family as well. The mother (water) turns dry and lifeless living with the father (fire). The protagonist (salt) feels inferior to her twin sister (gold), but her crystallized edges become rounded when she is with her mother. The father attempts alchemy with the younger twin, and the youngest, neither visible nor tangible, becomes engrossed in religion. The novel is thus a family narrative with an interesting fictional world that

likens characters to matter rather than limiting itself to entertainment or lessons on morality. By Shin Junebong

Spotlight On Three Poets

Yoon Zelim

Snow Falls on the Subway The Road to the Sana Temple Heo Yeon

The One Inside Was Already Outside A Bad Boy Is Standing Lee Jangwook

Tongue Torso

Snow Falls on the Subway Poems by Yoon Zelim Translated by Chae-Pyong Song and Anne Rashid

To cross the river the subway rises above ground An ajumma1 sits silently nudging her companionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s side to say the snow is falling An old man in the next seat shakes his grandson whose eyes are half closed and points outside the window with a part of his finger missing the snow is falling A young man and woman who have been standing sullenly turn to look at each other the snow is falling A red-haired girl who sits reading a comic book swiftly pulls out her cell phone the snow is falling Snow is falling on the Han River2 Snow is falling on the subway All are grateful when the subway comes above ground momentarily

1 A common Korean term for a middle-aged married woman 2 A river that runs through Seoul

50 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

The Road to the Sana Temple Poems by Yoon Zelim Translated by Chae-Pyong Song and Anne Rashid

Passing an old monk thrashing sesame plants, passing a pregnant woman who stands with an umbrella for a parasol watching young maple foliage on a cliff, passing a middle-aged man who sits in a taxi with the off-duty sign on waiting for his wife who is inside the mobile laboratory, passing the lovers who crouch on the stepping stones-under the late autumn sunlight, the trout and salmon weave giddy patterns; they point at them again and again, saying the water is so clear, the fish are so many Passing the passing spring water, passing the passing trees, passing the passing rainâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; the people of the river village

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 51

The One Inside Was Already Outside Poems by Heo Yeon Translated by Brother Anthony of TaizĂŠ

The rumor that firelight burns for someone is a joke by childish troubadors. Firelight simply burns for itself. Has firelight ever belonged to me? Have I ever been firelight? The fact that someone else is not going to die in place of me, is not going to take the underpass in place of me not going to linger in the corridors of a university hospital not going to ruffle through the pages of magazines, there are times when that fact is cooler than an early morning in winter. The so-called solitude bestowed on me after fighting with gravity once I am upright, there are times when that is really fortunate. There is no lie more stupid than to say that you have combined flesh. That stuff does not combine. The one inside was already the one outside and is the one who will go outside again. Did I ever see a strong ray of light make a detour round anything? Did I ever see anything left behind? Has rain ever once addressed a single word to me? Ever forgiven me? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s because there is always only me in this breathtakingly beautiful world that I feel dizzy like this.

52 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

A Bad Boy Is Standing Poems by Heo Yeon Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé

There are moments for forgetting how time is flowing by. Partly because living has no particular value, but mainly because the bits of life’s broken glass always stay lying pathetically in one place, like debris. Glittering fiercely. I too find it hard to believe, but I used to forget I was hungry while I wrote a couple of poems. That’s how things were, then. The poems smashed and glittered as though I was running off with a woman who was my social superior, and I reckoned that my situation was better than any neck tie-wearing brigade or gang of thieves. So I was lonely. Blue—the color that embellished me, sometimes sadly, sometimes squalidly. Nowadays I no longer have that color, that once made me a boy, made me a poet, and made me roam back-alleys. Made me sorry, too. I made myself. Making myself was an easier matter than slicing and biting an apple. Still, I shall live on as a blue memory. Being able to be young despite being old. Living as a bit of blue glass. Like some kind of law, a boy is standing. A bad boy is standing.

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 53

Tongue Poems by Lee Jangwook Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé

Put out your tongue. I’ll give you a lump of sugar. Every time something reaches your soft stomach from enamel teeth a process of transformation is required in order to maximize its nutritional value, to make everything one. Standing before a man selling ice-cream, childrens’ tongues burn coldly and everyone feels afraid if they stop to wonder why animals’ teeth are so hard. On the tongue lozenges become round, the tooth you once loved suddenly adopts an unfamiliar expression, laughs, weeps, the sun sets. Between all yesterday’s things and all today’s things, things sweet and fearful are born on the tongue. Sugar lumps. Blazing sugar lumps. Now put out your long tongue, its roots extending down through your body, red, moist, your tongue.

54 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

Torso Poems by Lee Jangwook Translated by Brother Anthony of TaizĂŠ

Sometimes I have no head. Without habits and without any cold-blooded expression, I keep warming toward people. Though I cut off my arms and cut of my head, my two feet wait for the bus, my two hands greet people joyfully, my lips go on muttering on their own. In three seconds I forget my cut-off fingernails, it takes three weeks to install a habit in my body, but putting on a really cold-blooded expression requires a whole lifetime. As my self-portrait for today, matching the back view of my torso, I would like to have holy lips that ever speak contradictions, but that can only be once my whole body has vanished, and since today there are still things sprouting out of my body, since today there are still things I want to cut off, I continue, without even lips to mutter with, with my whole body . . .

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 55

Yoon Zelim Yoon Zelim made his literary debut by winning the New Writer’s Award from Literature Joongang in 1987. His poetry collections include Samcheolri-ho Bicycle, Losing Love, and He Walks Back. He is a member of the poetry club 21st Century Perspective. He is a copywriter and professor in the Creative Department at the Seoul Institute of the Arts.

Heo Yeon Heo Yeon’s debut as a poet came in 1991 when he won the New Writer’s Award from Contemporary Poetry in 1991. He is currently working as a reporter for Maeil Business Newspaper, covering the publishing industry and literature. His poetry collections include Ominous Black Blood and There Stands a Bad Boy. He won the 2006 Korea Publication Academic Award.

Lee Jangwook Lee Jangwook was born in 1968 in Seoul. He made his literary debut with the publication of his poems in Contemporary Literature in 1994. He has authored two poetry collections, A Sand Mountain In My Dream (2002), and Hopeful Song at Noon (2006); essay collections on poetry, My Gloomy Modern Boy (2005) and Revolution and Modernism: Russian Poets and Thinkers (2005); a novel, Joyful Devils of Callot (2005); and a collection of short stories, The King of Confession (2010).

56 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

Reviews Fiction

Uprooting the Roots of Patriarchy The Empty House Kim Joo-young, Munhakdongne Publishing Corp. 2010, 334p, ISBN 9788954611220

Kim Joo-young is famous for his superb depiction of tumultuous modern Korean histor y. He has reproduced Korea’s process of modernization through its indigenous language and meticulous integration of custom in works such as The Inn-Keeper (Gaek-ju). Such works are highly regarded for the reflection on individual modernization they inspire in the larger context of Korea’s high-speed modernization as compared to that of the West. Kim Joo-young’s most recent novel, The Empty House, however, reflects a different style, delineating women’s desire sacrificed under a patriarchal system that the empty house stands for. Ojin, the main character, and her half sister Sujin, are both gamblers whose own desires have been abandoned because of their despotic father who obsesses with patriarchal authority, which is embodied by a foxglove tree. Their

An Ode to the Wounded Somewhere There’s a Phone Ringing for Me Shin Kyung-sook, Munhakdongne Publishing Corp. 2010, 400p, ISBN 9788954611275

Youth is beautiful because it is a past from which we cannot return. But the irreversibility of time is not the reason we remember youth so fondly. It is rather all the firsts we experience in the process of becoming adults and the tantalizing excitement or detrimental unfamiliarity associated with new experiences. Youth is also a paradoxical time governed by a brilliant darkness. Gestures of passionate love, the unbearable pain of breakups, scars from betrayals, coping with unexpected deaths, and other incidents all make up the history of youth. Unchecked passion, embarrassing mishaps, and irrevocable mistakes are carved into this history, so it is difficult to look back on those days without regret and wistfulness.

mothers’ desires are also discouraged. The foxglove tree rules over the empty house because the foxglove tree is a metaphor for the all-powerful patriarchal authority that establishes patriarchal order. Can women living in 21st century Korean society fully realize their desire? Is the foxglove tree cut down in the novel no longer a factor in Korea today? One is hard pressed to find a positive answer to this question. In spite of the ostensible advancement of women’s rights, Korean society has found a way to maintain its patriarchal system through various inconspicuous inner workings. Thus, the empty house in the novel as a space that discourages women’s desire is not entirely fiction, but a metaphor for contemporary Korea. We must therefore truthfully confront the question: Can women realize their desires? Not until we uproot the foxglove trees within us. By Jang Sungkyu

a forlorn, tragic path. Written in the form of retracing the source of scars through recollections, this novel narrates the meaning of growing up and the significance of the hope and sadness associated with it. Shin Kyung-sook’s first book since Please Look After Mom, which sold 1.4 million copies, Somewhere There's a Phone Ringing for Me, is a characteristically sophisticated and even portrait of the days of youth one cannot look back on without bracing oneself. For the main characters, Yun, Miru, Myeong-seo, and Dan, the age of 20 is a time when the sordidness of real life manifests itself in the form of unreasonable violence and leaves deep cuts in their souls. They depend on each other, lend each other a shoulder to cry on, and push on forward through the darkness of life. Their sincere friendships and warm compassion give them the strength to survive the dark times when the influence of autocratic rule reached every nook and cranny of life. Armed with sincerity, they pulled through their youth. But the innocence of youth cannot help but remain powerless in the face of reality. Contrary to their wishes, their lives continue down

By Kang Gyesook

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 57

Reviews Fiction

Overlapping Lives Through Letters The Eighth Room Kim Mi-wol, Minumsa Publishing Group 2010, 267p, ISBN 9788937483028

The protagonist of The Eighth Room is Yeong-dae, a 25-year-old who has just returned from serving in the military, but most of the story contains recollections from a notebook that belonged to Kim Jiyeong, a woman 10 years his senior. As the Korea of the 1990s and 2000s is politically and culturally different, Kim Ji-yeong and Yeong-dae have dissimilar college lives. However, the one important thing they have in common is that the Kim Ji-yeong in the notebook and Yeong-dae are both in their early 20s. Yeong-dae begins to peruse her journal as though reading this notebook he happened upon had always been his purpose in life. Reading Kim Ji-yeong’s notebook and getting to know her better, Yeong-dae starts to believe that he is the only reader of the epic book starring Kim Ji-yeong as the protagonist, and that the notebook was written for him and only him. He is

Love for Sale I Like Lao-Lao Gu Kyung-mi, Hyundae Munhak 2010, 283p, ISBN 9788972754619

Gu Kyung-mi is known for her particular interest in the portrayal of “losers.” Her main literary focus seems to be those who were discarded in the harsh Korean capitalist restructuring since 2000. This is noteworthy in that, unlike other young writers, her work is not characterized by new, experimental techniques. Gu Kyung-mi’s I Like Lao-Lao is a love story of one such “loser” born of Korean capitalism–an immigrant woman. The novel is about Amei, a Lao woman who marries a Korean man for his money and for escape from everyday life, and the events that led to it. Such pre-arranged, commercial marriages between Koreans and women from nearby developing countries have been commonplace since the 1990s. This book explores the question, “Is love 58 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

possible for immigrant women?” Amei meets someone from a Korean company in Laos, and winds up marrying his brotherin-law. But the decision is all but forced on her in light of her difficult financial situation. Unsatisfied with her marriage, she escapes and returns to family in the end. When it comes to immigrant women in Korea, perhaps it is not easy to discuss the possibility of love. If love is a voluntary union between two equal parties, what immigrant women often end up with is a union without will or equality. Gu Kyungmi’s I Like Lao-Lao paints an unembellished picture of the gruesome reality that forces the rules of commerce on love. Unlike some works that idealize or exoticize immigrant women, this book is an accomplishment in its objective view of immigrant women and love. By Jang Sungkyu

probably mistaken on this point, but there is no need to deny that the discovery of the journal was fortuitous, and that Kim Jiyeong’s diary of her disorienting 20s is of great comfort to Yeong-dae as he navigates through his disorienting 20s. Who is he? Yeong-dae is the sort of man who has never seen anything in the 25 years of his life. He has zero experience deciding something on his own accord, and putting it to action. But this one thing, he wants to see all the way through. He wants to return the notebook to Kim Ji-yeong, no matter what it takes. Yeong-dae soon finds himself writing a response to the “letter” he received from Kim Ji-yeong. What he aims to accomplish is simply to return a notebook to its owner, but the act of going through all that trouble suggests a newfound conviction. Thus, we suspect that Yeong-dae’s story begins at the point where Kim Ji-yeong’s story ends. We may expect from Yeong-dae’s story a plot richer than it had been before. By Yi Soo-hyung

Steady Sellers

The Weary Flight from Youth The Bird Oh Jung-hee, Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. 2009, 167p, ISBN 9788932020068

Oh Jung-hee is one of the most prominent Korean woman writers. She made her literary debut with the short story “Woman of the Toy Store” in 1968, and since then has written notable works, such as Garden of Childhood, Chinatown, The Old Well, and The Bird. In 2003, The Bird, a fulllength novel, was published in Germany for which she was awarded the LiBeratur Literary Prize. It was the first time that a Korean writer received a foreign literary prize. Since then, The Bird has been

translated into German, French, English, Russian, Dutch, Basque, and Croatian. Oh Jung-hee’s novels are known for her assiduous reflections on universal issues, a description of the inner landscape, and the flow of memory told in a delicate prose. The Bird, is a unique coming-of-age, or anti-coming-of-age novel. Generally speaking, a long novel is symbolic of the world that the protagonist encounters. The main character undergoes a wide range of experiences in life to gain maturity. But

for the two protagonist siblings, Umi and Uil, their world is limited to a system of exclusion, if not organized violence. Their mother deserted them, and their father disappeared after leaving them at a train station. The only thing that the brother and sister, not under anyone’s protection, could do is to hide in the dark shadows of the world. Umi and Uil grow up in a world of violence and darkness. And it is into this darkness that Uil disappears and Umi stands still, with a sliver of hope of seeing the distant stars. Then what does the bird signify? It is a metaphor for the fate of Umi and Uil. Ordinarily, one associates a bird with freedom, but the author sees in the bird, the weariness of its having to search for food, and its terror of the hunter. The author of The Bird tells us in an understated way that there are young children who are suffering from hunger and pain, and that they are all around us. She is not sentimental or cynical about it; she does not demand a moral responsibility from the readers, either. She simply shows us the gap between the world of Umi and Uil, and us: “The day is light, and the night is dark. But the hour between when the sun sets and before the night arrives, this uncertain, and ambiguous darkness, that which comes in waves, filling the space between heaven and earth and stifles our heart, to which I cannot give a name; how it is different then and now, what flows between it all, I cannot explain.” (1996 edition, p.73) Reflection on the “in-between.” In The Bird we see that the author has chiseled minute and fine cracks into our idea of boundary and division. The author does not reveal the multiplicity of how the “inbetween” can be a space where the system of exclusion can be in operation, or also where empathy and communication can take place. She would like for us simply to reflect on the “in-between” space and to be part of it. One of the reasons why The Bird has spoken to so many foreign readers is that the author offers a deep introspection on the “in-between.” Lastly, there are several nuances in relation to the Korean word, bird, which is sae; as a noun, it means the bird, as an adjective, it has a meaning of something new, and sae is also a contracted form of the Korean word, sa-i, which means “in-between.” By Kim Dongshik

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 59

Reviews Culture

Harmonizing Text and Image Literature Meets Film Kim Joo-youn, Dolbegae Publishers 2010, 262p, ISBN 9788971993897

They say that the size of the film market is 100 times that of the literature market, and that the size of the game market is 10,000 times that of the film market. Where lies the path for literature in such a stark reality? The author, one of Korea’s major literary critics, says the following about the current literary landscape of Korea: “The young writers actively engaged in the field of literature since the 2000s are breaking away from the traditional narrative form to create novels that are like films or graphic novels. Most of the novels by young writers today are dominated by such patterns.” The author points out, too, the great influence Japanese graphic novels have had on Korean novels. Korean novels today are rife with violence and sex, like dark films about self-torture and fear. As a result, the traditional value of literature, that had sought the perfection of individual

A Classic Collection Reissued Conflict and Reaction Lee Gap-chul, Photonet 2010, 143p, ISBN 9788993818093

Lee Gap-chul is a photographer whose unique works are highly praised in Korea, as well as in France, the United States, and China. Currently, he is affiliated with the Vu Gallery of France. Song Su-jeong, the critic, says the following of Lee Gap-chul: “Rare is an artist who stakes everything he has on his works, as does Lee. He knows that the perfection of the self is the perfection of the work, and that this perfection is his destiny.” The collection of photographs is based on the exhibition, held in Seoul in 2002, under the same title. At the time, the works exhibited received great attention, and the book of photographs accompanying the exhibition quickly sold out. Since then, a large number of people have tried to get 60 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

their hands on the collection, which was out of print until recently. Now in print again, the collection has been met with an enthusiasm unprecedented in Korea. L e e’s p h o t o g r a p h s r e f l e c t , i n a profound manner, the spiritual worlds of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, which are traditional religions of East Asia. His photographs are imbued with life and death, the moment and eternity. More fundamentally, his photographs are replete with the mysterious ambience and energy of shamanism. Spoken metaphorically, his photographs can be said to have achieved the status of a spell, for they provoke the subconscious and the basic sensibility that lies deep within the human heart. Thus, his works are Korean, or East Asian, and universal at the same time. By Pyo Jeonghun

character and dealt with ethical issues, is fading away. The author comments that such a phenomenon is due to the shocking change through which literature of text is making a transition into literature of image. The initial reaction of the author to such change is regret. Even if the Internet and the film culture, based on digital technology, are opening the door to a new era, paper text and the analogue culture, axes of modern civilization, cannot be rejected. The author anticipates a new form of literature in which the text, with its power of preservation and memory, and the image, with its sense of realism and sensual characteristics, are in harmony. The book provides abundant insights on the cultural landscape and the future of Korea, a leading force in digital and information technology. By Pyo Jeonghun

Reviews Culture

Travel to the Planet’s Last Remaining Paradise Going to the End of the World Lee Jung-shik, Sam & Parkers, Co., Ltd. 2010, 432p, ISBN 9788992647991

For three decades since the 1970s, the author has traveled to remote areas of the world. The book contains the 10 most impressive spots to which the author has traveled, including the remote areas of Afghanistan, Morocco, Madagascar, Tana Toraja of Indonesia, Xinjian Uygur and Gansu of China, Rajasthan of northwest India, Myanmar, and Ladakh. What do these areas have in common? They are “the world’s last repository, which, if not now, may never be seen again,” for they are very likely to disappear due to rapid pollution and development. In Pushkar, a small village in Rajasthan, the biggest camel market in the world is held every year. What the author saw at the market, however, was not an exotic view. What left a greater impression on him were the people, who came to the market as the darkness lifted and morning came on: “The little boy and his grandfather

who sat around a flickering fire, trying to thaw themselves; the baby, flailing its filthy little hands, pestering its mother, only halfawake, for milk; the women who went around staring only at camel buttocks, so that they may collect the feces.” Many people think that remote areas of the world have nothing to do with civilization, and that the people there live in poverty and misery; the author states, however, that “pure, innocent people there live eco-friendly lives, with a sense of pride in their traditions. There, you can experience emotions that could never be felt in pleasant resorts or luxurious hotels.” By Pyo Jeonghun

Retelling the Story of Design Design Caricature Kim Jay-hoon, designhouse 2010, 271p, ISBN 9788970415420

The subtitle of the book is “A Pleasant Trip into the World of 20th Century Design.” The book introduces all kinds of design products that made their appearance in the 20th century, as well as anecdotes about the designers in the form of cartoons and caricatures. Fascinating stories unfold on items such as combat planes, jeans, Burberry coats, Swatch watches, chocolate, typeface, the kitchen, Vespa scooters, Apple’s IT devices, pocket knives, posters, subway maps, pictograms, and candy. Chupa Chups is a lollipop enjoyed by people all over the world. Salvador Dali, the surrealist painter, was the one who designed the packaging for Chupa Chups. Dali, at the request of his friend, a Spanish confectioner, came up with the packaging for the lollipop in the middle of a meal. The confectioner had been playing with the

idea of eating candy using a fork. Chupa Chups was the result of this idea, added upon by Dali’s design. Santa Claus—a potbellied old man in a red coat, with a full white beard—some say that this picture of Santa Claus has been created by a man named Haddon Sundblom for a Coca-Cola ad. Many illustrators, however, such as Thomas Nast, J. C. Leyendecker, and Norman Rockwell, had in the past come up with similar characters. The three illustrators appear in the book, saying, “They didn’t make us old men drink Coke.” Santa Claus, drinking Coke, says, “Why would I drink something cold in this frigid winter? They made me do this for the benefit of the traders. Burp!” Additional works by the author can be viewed on his website, www.kimjayhoon. com. By Pyo Jeonghun

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 61

Reviews Nonfiction

Heart-to-heart Dialogue EBS 60 Minutes Parents: Struggling with Problematic Behavior EBS 60 Minutes Parents’ Production Team, Sigongsa Co., Ltd. 2010, 279p, ISBN 9788952756824

“It takes a village to raise a child,” as t he A f ric a n proverb goe s; howe ver, one need not look so far. In traditional Korean society in which large families lived together under one roof, it took the cooperation of an entire family to raise a child. Things, however, have changed. Nuclear families have long become the basic unit of life, and there is no auxiliary support in the modern family. Parents, then, must raise their children with great love and concern. In a modern society in which childcare is solely the responsibility of the nuclear family, and of the mother, in particular, children still do not grow up on their own. Such changes in society have accounted for the outpouring of books on childcare. EBS 60 Minutes Parents: Struggling with Problematic Behavior is a book on educational programs through which experts examine the various problems in childcare faced by parents, and seek solutions. The book helps parents find solutions to their problems by presenting them with actua l cases of children’s behavior. Most parents, having read book s on childcare, face a predicament. They understand what the books are trying to say, but they don’t know how to apply it to their own children. This is only natural. Children grow up. The behavior that was once problematic may become something normal when they grow older, and vice versa. For instance, parents may think it’s abnormal for children to take

other children’s toys away, or pester their friends. Children in their early childhood, however, are self-centered, and lack the ability to understand and be considerate of others. As they grow older and more aware, they come to understand and follow the code of conduct required in social settings. In some cases, therefore, parents must give children some time, rather than coming to hasty conclusions. Parents often forget, too, that children are all different. A child is an individual being. There is no method of childcare that works for every child. Parents must understand the principles of childcare, of course, but they must also understand the inclinations of their children and act accordingly. The book emphasizes in particular that there is no action without cause, and that problematic parents raise problematic children. Problematic behavior in children, in most cases, arises due to lack of proper development or unstable relationships with parents and the resulting wounds. Thus, if children exhibit problematic behavior, parents must first reflect on themselves. In addition, bad behavior is passed down. A parent’s flaws are bound to show up in their children. If you want to keep your children from watching too much TV, you must first look back and see if you don’t watch TV all day when you’re home. You must not forget that in order to change problematic behavior in your children, you must first show them changes in your own behavior.

The book contains cases and solutions to problematic behavior in children, such as problems relating to others, rebellion and violence, developmental problems, and problems in self-expression, and also focuses on the kind of attitude parents must have while raising children. The book teaches parents and children to grow together. By Han Mihwa

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 63

Reviews Nonfiction

A Little Civility Goes A Long Way Breaking Up Requires Courtesy, Too Kim Sunjoo, Hankyoreh Publishing Co. 2010, 380p, ISBN 9788984313996

Breaking Up Requires Courtesy, Too is the title of a book of columns by Kim Sunjoo, the former editor-in-chief of the Hankyoreh Daily. Ever since she worked for the newspaper, she has gained a following of enthusiastic fans. Even Roh Moo-hyun, the former president, said, “Kim Sunjoo’s words have never failed to move me. Both her heart and her mind have always touched me deeply.” T h e w o rd s o f K i m Su n j o o a s a columnist seem simple and plain, but are right on the mark. Reading her words, we are led to reflect on what it means to live properly. Her words do not rebuke or criticize; rather they make us ponder upon how we, as human beings, may live in courtesy, without shame. The book contains a number of political statements concerning Korea. It also contains remarks on her position as to

No One Can Work Out Alone How the Tough Really Work Out Kang Chang-geun, The Korea Economic Daily & Business Publication Inc. 2010, 248p, ISBN 9788947527569

64 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

Diet and exercise are the religion of the era. People worship those who have succeeded in weight loss, or have become fit through exercise. For most people, however, neither diet nor exercise is easy. Those who have succeeded make you wonder, is there a secret method? How the Tough Really Work Out states that there is: to receive one-on-one guidance from a skilled personal trainer. Self-analysis, accompanied by a thoroughly planned program, exercise, and dieting can lead to fitness and weight loss in a short period of time. The problem is that not everyone can receive personal training. The cost, as well as time, presents obstacles. How the Tough Really Work Out has a clear aim: to enable readers to get the same results from reading the book as they would from receiving instructions from a personal trainer. The author runs an Internet café whose membership consists of 780,000 people, and is currently working as a

what it means to be an ethical journalist, and comments she has made as a radical feminist. Her words of advice on how to age gracefully, and how to live a good life, are especially valuable. Words of wisdom, such as, “When you’re over 50, you must shut your mouth and open your wallet,” and “When you’re old, you must live insignificantly,” can only be said by someone who has experienced life firsthand. It would also be well to ponder upon her playful words regarding the current epidemic of divorce: “Check to see if the fire has really gone out. Growing old together is an art.” The author, who believes that what’s personal is universal, has also penned some personal stories. From time to time, she even reveals her weaknesses without reserve. The shame felt by the author is transmitted to the reader. The reader, then, is led to look back on his or her own life. Who can say what it means to live a truly good life? Yet, her voice, saying we, as humans, should live in civility, resonates in our hearts—for we live shameful lives today. By Han Mihwa

personal trainer. The book is based on his experience as a fitness consultant and on his training know-how. The book presents a program through which readers can choose a method of exercise appropriate for their body types, and reach a goal in 12 weeks, or 100 days. The book also contains expert advice on exercise—for instance, in order to warm up, it’s better to start with dynamic stretching, which raises body temperature, than to start with static stretching; or, if you’re interested in weight loss, you can increase the amount of exercise effectively through circuit training, a combination of aerobics and resistance training. All the methods of exercise introduced in the book can be followed at home, with simple equipment. In addition, the book contains a great array of helpful information concerning diet therapy and weight loss. By Han Mihwa

Reviews Nonfiction

Art for Every Morning Morning Art 1, 2 Savina Lee, Book21 Publishing Group 2009, 384p, ISBN 9788950921538

Savina Lee, director of the Savina Museum, is a storyteller who tells people about art in a way that’s easy to understand and enjoyable. She has written a number of introductory books on art, such as Everything You Want to Know About Art and Femme Fatale, and recently, even a book on art for businessmen, titled A CEO Reading Paintings. With changes in the business environment, the topic of conversation for businessmen has turned to creativity and imagination, and creative management has become the new mission for businesses. An artistic sensibility is required not only of aspiring artists, but of everyone living in this era. Morning Art is a book for those who want to examine works of art as a means to develop creativity and potential power, or for those who have difficulty finding the time to visit a museum or sit down at leisure to read a book on art. The first volume contains works of art that can be enjoyed from January to

Running Like Crazy Hi Crazy: A Backwoods Racer Runs 4,000 Km from the Sahara to the Antarctic Yoo Ji Sung, Chaeksesang, 2010, 295p ISBN 978897013769856

Have you ever seen a marathon held in the desert? In the desert, where you are parched with thirst in suffocating heat, even when standing still, and where you never know when you might lose your way because of sandstorms. With a worldwide increase in the running population since the 1990s, races started being held out in the wild in the mountains and fields. Among such races is the backwoods race, in which participants run out in the wild, including the Sahara Desert, the Gobi Desert, the Atacama Desert, the Antarctic, and the Amazon jungles. The backwoods race is an intense race in which you must run an average of 250 kilometers in a limited amount of time. As of 2010, only 47 people in the world have completed the race in all four deserts. Yoo Ji Sung was the first Korean

to accomplish the Grand Slam of desert races. Hi Crazy is a record of his experience running the 4,000 kilometers between the Sahara Desert and the Antarctic. The Sahara Desert is called the land of death. Yoo, however, went there on purpose to enjoy the race of death. Racers who meet in the desert call each other “crazy.” “Hi, Crazy!” is how they greet each other. The desert race, which lasts for a duration of six days, consists of a 26-km course on the first day, a 36-km course on the second, a 32-km course on the third, a 71-km course on the fourth, a 42.195-km course on the fifth, and a 20-km course on the sixth. Not only that, runners must carry their own provisions in a backpack while they run. The host provides only water—the rest, including fire and meal preparation— must be handled by the racers. Moreover, desert racers are lured by mirages every day. In a desert, something that appears to be right in front of you, in fact, can be quite far away. You may see the finish line and run with all the strength you

June, one for every morning, and the second volume, from July to December. The book is a pocket museum that can be visited every morning. In addition, the book allows readers to kill two birds with one stone, or in other words, allows for art appreciation and self-improvement at the same time, by introducing a series or works that are related one to another. On January 1, Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry: Janvier by the Limbourg brothers is presented to indicate the beginning of a new year. On the next page appears Geumgang Jeondo, a landscape painted by Jeong Seon, an artist of the Joseon era, to express the feelings in his heart as he faced a new year. Turn another page, and Red Fuji, a woodblock print by Hokusai, can be seen. Such a chronological depiction according to themes shows in an effective manner how artists of the East and the West expressed the same theme. Ultimately, the work of the author in depicting art and everyday life together leads readers to experience art in their own lives. By Han Mihwa

have left, but no matter how you run, the line does not seem to grow any closer. If this isn’t a mirage, what is? What you must do in a desert is continue to take one step after another, repeating whatever “the next” mantra is in your mind. Running in a desert must be painful, of course, but the desert scenery, depicted in the book, is spellbinding. By Han Mihwa

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 65

Reviews Nonfiction

Separating the Best from the Rest Be the Origin Kang Shin-Jang, Sam&Parkers Co., Ltd. 2010, 271p, ISBN 9788992647915

“I believe there are two kinds of people in the world. ‘Originals’ and all the rest. The term ‘originals’ describes those who are self-guided to be early movers, change the rules of the game, and create new competitive arenas. In doing so, they seek to shape the world and create their own destinies. ‘All the rest’ refers to those of us who are ferociously struggling against one another within the arena prepared by the ‘originals,’ obliged to follow the rules they have created.” These words were uttered by Mr. Kang Shin-Jang, the architect of Korea's foremost online community for CEOs, SERICEO. Kang refers to himself as a concept creator and longs to be recognized as such. With the publication of his new book, Kang is starting his new role as a knowledge disseminator with a bang, transitioning from his previous role as a knowledge connector. Based on numerous interviews and in-depth studies, this wellorganized and substantive book discusses

Moving Words are Just like Music Art Speech Kim Mi-kyung, Book21 Publishing Group 2010, 327p, ISBN 9788950923846

“Music is a genre of art that pleases the ears of the audience and makes their hearts beat. In that respect, music and speech have a lot in common. With this in mind, I’ve come to develop art speech,” states Kim Mikyung, one of the best-known life coaches and instructors in Korea. Kim, who majored in music in college, is developing a new genre of speech called “art speech,” by applying music to speech. Standing before business leaders, homemakers, and at broadcasting sites of various topics, Kim touches the minds and hearts of people with great power through her speeches. The book contains the process that has led her to where she is today, and 66 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

also her know-how on speech. What enabled Barack Obama, an obscure politician, to be elected as the president of the United States? He had genuine stories of his own that could move the hearts of the audience, and the ability to convey them effectively. Obama brought tears to people’s eyes with episodes of discrimination and prejudices he and his family experienced, and captivated them with the “Yes, we can” slogan, which sounds like music in rondo form. Art speech first requires content that is genuine and moving. Practical strategies for perfecting art speech, such as identifying characteristics of the audience in order to build common consensus, building a frame of speech by using the A-B-A structure, the basic principle in classical composition, capturing the attention of the audience by using the contrast between forte and piano,

methods for gaining inspiration and changing one’s destiny. W hile watching t he 2010 World Cup in South Africa, one could not help but notice the fact that world-class star players were different from the rest of the pack. There are two major differences between soccer stars and mortal players. The first difference is that stars have the ability to move into spaces that cannot be anticipated by opponents. The second difference is that star players have the ability to unpredictably score goals at any time. Star players can snatch the ball away from others by moving just a half-step faster, having a knack for scoring before the opposing defense is mobilized. Utilizing time a nd space in unpredictable ways against opponents (the chapter “Mastery of Time & Space”) is not just limited to the world of soccer, and is of utmost importance in bringing about creative innovation as well. The nine other chapters of the book are titled “Love,” “Pain & Joy,” “Mix,” “Concept,” “Touch,” “Soul,” “Story,” “Slow,” and “Action” each of which is modified by the common adjective, high, and they relate amazing cases of birth and creation. By Richard Hong

and creating a rhythmical speech by using ritardando and accelerando, are introduced in the book as well. By Richard Hong

Writer's Note

The Korean literature events took place in Stockholm, Sweden, from June 14th to 18th, 2010. Yoon Bu-han, head of Strategic Planning Department at the LTI Korea, Lee Yoomi, also from LTI Korea, and novelist Kim Young-ha attended a Korean literature reading in Finland immediately before the event, and traveled to Sweden from there. Novelist Yi Mun-yol and I left for Sweden from Seoul in the morning of the 13th. We unpacked at a bucolic four-star hotel and went down to the lobby to find our interpreter Choi Sun-Kyoung waiting for us in the lobby. I returned to the room after discussing the itinerary with her, and went to bed. I awoke several times. It was the light Swedish summer night, not the jet lag that must be blamed. The forum took place three evenings in a row, starting the next day. The routine was quite simple. First, we got together at a predetermined location. Then, Korean writers and Swedish writers talked about their works. The format in which things were discussed varied slightly from day to day. On the first day, two Korean writers and two Swedish writers read excerpts of their own works and each other’s works. After the reading, the moderator asked a variety of questions about the author’s literary world and the meaning behind the work just read, and the writers answered the questions. On the Korean side, Yi Mun-yol and Kim Youngha were the main participants. On the Swedish side, film producer and novelist Niklas Rödström and the young, provocative writer Lena Andersson were the main participants. Andersson’s book, Duck City, was translated and published in Korea. The moderator was Astrid Trotzig, a promising novelist who is a Korean adoptee. Many Korean expatriates came to the forum. Crowds flocked to see Yi Mun-yol, a testament to his overwhelming popularity. The second day of the forum was quite formal. The Korean a mba ssador in Sweden, Cho Hee-yong, a nd t he Swedish ambassador each took turns saying a few words, and then a few representatives from Swedish publishers spoke on publishing literature in Sweden. All the publishers present had published or were in the process of publishing Korean literature. They expressed their intention to actively promote Korean literature in Sweden, lamented the progressively unfavorable conditions for publishing, and stressed the importance of support from cultural foundations and organizations. Then, a writer with the voice and passion of a very experienced voice actor read excerpts from the Swedish translations of the two Korean writers’ works. As I have often observed, Europeans still use languages with rhythm. Koreans have lost it along the way at some point. When will we revive it? My presentation was simply about the importance of translations in promoting Korean literature around the world and the quality and conditions of translation today. I wanted to do a comparative analysis of Korean literature and Swedish literature, but there wasn’t enough time. You can’t always get what you want. Later that evening, I got everything I wanted at the Korean-Swedish fusion restaurant run by a Korean expatriate. From the first day of the LTI Korea events, Rim Jin Hong from the Swedish Embassy was present and attentive to even the most subtle of details. On the third day, there was a roundtable discussion with Swedish writers. The characteristics unique to Swedish writers can be boiled down to two things. One, there are many poets. It has been observed time and again that poetry declines with the

Korean Literature Events in Sweden Engage Scandinavian Audiences

development of industry, but poets were still alive and well in Sweden. Their situation, however, was no different from Korean poets. There were very few Swedish readers enthusiastic about poetry; government organizations and literary societies were supporting them instead. The Swedish poets, like Korean poets, were printing more books than they could sell, and the small Swedish population did nothing to help the sales. The chair of the writers’ society introduced his book of poems as having a relatively substantial fan base, and confessed that his books sold about 300 copies. Another poet seated nearby chimed in by saying his sold 100 copies. No matter where we go in this world, the assertion that poverty and poetry are friends joined by fate holds. Two, the Swedish Writers’ Society existed for the sole purpose of supporting writers. The first thing that catches one’s eyes when one walks into the Korean Literary Writers’ Society office is the sign that says, “Literature that does not keep the nation in mind is not literature.” But there was no “nation” in Sweden. Pakistanis, Mexicans, and Chinese were all writing in their own languages alongside Anglo writers and calling themselves “Swedish writers.” We gave them an unorganized picture of the history of Korean literature and its conditions today. The northerners seemed very intrigued by the political intervention of the past generation of Korean literature and the popular intervention in this generation. Their ears perked up, and they sometimes lamented on our behalf or asked sympathetically about how the intervention ended. We told them the truth. Transferring in Helsinki, we took a moment to watch the Korean soccer team lose against the Argentineans. It was nice that there were no winners or losers in the competition between Korean and Swedish literature. However, there is no sturdy bridge between us to facilitate free exchange. In the future, Korean literature and Swedish literature will have to continue a closer and profound dialogue. One day, conversations between writers from both countries will move beyond the topic of sales. By Jeong Myeong-kyo * Jeong Myeong-kyo (a.k.a Jeong Gwa-ri) is a Korean literary critic. Currently a professor of Korean language and literature at Yonsei University, he has written Literature, Sleeping and Weaving, The Desire for What We Call Literature, and The Return of the Neanderthal. He has received the Daesan Literary Prize and the Kim Hwan-tae Literary Criticism Award.

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 67

Reviews Nonfiction

Lesson from History’s Leaders Meet History's Leaders Yoo Pil-hwa, Next Wave Publishing Co. 2010, 368p, ISBN 9788990872890

Beyond Superlatives Stories Are Better than Qualifications Kim Jeong-tae, Galleon, 2010, 320p ISBN 9788901106434

The world’s first magnetic levitation train, the world's largest shopping mall, the world’s top seven-star hotel—these can all be found in Dubai, a city of superlatives such as, “world's first,” “world’s largest,” “world’s best,” and so forth. As recently as a year ago, the world was excited about Dubai's success and Dubai was the subject of many case studies. However, in the winter of 2009, news of Dubai’s stock market crash reached our ears. What were the reasons behind Dubai's sudden collapse? The author, who currently works in the United Nations-affiliated UN Governance Center as a public relations officer, believes that Dubai failed because it 68 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

“Wagon wheel makers want everyone to become rich, while coffin makers hope that everyone will die early, but that fact alone is not reason enough to call the former good, and the latter bad. Only the rich can afford to buy wagons, while only the dead need coffins, so the wagon wheel maker and coffin maker are both moved by simple self-interest. The coffin maker is hardly misanthropic, and simply looks forward to profiting from the death of others.” Towards the end of China’s Warring States period, scholar Han Feizi, who synthesized the precepts of Legalist philosophy, realized that humans were originally animals that acted in pursuit of their self-interest. Therefore Han emphasized the supreme importance of mutual understanding in human relations, instructing people to assume that their counterparts would never leave their backs exposed. Likewise, people shouldn’t assume that others won’t betray them, and should

“lacked a compelling story.” Dubai, which boasted of being, “the world’s first,” “world's largest,” and “world’s best,” was doomed to lose these titles as other countries, cities, and companies eventually topped these achievements. “It’s a good story if it’s like the Manila Hotel,” was the answer Ernest Hemingway is said to have given a reporter in response to the question asking what made a good novel. Just what kind of place was the Manila Hotel to earn it such high praise from the eminent Hemingway? Built over a century ago, the Manila Hotel has hosted American President Eisenhower, the Beatles, John Wayne, Robert Kennedy, and many other notables. Although the venerable hotel suffered damage during World War II and bears signs of age, no other hotel can boast such an illustrious history filled with interesting stories. It is this charm that continues to attract travelers to the hotel. This book emphasizes uniqueness (“the only”) over superlatives (such as “the best”) for developing one’s competitive edge necessary for success in these times. Rather than a long list of qualifications, we need to

instead present an attitude that discourages betrayal. This is the highest virtue in Han’s philosophy. As the title implies, Meet History's Leaders introduces 11 famous leaders from history, drawing parallels between their lives, philosophies, and modern management principles. Readers can get to know in detail about Han Feizi, Machiavelli, Admiral Yi Sun Shin, Kazuo Inamori, and other outstanding models of leadership in the East and West. The present era is sometimes referred to as the era of crisis due to society’s lack of direction and the weakening of philosophies and values that have formed the basis of culture. For a time, “servant leadership” was held up as the new paradigm, but nowadays charisma-based leadership has made a comeback. Whereas change and innovation once received exclusive focus, today there are calls to go back to basics. What, then, is the perfect leadership for these times? Through this book, readers will learn that the great leaders in history avoided excessive focus on one thing, instead maintaining balance and moderation, which are the true foundations of the best leadership. By Richard Hong

have compelling stories. This book shares the author’s know-how on the process of how to create such stories. Kim notes, “From the qualifications point of view, failure is a shameful memory, something to be hidden. But viewed from the perspective of our life story, failure can be something we can brag about.” By Richard Hong

Book Lover's Angle

In Praise of Translators Throughout the world, numerous PR teams are actively seeking the best possible brands for their countries and cultures. Both Korea and my own country, the Czech Republic, are no exceptions. But is this really something that can so swiftly and easily be changed as these wizards of spin want? What really makes for a “good branding” of countries, nations, and their people? Is it the economic success of their leading companies and their iconic products in a world now ruled by technology and celebrity, or is it something else? Being somewhat old-fashioned, I still feel that a country’s brand is not determined primarily by the strength of its economy, but by the power of its culture. In the longer term it is a country’s culture that makes it visible. Film, drama, visual arts, music, and literature all play the vital role in promoting a lasting positive image of any country. The first four, due to modern technologies, are now crossing international borders and social boundaries more swiftly than before. Yet with literature, possibly the most influential in the long run, this has not proven that easy. Walking along the bookshelves in any good bookshop, it looks like the winners in this battle for influence and image are English-speaking writers. It is the same in Seoul, Prague, or anywhere else in Africa or Latin America. Very few authors writing in languages other than English have succeeded in creating a really worldwide audience. That is why every country should praise “their” prose and poetry translators. Largely unsung, these professionals are the real ambassadors of their often adopted countries. It is they who spend months or even years trying to interpret the writers´ original intent from one culture to the other. They are really at the forefront of a fight for the knowledge and good image of their countries. Without them, a better understanding of any country would be stifled and incomplete. It is particularly important for “smaller” countries. Not much would be known about Korea in the Czech Republic and vice versa, if it were not for such avid translators. They provide the first direct insights into the cultures and lives of other nations. It was Kim Woo-jin, a famous Korean playwright, who translated the drama R. U. R. by Karel Čapek in 1925. This influential play was one of the first translations of modern Western theatre into Korean and it has undoubtedly influenced ideas of the Czech Republic in Korea. The same happened among Czech readers. Korea remained largely unknown until the 1930s, when the leading Czech translator Zdeněk Vančura found a copy of Grass Roof by Younghill Kang. A high quality translation as well as a captivating book design by Toyen, the leading Czech artist of the time, made this work, and Korea in general, well-known throughout the country. The five editions of Kang´s story put Korea firmly on the cultural map for most Czechs. The success should surely be credited to translators. Increasingly, interest in things Korean allowed the very first Czech Koreanist, Alois Pultr, to convince another publisher to publish in 1947 a Czech translation of the then new Korean novel—Daeha by Kim Nam-cheon. Although it had less of a following than Kang´s story, it was nevertheless a historical moment—the very first modern Korean novel ever translated into any European language. Such exchange between Czech and Korean cultures into the minds of the other would never have happened without the painstaking work of the translators. Sadly their efforts are now almost forgotten. Yet both our countries and their unique cultures need such promoters. Hopefully they are here even now—new generations of Koreanists and Bohemists working at universities in both our countries and elsewhere. We are honored to have such Czech translators as Vladimír Pucek, Miriam Löwensteinová, and Ivana M. Gruberová, who have brought into the Czech language the wonderful works of Ko Un, Han Mal-suk, Kim Sat-gat, or Kim Man-jung to mention but a few. Czech writers such as Karel Čapek, Milan Kundera, Bohumil Hrabal, Jaroslav Seifert, and Václav Havel are indebted to their Korean translators–Kim Kyuchin, Kwon Jae-il, and Kim Kyung-Ock. These, and others not mentioned, are the real heroes of national and cultural promotion. It is they, not the media spin doctors, who should be praised. By Jaroslav Olša, Jr. * Jaroslav Olša, Jr. is the Czech Ambassador to Korea and also an editor, nonfiction writer, and former (now occasional) translator from Polish and English. He studied Asian and African Studies in Prague, Tunis, and Amsterdam. He started the first Czech professional science fiction monthly Ikarie in 1990, has co-edited the only Czech SF encyclopaedia and a couple of genre anthologies. Based on his experience as ambassador to Zimbabwe he wrote History of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi (with O. Hulec) and four books on African art, the latest being Modern Art of Zimbabwe published in Korea in 2010.

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 69

Reviews Children's Books

The Miracle of Growing Up If I Were to Become a Real Tree Kim Jin-cheol, BIR Publishing Co., Ltd. 2010, 36p, ISBN 9788949101620

70 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

It is fascinating to watch children grow. A baby that can barely open his eyes starts to wiggle his hands and feet, move his lips, and suddenly open his eyes. He opens his arms to welcome the sky, touches the ground with his belly, and in the future, finally climbs a mountain. How much love and care go into raising a tender life, from a baby who you can take care of only by kneeling, to a child who you can talk to simply by looking down? Then one day, the child whose mind and body have grown into a big tree stands tall in front of us and we have to look up to see the child’s face. These emotions are strictly from an adult’s point of view that observes a child’s growth. Children are unaware of themselves growing up and they do not understand growth as movement. Have you ever seen a child that says, “It’s amazing that I have grown up so well?” For children, growing up is an earnest desire to achieve and a source of an uncertain future that may or may not come true. It is also a goal that they unconsciously do not want to attain. Growing up entails more and more responsibilities and there is nothing more frightening than responsibility. This picture book shows how a child feels and what he wishes for while watching a tree as it grows. Hoping to grow quickly like a big tree, he imagines what it would be like if he were to become a real tree. He thinks about making a lot of shade,

performing with fireflies, and talking to over 10 million stars for a thousand years. The thoughtful narrator of this picture book confesses that he “would hide the roots deep in the ground so that children running toward the tree to take shelter from the rain would not trip and fall but would not want to disturb the friends under the ground who like it quiet.” Like us, trees do not grow continuously. When it snows, they disappear temporarily under the snow. The trees say goodbye for the time being until the spring haze comes to say hello, although perhaps a family of speckled snakes might find them hidden under the snow. This picture book is the winner of the 2010 Hwanggeum Dokkebi Award hosted by BIR, a publishing company that specializes in children’s books. With vivid drawings on the pages that unfold like a real tree stretching its arms, the author helps children realize their imagination by becoming trees through their hands and eyes. While quite a few winners of children’s book prizes capture a young reader’s attention with experimental techniques, this book touches hearts with its balanced composition and profound symbolism. The panel of judges commented that this book was a “moving work that cloaks the

message of love and consideration within poetic language and colorful composition.” In fact, author Kim Jin-cheol is an artist and writer who has taken part in the KoreaJapan Arts Exchange Exhibition. Through If I Were to Become a Real Tree, children, who cannot observe their own growth, will be deeply touched by the experience of looking at what seems to be their grown-up selves. At the same time, the book encourages children by telling them that growing up is not a vague fear but a process filled with innumerable stories. This book is ideal for children over age four who want to be big, good grown-ups. By Kim Ji-eun

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 71

Reviews Children's Books

A Book-Loving Gorilla The Gorilla that Reads to Others Kim Joo-hyun, Borim Press 2010, 33p, ISBN 9788943307929

A m o n g c h i l d re n’s b o o k s , t h e re a re many stories that have to do with books themselves. The most common are the stories with a main character that does not like to read books. These stories with an obvious educational motive are usually unpopular unless they have a particularly fresh new plot. Some will disagree with the attitude of treating a dislike for reading books as a kind of “disease.” The next most common kind of story has a main character that loves books. There are stories about those who love to read so much that they bury themselves in the library or set out on an adventure into a book. Children tend to be more open to these types of stories. They wonder how the main character can be so absorbed in books, and not computer games. Since a passion for books is an extremely private

joy that one gains through experiencing flights of thought, every story is different. This picture book features a gorilla that loves books so much that he is described as a book addict. Filled with vivid colors and smooth shapes without contours, the illustrations in this book are very attractive. The gorilla laments the fact that there are people in the world who cannot read these wonderful books because of various circumstances. He decides to visit those who have blurry vision, who are ailing or illiterate, and read to them. But the gorilla suffers difficulties because he cries too much and becomes too excited while reading “Little Mermaid” or “Sleeping Beauty” and finally breaks a vase as he practices taekwondo to fight off an evil queen on behalf of a dwarf in a book. Children read about the gorilla’s experiences and are led to question what it is about books that make this gorilla love them so much. Without any boring sermons, The Gorilla that Reads to Others makes young readers want to pick up

a book. The book won an award at the Picture Book Contest organized by Borim Press, which has published several picture books that have received international acclaim. By Kim Ji-eun

Gaining Acceptance by Healing There’s More I Don’t Know Yoon Koo Byeong; Illustrator: Lee Dom Human Children, 2010, 60p ISBN 9788992527316

72 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

There’s More I Don’t Know is a picture book that beautifully illustrates the abstract topics of ecology, peace, and respect for life in a prehistoric age setting. The author is Yoon Koo Byeong, the philosopher and children’s book producer who has long led an educational community in a farming village in an effort to find a new way of living. The book is illustrated by Lee Dom, whose work The Sound of Firecrackers was selected to be displayed at the Bologna Illustrators Exhibition in 1996. The main character Morning Glow is as strong as Little Bear, the strongest boy in the village, as swift as Speedy, the fastest runner in the village, and so smart that he can identify any animal just by looking at its droppings. However, Morning Glow does not like to hunt and enjoys taking care of wounded animals. Because of his dislike of hunting, the main task for survival, he is scolded and disciplined by his father and even rejected by the villagers. One day, Morning Glow is

forced by his father to go hunting, but he ends up observing the animals he meets in the forest and rescuing an animal caught in a trap. He also comes across Swift Tiger, who has fallen after eating a poisonous fruit, and saves his life by finding a healing herb. Through this incident, Morning Glow is finally accepted by his father, who used to regard him as a useless child, and searches for a new way of life for himself that affirms bringing to life rather than killing. This book artfully demonstrates the ideas and values of the author Yoon, who has long adopted ecology and peace as fundamental values and put them into practice in his life as well as in his writing. By Yu Youngjin

Reviews Children's Books

Dreams Do Come True! What’s Your Dream? Park Eun-jung; Illustrator: Kim Jin-hwa Woongjin ThinkBig Co., Ltd., 2010, 40p ISBN 9788901105918

It is not easy to depict a person’s life that is like a mountain range or a river with only a few sentences and 17 drawings. The task becomes even more difficult if that person is an independence activist and Korea’s first female aviator Kwon Ki-ok (1901-1988). However, children’s story writer Park Eun-jung and illustrator Kim Jin-hwa have done a superb job with an affectionate tone and simple threedimensional illustrations. Each scene has six to 10 sentences that are as simple as children’s poetry. The first scene shows how Ki-ok, who was born as the second daughter of four sons and two daughters, was treated at home: “‘What? Another daughter? Not a son?’ My father was angry and called me Gallye. I am my father’s second daughter Ki-ok but Gallye

means ‘go soon,’ that is, ‘die.’ It was really strange that everyone only liked sons.” Can the description of Ki-ok who was neglected because she was a girl be any simpler or more skillfully to the point? The scenes —where her father squanders all his money on gambling, where Ki-ok goes to school thanks to a pastor, and where Ki-ok sees a plane for the first time in her life, a plane that has been f lown in by an American named Smith—are also portrayed charmingly. It’s not only the writing; the monochromatic illustrations are also simple yet unique. By drawing the characters as paper dolls and putting them in a three-dimensional background, the illustrations are full of vitality from start to finish. In addition, by fixing the focus on Ki-ok and blurring the other characters and the background, the illustrations give an impression of watching a play or a movie. The overall structure of the story shows how poor Ki-ok dreams of becoming an aviator after seeing a plane for the first

Taming the Monster Within Fighting Monster Ppulddak Lim Jeong Ja; Illustrator: Kim You-dae Miseghy Children’s Press, 2010, 104p ISBN 9788980712595

Lim Jeong Ja is an author who brings to life the animist thinking that remains in children under 10 and the motifs of old Korean folktales. Fighting Monster Ppulddak is a work that clearly demonstrates these characteristics. One day, a fighting monster appears to Dongsu, the main character, who is frustrated by the world that he feels only holds him down. At first Ppulddak regards Dongsu as its master, but slowly escapes from his control as it begins to capture and devour those Dongsu used to dislike and despise. W h e re d i d t h i s m o n s t e r come from? Ppulddak is a monster created by the anger in Dongsu’s heart. Dongsu draws a monster in his anger, spitting out words: “You’re all bad! I wish you would all disappear!” This drawing becomes the fighting monster Ppulddak that appears before Dongsu and devours an older boy and older woman in the neighborhood as well as his mom and teacher. What should Dongsu do to calm the monster’s rage and to save the people

time and how she realizes that dream while taking part in the independence movement. On the surface, the theme seems to be a human victory. However, Ki-ok’s story tells us the universal truth that “dreams come true.” Young readers will be able to reflect on their own dreams and what they should do to realize those dreams while reading about Kwon Ki-ok. By Oh Yunhyun

he sometimes hates but can’t help love from the monster’s belly? Within every person is a monster. Even a young child has to face the monster inside and fight and tame it. One who cannot tame the monster inside oneself becomes a real monster. The author shows this monster inside the child in a concrete rather than an abstract form. She demonstrates the process of taming the monster through the events that take place before the reader’s eyes. This work addresses the universal issue of growth and maturity that everyone faces. Another joy of reading this work is the discovery of Bulgasari, a mythological creature appearing from old Korean tales, in the image of Ppulddak’s body that grows as it devours things and people, and in the image of King Kong as a huge creature turning the city upside down. By Yu Youngjin

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 73

Reviews Children's Books

I Need a Ruler to Measure the Universe! When the Cat Learned Centimeters for the First Time Kim Sung-hwa and Kweon Su-jin; Illustrator: Noh In-kyung, I-Seum 2010, 124p, ISBN 9788937845758

Though I studied mathematics for 12 years, complex numbers still make my head spin. And what about those units that make numbers look more complicated? I still cannot imagine how far the units of measurement like a yard, a nautical mile, or a cheok are. If this is the case for an adult, how mysterious and difficult would these units of measurement be for children? Fortunately, complicated units of measurement become very easy when we listen to the intelligent, boasting main character Long Tail Mouse in When the Cat Learned Centimeters for the First Time. The secret lies in appropriate metaphors and brief explanations. Long Tail Mouse’s explanation of units of measurement, which begin with the meter, can be summarized as follows: Meters or centimeters did not exist before the 18th century. Instead, the length of the present king’s arm or foot was used

I Hope You’ll Find Your Dream Too Imo’s House of Dreams Jeong Ok; Illustrator: Jung Ji Yun Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. 2010, 227p, ISBN 9788932020570

Parents’ belief that receiving a higher education guarantees stability in life often pushes their children toward fierce competition, so they argue that their actions are justified. Some parents also believe that studying to prepare for the university entrance exam is what learning’s all about. Children answer countless questions at school and at after school private institutes, but they are pressured to compete for better grades without being given a chance to ask where those questions come from. This book criticizes this situation. The main character Jinjin, who has good grades, takes part in a reading camp that is said to offer more intense help for exam 74 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

preparation. She is following her parents’ thorough education plan rather than acting on her own initiative. Contrary to her expectations, however, the camp takes place in the countryside where geese and puppies run around in the yard. The house is full of books, and Imo, the self-professed famed writing teacher for the yearly entrance exam, leaves Jinjin by herself to study and only looks after flowers in the yard. Left alone with a pile of books without a specific schedule, the main character eavesdrops on the conversations between books and enters a world of fantasy. The books interfere with the main character’s life in their own voices; and in one corner of a bookshelf, Jinjin finds the picture book she drew herself when she was six. As she begins to listen to the book’s voice, she realizes how long she has been following the wrong path that is far away from real books. The camp at the House of Dreams becomes an opportunity for Jinjin to think

as the standard unit of length. In 1790, Auguste-Savinien LeBlond, created the unit “meter” for measurement. How about one centimeter then? The meter was divided into a 100 parts, with each part made equal to one centimeter. Yet another problem occurred later. Units to measure very small objects that could not be measured in centimeters or meters or units to measure huge objects like whales were required. The millimeter, which is one tenth of a centimeter, and the kilometer, that is, 1,000 meters, came to be created. The story of the universe is also very easy to read, thanks to easy, interesting explanations and detailed drawings that are like cartoons. Children who are good at arithmetic but weak at numbers with units will find this book very helpful in improving their calculation skills. Don’t be surprised if your children start measuring the height of a desk, the length of a picture book, the height of a horizontal bar, or the circumference of a tree after reading this book. It simply means that they are growing up. By Oh Yunhyun

about dreams of her own rather than the dreams imposed upon her by others that seek success and fame. The discussions comparing printed books and e-books and re-thinking the future of books have been active in recent years. This book goes beyond the physical form—paper or screen—of the book, and questions the proper role of books in our spiritual growth. It is lyrical and also shows outstanding depth. It was awarded the 6th Ma Hae-song Literary Award. By Kim Ji-eun

Steady Sellers

Healing the Scars in a Child’s Heart Yujin and Yujin Lee Geumyi, Prooni Books, Inc., 2004, 288p ISBN 9788957980132

People often liken adolescence to a volcano. It is a time of repeated unexpected eruptions and dormancy. The quiet rage of this time period is preparation for sailing into the enormous abyss of self-reflection. As their bodies and hearts await physical flight, adolescents plan their provocation and eruption. The goal of youth at this age is to become independent from parents and find a space for one’s own thoughts and actions. Parents and schools, however, worry about this natural eruption and flow of teen concerns. They make a great effort

to initiate conversations out of fear that these eruptions may leave deep scars on the young lives or that a temporary misunderstanding of the world around them may solidify in their hearts. Yujin and Yujin is a story about two young girls. They share not only the same name, but also a past hurt that they want to hide. First and foremost, they are both in the same class undergoing the turbulent adolescent years. The two girls want to “smash their heads” and “wish everything were a dream” because of their bodies and hearts’ desire to escape. They cannot look

straight at their reflections maturing in the mirror. Their budding breasts and the start of menstruation are all too strange to acknowledge as something that is happening to them. In their inability to look at themselves in the mirror lies their latent common experience of having been sexually abused in their childhood by their kindergarten director. While the tall Yujin is in the process of overcoming the problem in a healthy way with the support of her parents, the short Yujin suffers from a greater sense of deep-seated self-hatred and shame because of her parents, who try to deny the past. Her physical growth is even arrested because of her repressed feelings. These two girls named Yujin don’t want to see the “other” for the same reason that they don’t want to see the “self ” that was sexually assaulted. They uncover the cause of the emotions that they suffered and explode in pain. The following passage best captures what the author most wants to express in this book: “I didn’t think it was right for you—so young and green—not to be able to remember something that happened to you. You have to know it all and then overcome it. You know what’s a gnarl in a tree? It’s the scar from a wound in the trunk. Even if your heart has to bear a gnarl forever, I thought you should remember everything that happened.” Even if we are no longer in our youth, each day of our lives poses a great fear, like “a box that we don’t want to open.” This is true for everyone. The author’s intent in giving the two main characters the same name signifies that our existence has the same large root in the subconscious, which is a source of comfort. This work has been placed on the recommended reading lists of schools of every level and has had a steady readership since its first publication in 2004. The author Lee Geumyi is a popular author whose works one encounters most frequently on children’s bookshelves starting with Korean elementary school textbooks. In this work as well, the author demonstrates sharp insight into the sexual abuse of children and exceptional literary sensibility that reads the emotional flow of that age. This book was recently selected by Editions Philippe Picquier to be translated into French by Im Yeong-hee, the translator of Cat School. I expect the story of the two girls named Yujin to create quiet empathy in the youth of France and beyond. By Kim Ji-eun

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 75

Meet the Publishers

Hyohyung Publishing Co.

Humanities into Art, Art into Culture, Science into Humanities Established in October 1994, Hyohyung Publishing has made its mark in publishing humanities and art books. It publishes readily understandable and high-quality titles, dispelling the notions that humanities and art books are antiquated and hard to understand. 1 1. Architecture, Hear It Like Music,

and See It Like Art

Hyun Seo, 2007, 334p, ISBN 8958720026

2. Bewitched by Korean Folk Art Lee Kie-Young, Illustrator: Suh Gong-Im 2010, 273p, ISBN 9788958720928 2

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

Hyohyung Publishing is one of Korea’s most important publishers of the humanities and arts. Many of Hyohyung’s bestsellers are hybrids or crossovers of humanities and arts, tradition and modernity, and text and image. Eight Days of King Jeongjo’s Visit to Hwaseong is an excellent example of the Hyohyung style. Jeongjo, the 22nd King of the Joseon dynasty (1752-1800), travelled in a procession from Seoul to Hwaseong (now Suwon) for eight days in commemoration of his late father and in celebration of his mother’s birthday. This book has been widely praised because it draws upon the Uigwe, also known as the Royal Proctocols of the Joseon Dynasty. The Uigwe is a collection of written and illustrated records that meticulously document the ceremonies and customs of the royal family. Uigwe is a registered heritage of the UNESCO Memory of the World Project, and of great artistic as well as historic value, thanks to its lavish color illustrations. The entirety of this artistic achievement is successfully captured in 8 Days of King Jeongjo's Visit to Hwaseong. Hyohyung is also considered to have opened a new dimension in historical books with such works as Yeongjo Married a 15-Year-Old at 66 (2001) and The Artistry of Early Korean Cartography (1999) that effectively combine pictorial and photographic information with text. The company’s expertise can also be seen in its humanities and architecture publications. Architecture, Hear It Like Music, and See It Like Art first published in 1998 and revised in 2007, is a prime example. This book compares architecture to music and art, taking a multifaceted approach that looks at materials, the building process, ideology, and values. It was hailed as the first architecture book in Korea that the general reading public could enjoy. The quality of photography in Hyohyung publications is another factor that sets the company apart. One strong example is Step in Dong-gweol, the House of Chosun (2006) that showcases the palaces of the Joseon dynasty, the epitome of traditional Korean architecture. The subjects of this book are Changdeok-gung and Changgyeong-gung (palaces), where many visitors to Korea come to admire. A renowned photographer of Korean cultural heritage, Kim Dae-byeok, took the photographs in this book. Readers are treated to rich depictions of traditional Ko re a n g a rd e n s t h a t a i m t o c re a t e beauty with the least destruction of the environment.

4 3 5

Hyohyung has also enjoyed great success in history with its seven-volume History Special series. Based on the Korean Broadcasting Services (KBS) documentary program of the same title, this series is a successful example of transforming television content to publishing content. CEO Song Yeong-man says, “I wanted to publish books that were worth reading, but still easily accessible. Up to the mid 1990s the dominant view in Korean publishing was that the humanities and arts were difficult and boring. I wanted to shatter that view, so I tried to find writers who were experts in their areas and good writers at the same time. I am very lucky to have found so many of them.” Judging by the nearly 200 titles in Hyohyung’s list of published works, CEO Song Yeong-man has been successful in creating the company of his dreams. The Hyohyung building in Paju looks like a simple yet dignified gallery of books. This is the workplace of Hyohyung’s editors, or rather book curators, where hybridized forms of the humanities and arts are born. By Pyo Jeonghun

3. The Artistry of Early Korean Cartograpy Han Young-woo, et al 1999, 268p, ISBN 8986361299 4. 8 Days of King Jeongjo’s Visit to Hwaseong Han Young-Woo, 1998, 318p, ISBN 8986361205 5. Yeongjo Married a 15-Year-Old at 66 Shin Byeong-joo, 2001, 292p, ISBN 8986361450 6. Step in Dong-gweol, the House of Chosun Kim Dae-Byeok, 2006, 294p, ISBN 8958720336 7. History Special Series, Vols. 1-7 KBS History Special, 2004, ISBN 8986361892

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 77

Meet the Publishers

SAMTOH Publishing Co., Ltd. A Trove of Essays

From its humble origins as a small monthly magazine featuring stories of hope and inspiration, SAMTOH Publishing has earned its reputation for excellence over the past 30 years. The spirit of SAMTOH, whose Korean meaning is “fountain,” is truly a fountain of culture, leisure, and words from the heart. In April 1970, just as Korea’s economy was starting to take off, a pocket-sized magazine was born in Seoul. This was the monthly SAMTOH, founded upon pure and noble ideals. Its founding motto was simple, yet weighty: “For the Happiness of Ordinary People.” SAMTOH has stayed true to its motto ever since, devoting its pages to stories of everyday triumphs, sorrows, and the small events that make life happy. The stories that run in SAMTOH are always heartwarming and inspiring, regardless of their author’s profession or station. The early pieces by some of Korea’s best writers and essayists, in particular, were more touching than any novel or film. Among such contributors to SAMTOH were essayist Pi Cheon Deuk, Venerable Monk Beop Jeong, Sister Lee Hae In, novelist Choi In-ho, and children’s book writer Chung Chae Bong. In the late 1970s, SAMTOH Publishing Co., Ltd. branched out to book publishing to find a wider readership for its inspiring stories. A steady stream of publications followed, including Standing People, a collection of Monk Beop Jeong’s astute meditations, Karma; Pi Cheon Deuk’s tribute to familial love and happiness, A Bird

78 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

Out of Water; Chung Chae Bong’s lyrical rewriting of Korean myths and legends; and Yellow Handkerchief, an inspiring collection of stories about people who find happiness in everyday life. SAMTOH also released a line of parenting books full of wisdom on childcare and launched Blue Bird Books, a much-praised series of books for children. Ahn Seon-hee, editor-in-chief for the adult publications division, says that, “SAMTOH has never strayed from its founding spirit for the past 30 years.” Keeping up with the times, however, it has expanded to other genres as well as the essay, including literature, arts, humanities, nonfiction, professional, business & management, graphic novels, and children’s books. Over the past 30 years SAMTOH has published over 500 titles. SAMTOH ’s reputation for excellence is such that a much-heard saying is, “read a SAMTOH essay collection if you want to read good Korean,” but Ahn has no intention of slowing down. Recently she and four junior editors sat down to discuss what truly defined the SAMTOH spirit. They reaffirmed that it was to “never be afraid of talking about happiness, giving hope, and sharing joy.” Now she is going a step further by publishing a collection of essays on the meaning of labor, the value of hard work, and the true meaning of success, as well as a collection showcasing the “smartest fools” of Korean society. The recent publication of Monk Beop Jeong’s collected works (nine volumes) marked the start of the project. Nowadays, editor Ahn and her team are on the lookout for young, up-and-coming essayists to carry on the SAMTOH spirit. T h e c h i l d r e n’s b o o k s d i v i s i o n o f SAMTOH , SAMTOH Children, is also busy since publishing its first title in 2004.

T h re e e d i t o r s c o m p o s e t h e entire division, but they handle a spectrum of books as varied as the colors of the rainbow. From autobiographies on people from all over the world (Jeon Hyeong-Pil, art collector, Kim Su-geun, architect, and Choi Ik-hyun, revolutionary) to comic, happy stories (The Married Black Piggy Sundung, Green Horse Byeo-Ri, The Black Egg), the division turns out a wide variety of genres. Educational titles aimed to nurture logical thinking and reasoning (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Prince Has Donkey Ears, Too) and picture books by Korean and international writers (Bluebeard, Little Red Riding Hood) are also prepared with care. SAMTOH’s “Happy Parenting” series (Dibs, The Fetus Is a Genius, To Make My Children Have Good Habits) that enlightens readers on the joys of parenting is another steady seller. This series is a revised and redesigned version of the childcare series published two decades ago, featuring experts vetted by the SAMTOH editing team. Most recently the company published the complete works of the late Chung Chae Bong, one of Korea’s most admired children’s writers, in a nine-volume collection. The hefty collection showcases his lyrical recreations of Korean myths, legends, and traditional arts. Yoon Hee-joung, editor-inchief of children’s literature, says that: “We take the utmost care with children’s books because we know children will be reading them. We always try to create books that children can relate to, that appeal to their imagination and boost their self-esteem.”

By Oh Younhyun

1. The Complete Works of Chung Chae Bong, Vols. 1-17 Chung Chae Bong 2008, ISBN 9788946417342 2. The Flower Trowel Lee Hae In, 2003, 350p, ISBN 8946413964

3. The Blessing of a Morning Flower Shower Jang Young-hee 2010, 312p, ISBN 9788946417762 4. The Miracles in My Past,

The Miracles in My Future

Jang Young-hee 2009, 236p, ISBN 9788946417489

5. Loving, You Become a Star Lee Hae In, 2010, 298p, ISBN 9788946417380

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 79

New Books

Recommended by Publishers Korean editors have handpicked their favorite titles among the collections from their own publishing houses. The following list contains hidden gems in Korea’s publishing industry. For further information, please contact the agents directly.

Fiction

Sympathy for Bok-hee

All the Beautiful Children

Monsters on the Block

100 Shadows

Park Wansuh, Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. 2007, 304p, ISBN 9788932018140

Choi Shi-han, Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. 2008, 203p, ISBN 9788932019352

Lee Ji Wol, Minumsa Publishing Group 2010, 236p, ISBN 9788937483035

Written in the form of a diary, we follow the struggles of a sensitive young soul in a relentlessly overbearing academic environment. The collection has seen 28 printings since its initial publication in 1996. The five interlinked stories of this collection are a beautiful study of the desires and friendship, crushes, loneliness, and general ruminations on the life of young people.

Lee Ji Wol’s part coming-of-age, part martial arts fantasy story is unusual in that it was published without the author garnering any previous accolades for his work. The scenes of private academies, or cram schools, familiar to any student, present or former, are narrated in an exaggerated archaic style reminiscent of martial arts novels, painting a coming-ofage story of unusual freshness and strength.

Hwang Jeong-eun Minumsa Publishing Group 2010, 196p, ISBN 9788997483059

The lens of cold realism held up to everyday life reveals stories of lighthearted laughter, bitter disappointment, and a serene acceptance of the ways of life and death. Flawless writing and a speedy plot present the aging protagonists in an affectionate light. The title story “Sympathy for Bok-hee” was voted Best Novel of the Year in 2006 by 100 writers. Copyright Agent: Kim Phil gyun feel@moonji.com 82-2-338-7224 www.moonji.com

80 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

With just one collection of short stories, Hwang Jeong-eun’s style is already lauded as being singular in the world. This is her first full-length novel that reveals the pain of people living with shadows. As a 40-year-old electronics market in the heart of the city is torn down for redevelopment, the reader is introduced to a cast of characters who made their home in the market. Copyright Agent: Michelle Nam michellemnam@minumsa.com 82-2-515-2000 (Ext. 206) www.minumsa.com

Nonfiction

Jerry

Beop Jeong: A Novel

Our Little God

Kim He Na, Minumsa Publishing Group 2010, 228p, ISBN 9788937483066

Paek Geum-nam, EunhaengNaMu 2010, 320p, ISBN 9788956603407

Ha Eun Kyung, Baram Books 2010, 232p, ISBN 9788990878939

Jerry is a shocking account of desperate people in their 20s. The utter despair and self-hating sex of this “880 thousand won generation” (the Korean equivalent of the 1000euro generation) is magnified more realistically than a documentary, showing a generation for whom hope is less profitable than sex.

The novel depicts the Venerable Beop Jeong presented in novel form. Author Paek Geum-nam spent five years collecting information and interviews to present this vivid portrait of the beloved monk. From his young days when he wished only to possess books to his death at age 79, this book follows the life of non-possession that Beop Jeong led.

This is the story of Yeon-hwa, a young shaman in the late Joseon era who bears first-hand witness to the pain of the people. Their stories are told one by one along with how Yeon-hwa tries to help them, breathing life into the pages of a dark era in Korean history.

Bewitched by Korean Folk Art

Reading China

Yu Jongho, Hyundae Munhak 2009, 356p, ISBN 9788972754312

Lee Kie-Young; Illustrator: Suh Gong-Im Hyohyung Publishing Co. 2010, 276p, ISBN 9788958720928

Geunhyeong Park Myungjin Publications Inc. 2010, 256p, ISBN 9788976777096

One day an eminent scholar discovered the beauty of minhwa, or Korean folk art, and set out to learn more about it with zeal. One of the most comprehensive and profound studies of Korean folk art from the Joseon era, this book examines the beginnings of minhwa, its evolution, and minhwa today, and includes 80 works of contemporary art in the minhwa style.

A cross-genre book on China, Reading China uses the framework of the humanities to examine China’s past, present, and future. The author, a young scholar and writer in his thirties, takes the reader on a tour of Chinese life today and examines its deeper roots, as well as its future, providing valuable insight to gaining a true understanding of the country.

Park Wansuh, Hyundae Munhak 2101, 268p, ISBN 9788972754671

This collection of four years of essays was written by one of Korea’s most renowned writers, the critically acclaimed and universally loved Park Wansuh. With a writing career spanning four decades, the octogenarian author shares her candid thoughts on life and death, as well as gives thanks for those who have always been there for her. Copyright Agent: Youngjung Kim nausicaya@hanmail.net 82-2-516-3770 (Ext. 223) www.hdmh.co.kr

That Winter and Fall This book collects the essays of Yu Jongho, one of Korea’s first literary critics in modern history. His recollections start with the author as a refugee after the Korean War, carrying nothing but a knapsack as he struggles through the bitter cold. The war is reconstructed through a 17-year-old’s point of view as the reader follows his journey from janitor and clerk at the U.S. Forces labor base to his return to school.

The Road Not Traveled Is More Beautiful

How to Teach Your Child Without Yelling Bongik Koh, Hyejeong O Myungjin Publications Inc. 2010, 280p, ISBN 9788976777072

Bongik Koh is known as an education consultant with the most improved performances to his credit. This book is a guide for parents based on case studies handled by TMD, his education consulting agency. From setting goals to drawing up study plans, this book offers practical guidance for students and parents alike. Copyright Agent: Sora Ryu tlsql272@hotmail.com 82-2-326-0026 (Ext.102) www.myungjinbooks.com

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 81

Nonfiction

Insight into Key Words

Humor is the Winner's Secret

Lipstick Economics

Chosun Biz i connected intelligence center Sam & Parkers, Co., Ltd. 2010, 356p, ISBN 9788992674380

Shin Sang Hoon, Sam & Parkers, Co., Ltd. 2010, 272p, ISBN 9788992647830

Economics Education Association Wisdomhouse Publishing Co., Ltd. 2010, 256p, ISBN 9788960862739

Interviews, columns, and stories from the Chosun Ilbo, The Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal were culled for key words on global business affairs and economics collected in this mustread book. Such key words as the Volcker Rule, President Obama’s bid for financial reform, “exit strategies,” “smart grids,” the “Apple shock,” and “frenemies” are discussed in depth. Copyright Agent: Ko A Ra rights@smpk.co.kr 82-2-3140-4670 www.smpk.co.kr

Shin Sang Hoon is a star lecturer at Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI), also known as “the professor who is funnier than a comedian.” Based on 20 years of experience as an impromptu comedian, he gives advice on how to enthrall any crowd. Shin’s humorous advice for any situation, and examples of how humor can be used to turn a difficult situation to one’s advantage, will resonate with all readers. Copyright Agent: Ko A Ra rights@smpk.co.kr 82-2-3140-4670 www.smpk.co.kr

When the economy is shaky, people often begin telling “scary stories.” The harder a recession, the more piqued the public’s interest is in the economy. Most stories are doubtful, and depending on the times and situation, often downright wrong. In this book, the Economics Education Association, a group of young economists, debunks 17 economic myths. Copyright Agent: Kwon Min Kyung ohappyday@wisdomhouse.co.kr 82-31-936-4199 www.wisdomhouse.co.kr

Stay Ahead of Your Dreams and Bravely Face Your Challenges Yoojung Han Wisdomhouse Publishing Co., Ltd. 2010, 288p, ISBN 9788960862654

Yoojung Han realized her dream of becoming the first Korean art director in Hollywood. This book chronicles her rise to become one of the most sought-after art directors in star-studded Tinseltown that should be an inspiration to young people everywhere. Copyright Agent: Kwon Min Kyung ohappyday@wisdomhouse.co.kr 82-31-936-4199 www.wisdomhouse.co.kr

Children's Books

The Woman Who Makes Dolls

Fantastic Cosmetic

Books

Pictures

Kim Young Hee Wisdomhouse Publishing Co., Ltd. 2008, 384p, ISBN 9788959133246

Kim Mi-Kyung, Haksan Publishing Co., Ltd. 2008, 204p, 9788925807959

Chaekbo; Illustrator: Kim Tae-Hyung Ahyun Publishing House 2008, 32p, ISBN 9788958781042

Chaekbo; Illustrator: Jeon Jin-gyeong Ahyun Publishing House 2010, 32p, ISBN 9788958781219

The my First Picture Encyclopedia series relies on images and short, easy text to provide children with their very first encyclopedia. The fifth volume of the series is about books: “You fill your tummy with food when you eat. Did you know your heart and head also need food? Books are food for your heart and your head. Why do your heart and head need books? Let’s find out.”

Pictures, volume 16 of the My First Picture Encyclopedia series, introduces the reader to art and who drew what, where, when, why, and how, as well as pictures that tell stories and pictures that inspired movies and books. “Pictures live in houses, too. If you look at pictures a lot you will become friends. Look with your heart as well as your eyes and you will see more in them.”

Kim Young Hee, the artist who captivated the Korean public in the 1990s and was known as “the woman who makes dolls,” is back. This is her story of losing her husband, devoting herself to her paper art, marrying a German 14 years her junior, moving to Germany with her children, and finally finding happiness as a mother, woman, and artist. Copyright Agent: Kwon Min Kyung ohappyday@wisdomhouse.co.kr 82-31-936-4199 www.wisdomhouse.co.kr

82 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

This is an instructive comic book on applying makeup, covering littleknown facts about makeup not usually discussed in beauty magazines. The author’s expertise is presented with whimsical illustrations. The series is an ongoing strip on the social networking portal Cyworld with more than a million readers. Copyright Agent: Park Jin-A joshua@haksanpub.co.kr 82-2-828-8805 www.haksanpub.co.kr

Athletics

I’m Not Going Home

The Last Event

The Golden Top

Chaekbo; Illustrator: Won Sung-hyun Ahyun Publishing House 2010, 32p, ISBN 9788958781233

Yi Yeonoo; Illustrator: Bae Hyun-jung Baram Books, 2010, 128p ISBN 9788990878557

Yoo Eun Sil; Illustrator: Yang Gyeong-hee Baram Books, 2010, 208p ISBN 9788990878982

Huh Eun-soon; Illustrator: Kim I-jo Hyeonamsa Publishing Co., Ltd. 2010, 40p, ISBN 9788932372693

Athletics, the 18th volume of the My First Picture Encyclopedia series, is all about sports, from games that can be played at home to games that the player needs to go someplace or have special equipment to play. The reader learns why people exercise and about the rules of various games, and that many other people as well as athletes are involved in playing games. They also learn the meaning of physical and mental health.

Yun-jin is a third-grader who dreams of becoming a comic book artist. She hates studying, but has a gift for making up stories. Her mother and teacher, however, are not impressed. Yun-jin’s sister Mi-jin is furious with their mother for forbidding her to play with her best friend, and sad because the friend eventually dumps her. Yun-jin and Mi-jin decide to run away from home to see if their mother really loves them.

The sudden death of the protagonist’s grandfather and the events surrounding his funeral are sometimes humorous, sometimes surprising, and sometimes downright unfair. This book deals with the loss of a loved one, how death means forgiveness, and the sadness of how life goes on even when somebody is gone forever.

The Golden Top is a beautifully illustrated story of a traditional Korean game, spinning tops. Woong-chol has a collection of tops, from a shiny golden top to a wooden top good for spinning, a colorful rainbow-striped top, a heavy steel top, and a funnyshaped bent top. Woong-chol takes his collection outdoors and starts playing tops with his friends.

I Need a Really Strong Little Brother!

Gwang-mo’s Seatmate

Jo Seong-ja; Illustrator: Hwanggeum Hye Sun, Hyeonamsa Publishing Co., Ltd. 2009, 72p, ISBN 9788932372624

This book portrays how only children long for siblings and the jealousy they face when they get them in a sensitive yet realistic manner. The introduction of a foster sibling also reminds the reader of the issues surrounding overseas adoption. Copyright Agent: Hwang Jeong Weon cat@hyeonamsa.com 82-2-365-5051 www.hyeonamsa.com

Lee Hyang-an; Illustrator: Oh Eun-sun Hyeonamsa Publishing Co., Ltd. 2009, 72p, ISBN 9788932372402

Isul cannot believe her best friend Gwang-mo is dead. Really, Isul can actually see him. This book handles the theme of a best friend’s death with great warmth, following the protagonist’s progress from grief to acceptance and healing. Copyright Agent: Hwang Jeong Weon cat@hyeonamsa.com 82-2-365-5051 www.hyeonamsa.com

Teacher Pooped in Her Pants, Too Lee Jihyeon; Illustrator: Cho Wonhyoung I&BOOK, 2010, 64p ISBN 9788992830638

This humorous story comforts children who soil their pants at school. The protagonist is ashamed of having soiled his pants at school, but is comforted that everyone makes mistakes and is reassured that he can keep it from happening again. Author Lee Jihyeon has been recognized for Best Long Story at the MBC Children’s Fiction Awards. Copyright Agent: Jung Ae-young iandbook@naver.com 82-2-2248-1555 www.iandbook.co.kr

Our Amazing Kids! Kim Hyeontae; Illustrator: Choi Jeekyoung I&BOOK, 2010, 112p ISBN 9788992830614

This book warns children about laziness. Lazy children who hate doing anything and are afraid of new challenges will never succeed. The protagonist Woo-joo is a lazy child who slowly but steadily changes for the better, showing how bad habits can be broken and that underachievers can change to actively pursue their dreams. Copyright Agent: Jung Ae-young iandbook@naver.com 82-2-2248-1555 www.iandbook.co.kr

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 83

Children's Books

The Funny Glasses Yoo Jieun; Illustrator: Soon Mee I&BOOK, 2010, 96p ISBN 9788992830652

The Funny Glasses introduces two friends, chatterbox Gyeong-su and stuttering Yoon-su, in a humorous account of how friends cannot understand each other until they have been in each other’s shoes. Yoonsu and Gyeong-su’s conflict and its resolution shows how true friends should understand each other. Author Yoo Jieun has won Best Prize in the MBC Children’s Fiction Awards. Copyright Agent: Jung Ae-young iandbook@naver.com 82-2-2248-1555 www.iandbook.co.kr

The Crying Fool Yoon Gu Byeong; Illustrator: Hong Yeong Woo, Human Children, 2010, 48p ISBN 9788992527309

The Crying Fool is the story of healing hearts, frozen as stiff as stone. The tears of the crying fool make the lame donkey walk again, light the firefly’s light again, and melt the frozen hearts of people so they embrace each other, awash with tears. Yoon Gu Byeong’s crying fool steps out of the page to heal children pushed into competition and hardened before their age, and to soothe the hurt of adults. Copyright Agent: Jeong Da Yee jdy2001@humanistbooks.com 82-70-7842-9401 www.humanistbooks.com

84 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

I Wanted to Photograph Myself Shin Soon Jae; Illustrator: Kim Myungjin Woongjin Think Big Co., Ltd. 2010, 48p, ISBN 9788901104096

This is a biography of photographer Choi Min-sik (born 1928). Choi Minsik is a documentary photographer whose lifelong theme has been humanity. He has focused mostly on the poor and the vulnerable. As we follow Choi Min-sik’s life, we learn about his work and how he became interested in documentary photography. Copyright Agent: Claire Yang Shy07@wjbooks.co.kr 82-2-3670-1168 www.wjbooks.co.kr

I Don’t Want Any Dinner Lee Minhye, Sigongjunior 2009, 40p, ISBN 9788952755148

Mommy has to shout every day, “Eat your lunch!” Her son has made up his mind he is not going to give in today, and appears armed with his toy rifle. The war is on… A lively, imaginative account of how children and their parents struggle over mealtime, with apt descriptions of why children dislike healthy food. Copyright Agent: Min Yu Ree yrmin@sigongsa.com 82-2-2046-2855 www.sigongjunior.com

The Fish of Block’s Barbershop Park Sang Ryool; Illustrator: Lee Youjin Sigongjunior, 2009, 62p ISBN 9788952758576

This book is an autobiographical account with whimsical illustrations of a father and son going to the barbershop. Hoon’s Daddy is taking him to Block’s Barbershop again where his hair will be chopped off the same way it always is, like chopping fish on a block! And his friends will tease him that his hair looks like a shoeshine brush…When will Hoon ever be able to get a haircut by himself? Copyright Agent: Min Yu Ree yrmin@sigongsa.com 82-2-2046-2855 www.sigongjunior.com

Is Earth a Livable Environment?

1% Value Which Makes an Amazing 99%

Kim Jong Ok; Illustrator: Cho Jin Ok Human Children, 2009, 232p ISBN 9788992527262

Seung-Il Yun; Illustrator: In-Seop Shim Myungjin Publications Inc. 2009, 208p, ISBN 9788976776143

This is an environmental ethics handbook that offers diverse topics for debate. Questions like “Are all creatures happy on Earth?” or “What would Earth and human beings look like from an alien’s point of view?” allow children to think about the environment from different perspectives.

This book sheds new light on everyday grumbling and the small details of life that are often overlooked. Children who are envious of those who have something they don’t, who are cowed because of a failing, or who bully other children for their weaknesses are shown that everything in this world has value. Voted “Kyobo Book Centre Book of the Year” in 2009.

The tale of a multicultural family is told from a child’s perspective. Bonbon, a Filipino boy, tells the story of Sujin, a Kopino girl (Korean father and Filipina mother) who has come to live in her mother’s country. Bonbon initially dislikes Sujin, but they finally reunite as they both wait for their fathers to return. The vivid illustrations of the streets of the Philippines and the characters’ expressive faces are a stunning accompaniment.

Waiting for Daddy Jae-In Yun; Illustrator: So-Ae Min, Nurimbo 2009, 32p, ISBN 9788958760948

The Giraffe’s Long, Long Legs

Red and Ripe Tomatoes

Butterflies Flitter, Flutter!

Art Museum Alive!

Kim Yong Ran; Illustrator: Won Seong Hyeon Yeowon Media Korean Gardner Co., Ltd. 2010, 47p, ISBN 9788961103008

Kim Yong Ran; Illustrator: Won Seong Hyeon Yeowon Media Korean Gardner Co., Ltd. 2010, 45p, ISBN 9788961103343

Lee Hui Jeong; Illustrator: Kim Yun Hui Yeowon Media Korean Gardner Co., Ltd. 2010, 51p, ISBN 9788961102971

Mouseion, Agape Publishing Co., Ltd. 2009, 224p, ISBN 9788993524215

TanTan into Nature, a Yeowon Media Korean Gardner series, is the most extensive children’s series on nature in Korea, with 100 volumes covering multiple species of flora and fauna. This is a fun and accessible guide including field activities as well as quizzes and additional material in the form of questions and answers.

TanTan into Nature is a lively nature series featuring vivid photographs that illustrate living subjects perfectly. Tomatoes belongs to the plants and vegetables category of the series. Written in a fun, engaging style that piques curiosity, this is a pleasurable as well as educational read covering such topics as art, history, and fun facts.

TanTan into Nature’s “Insect” series covers 11 insects, from ladybugs to fireflies. Butterflies features breathtaking fold-out photographs of this beautiful insect. Information in the form of questions and answers, as well as quizzes, makes this a fun and easy read for children.

The protagonist of Art Museum Alive! likes playing computer games better than going to school or church or looking after his little brother, but as he starts to experience adventures through the Bible, he learns to love and care for his family and friends better. Foreign rights sold to BIP Publishing, Indonesia.

101 Questions I Need to Ask

The Plant Detective PEA, Find the Offenders in Our Town!

The Artist Van Gogh’s Last Letter

100 Science Facts You Should Learn in Elementary School

Jang Se Hyun, Haksan Publishing Co., Ltd. 2008, 156p, ISBN 97889258248002

Her Soon Bong; Illustrator: Kim Jung Jin YeaRimDang Publishing Co., Ltd. 2009, 264p, ISBN 9788930233064

Ilkwon Hong; Illustrator: Jeh Yun Agape Publishing Co., Ltd., 2001, 264p ISBN 9788993524154

Did God really create the world? Why do I have to close my eyes when I say my prayers? How big was Noah’s ark? This book contains clear answers to 101 theological questions that elementary school students ask. Basic Christianity is explained plainly, so children can find the answers to their questions themselves. This is an excellent guide for parents or teachers with young children. Copyright Agent: Soyeon Lee agapepub@hotmail.com 82-2-522-5148 www.iagape.co.kr

Hwang Kyeong-taek, gilbutschool 2009, 228p, ISBN 9788962221435

Botany meets mystery in this educational comic book. Readers learn botanical facts and information as they follow plant detective PEA in their quest for clues. As they solve the case they learn about nature and respect for life, the importance of friendship, cooperation, and consideration. Copyright Agent: Park Sooseon hyangkie@naver.com 82-2-330-9862 www.gilbutschools.co.kr

Who hasn’t seen the famous paintings, or heard of how he cut off his own ear? This biography looks at Vincent van Gogh and the 10 active years in which he produced his many masterpieces. Written in the first person as if van Gogh were writing a letter, this book promises a more personal reading experience than most biographies. Copyright Agent: Park Jin-A Joshua@haksanpub.co.kr 82-2-828-8805 www.haksanpub.co.kr

Why is it hard to breathe when you run fast? Why do water droplets form on cold glasses? 100 Science Facts uses fun, vivid visuals to explain science facts in an easy way. Experiments that are useful for understanding scientific principles are included, as well as fun facts and trivia. Foreign publication rights sold to Taiwan. Copyright Agent: Claire Ko rights@yearim.kr 82-2-3404-9248 www.yearim.kr

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 85

INDEX Title Original Title Publishers Copyright Agent E-mail Phone Homepage

15p

18p

24p

Said the Picture to Her (Geurimi Geunyeoege) Artbooks Publishing Corp. Son Hee-gyoung artbooks21@naver.com 82-31-955-7974 www.artinlife.co.kr

Crazy Art Made in Korea (KeureijiAteu, Meideu In Koria) Galleon Kim Young Gean soweto7@wjbooks.co.kr 82-2-3670-1138 www.galleonbook.com

Cholatse (Chollache) Prunsoop Publishing Co., Ltd. Lee Jae-Hyun wyah@prunsoop.co.kr 82-31-955-1410 www.prunsoop.co.kr

From Art with Love (Geurime Seumida) Artbooks Publishing Corp. Son Hee-gyoung 82-31-955-7974 artbooks21@naver.com www.artinlife.co.kr

The Wonderful Reality of Korean Art (Hangungmisurui WondeopulRieolliti) Hyunsil Cultural Studies Kim Suki hyunsilbook@paran.com 82-2-393-1125

26p

Picture Perfect Myths (Geurim Gachin Sinhwa) Artbooks Publishing Corp. Son Hee-gyoung 82-31-955-7974 artbooks21@naver.com www.artinlife.co.kr

The Studios of the Korean Contemporary Artists (Yesulgaui Bang) BookSea Publishing Co. Kang Young Seon shmj21@hanmail.net 82-31-955-7470 www.booksea.co.kr

Hearts Ease: Healing Through Art (Geurime, Maeumeul Nota) Alice Son Hee-gyoung 82-31-955-7974 artbooks21@naver.com www.artinlife.co.kr

The Cool Beauty (Seoneulhan Miin) Artbooks Publishing Corp. Son Hee-gyoung 82-31-955-7974 artbooks21@naver.com www.artinlife.co.kr

17p

21p

I Go to the Museum to Study (Naneun Gongbuhareo Bangmulgwan Ganda) Hyohyung Publishing Co. Ahn Young-Chan editor@hyohyung.co.kr 82-31-955-7600 www.hyohyung.co.kr

Onzzogi Hayerin Goes to Paris (Eunjjogi Hayerinui Naega Mannan Pari) designhouse Chang Da-woon cdw@design.co.kr 82-2-2262-7396 www.design.co.kr

Beauty of My Own (Naneun Naegeonni Areumdapda) Hakgojae Kang Sang-hoon hakgojae@gmail.com 82-2-745-1722 www.hakgojae.com

50 Days Around the Museums of Europe (50 Ilganui Yureommisulgwan Cheheom 1, 2) Hakgojae Kang Sang-hoon hakgojae@gmail.com 82-2-745-1722 www.hakgojae.com

Leaning Against an Entasis-style Pillar of Muryangsujeon (Muryangsujeon Baeheullim Gidunge Gidaeseoseo) Hakgojae Kang Sang-hoon hakgojae@gmail.com 82-2-745-1722 www.hakgojae.com Oh Ju-seok’s Korean Aesthetics (Ojuseogui Hangugui Mi Teukgang) Sol Publishing Co. Kim Yun Ju solbook@solbook.co.kr 82-2-332-1526 www.solbook.co.kr

18p I Am Deadly (Naneun Chimyeongjeogida) Artbooks Publishing Corp. Son Hee-gyoung 82-31-955-7974 artbooks21@naver.com www.artinlife.co.kr

86 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

A Real Trip Is When You Get Lost (GireulIreoyaJinjja Yeohaengida) Munhakdongne Publishing Corp. Kim Mijeong mijeong@munhak.com 82-31-955-2662 www.munhak.com Journey to the Soul of Latin by Kim Byoung-jong (Gimbyeongjongui Ratinhwacheopgihaeng) Random House Korea Park Jiyoung jiyoung@randomhousekorea.com 82-2-3466-8907 www.randomhouse.com

24p The Mapmaker (Gosanja) Munhakdongne Publishing Corp. Kim Mijeong mijeong@munhak.com 82-31-955-2662 www.munhak.com

EunGyo (Eungyo) Munhakdongne Publishing Corp. Kim Mijeong mijeong@munhak.com 82-31-955-2662 www.munhak.com

31p There’s A Lot of Shit in Nokcheon (Nokcheoneneun Ttongi Manta) Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. Kim Phil Gyun feel@moonji.com 82-2-338-7224 www.moonji.com Burning Ritual Paper (Soji) Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. Kim Phil Gyun feel@moonji.com 82-2-338-7224 www.moonji.com

40p The Complete Works of Yi Sang 1, Poems (Isang Jeonjip 1) Literature Edition Ppul Ku Kyung Jin mimoku@empal.com 82-2-334-7244 www.wjbooks.co.kr The Complete Works of Yi Sang 2, Fictions (Jeongbon Isang Munhakjeonjip 2) Somyong Publishers Koh Geon Somyong@korea.com 82-2-585-7840 www.somyong.co.kr The Complete Works of Yi Sang 2, Novels (Isang Munhakjeonjip 2) Munhaksasangsa Co., Ltd. munsa@munsa.co.kr 82-2-3401-8540 www.munsa.co.kr

42p Sympathy for Bok-hee (Chinjeolhan Bokhuissi) Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. Kim Phil Gyun feel@moonji.com 82-2-338-7224 www.moonji.com The Loneliness of You (Neomudo Sseulsseulhan Dangsin) Changbi Publishers, Inc. Lee Soonhwa copyright@changbi.com 82-31-955-3369 www.changbi.com/english

43p

58p

64p

71p

De Senectute (NonyeonuiJeulgeoum) Viabook Han Sang Jun hana@viabook.kr 82-2-334-6123

The Eighth Room (Yeodeolbeonjjae Bang) Minumsa Publishing Group Michelle Nam michellenam@minumsa.com 82-2-515-2000 (Ext. 206) www.minumsa.com

How the Tough Really Work Out (Dokhan Geotdeurui Jinjja Undongbeop) The Korea Economic Daily & Business Publication Inc. Ma Hyun Suk ma0707ma@naver.com 82-2-360-4582 www.hankyungbp.com

There's More I Don't Know (Moreuneunge Deo Mana) Human Children Jeong Da Yee jdy2001@humanistbooks.com 82-70-7842-9401 www.humanistbooks.com

44p I Love Thee 1, 2, 3 (Geudaereul Saranghamnida) Munhak Segye-sa KIM, Yo An esop98@hanmail.net 82-2-702-1800 www.msp21.co.kr

I Like Lao-Lao (Raoraoga Joa) Hyundae Munhak Youngjung Kim nausicaya@hanmail.net 82-2-516-3770 (Ext.223) www.hdmh.co.kr

Letting Half Go: the Way to Happiness (Banman Beoryeodo Haengbokhada) Dong A-Ilbo Lim Hyo Jung auruem@donga.com 82-2-361-1035 books.donga.com

59p

45p Aging as a Path of Life (Nonyeone Insaengui Gireul Mutda) Kim Hyun Sook kungree@kungree.com 82-2-734-6591 www.kungree.com

46p Nana at Dawn (Saebyeogui Nana) Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. Kim Phil Gyun feel@moonji.com 82-2-338-7224 www.moonji.com

48p Table for One (1Innyong Siktak) Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. Kim Phil Gyun feel@moonji.com 82-2-338-7224 www.moonji.com The Water (Mul) jaeum&moeum Choi Min Seok xcvmnb@naver.com 82-2-324-2347 www.jamo21.net

57p The Empty House (Binjip) Munhakdongne Publishing Corp. Kim Mijeong mijeong@munhak.com 82-31-955-2662 www.munhak.com Somewhere There’s a Phone Ringing for Me (Eodiseonga Nareul Channeun Jeonhwaberi Ulligo) Munhakdongne Publishing Corp. Kim Mijeong mijeong@munhak.com 82-31-955-2662 www.munhak.com

The Bird (Sae) Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. Kim Phil Gyun feel@moonji.com 82-2-338-7224 www.moonji.com

60p Literature Meets Film (Munhak, Yeongsangeul Mannada) Dolbegae Publishers Cho Sung-woong bono@dolbegae.co.kr 82-31-955-5035 www.dolbegae.co.kr Conflict and Reaction (Chungdolgwa Bandong) Photonet Choi Jae-Gyun chamccol@mphotonet.com 82-2-736-1214 www.mphotonet.com

61p Going to the End of the World (Sesang Kkeut Ojireul Gada) Sam&Parkers, Co., Ltd. Choi Se-Hyun sayhyun@naver.com 82-2-3140-4650 www.smpk.co.kr Design Caricature (Dijain Kaerikeocheo) designhouse Chang Da-woon cdw@design.co.kr 82-2-2262-7396 www.design.co.kr

62p EBS 60 Minutes Parents (EBS 60Bun Bumo) Sigongsa Co., Ltd. Bae KyoungRan elim@sigongsa.com 82-2-2046-2866 www.sigongsa.com

64p Breaking Up Requires Courtesy, Too (Ibyeoredo Yeuiga Piryohada) Hankyoreh Publishing Company Sangjun Park laugher@hanibook.co.kr 82-2-6383-1614 www.hanibook.co.kr

65p Morning Art 1,2 (Achimmisulgwan 1, 2) Book21 Publishing Group Juhee Lee jhlee@book21.co.kr 82-31-955-2702 www.book21.com Hi Crazy (HaiKeureiji) CHAEKSESANG Choi Go Ra suwonsky6@hanmail.net 82-2-3273-1334 www.bkworld.co.kr

73p What’s Your Dream? (Ni Kkumeun Mwoiga) Woongjin ThinkBig Co., Ltd. Claire Yang shy07@wjbooks.co.kr 82-2-3670-1168 www.wjbooks.co.kr Fighting Monster Ppulddak (Ssaumgoemul Ppulttak) Miseghy Children's Press An Ji-hyun daydreame@unibooks.co.kr 82-2-560-0426 www.miseghy.co.kr

74p

Be the Origin (Orijini Doera) Sam&Parkers, Co., Ltd. Kwon Junghee myrobin@smpk.co.kr 82-2-3140-4655 www.smpk.co.kr

When the Cat Learned Centimeters for the First Time (Goyangiga Maen Cheoeumcm Eul Baeudeon Nal) I-Seum Paula Kim heesun2.kim@gmail.com 82-2-3475-3940 www.i-seum.com

Art Speech (Gimmigyeongui Ateu Seupichi) Book21 Publishing Group Jung Young Joo rights21@book21.co.kr 82-31-955-2194 www.book21.com

Imo’s House of Dreams (Imoui Kkumkkuneun Jip) Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. Kim Phil Gyun feel@moonji.com 82-2-338-7224 www.moonji.com

68p

75p

66p

Meet History's Leaders (Yeoksaeseo Rideoreul Mannada) Next Wave Publishing Co. Kim Eun Young key@hbooks.co.kr 82-2-325-4944 (Ext.106) Stories Are Better than Qualifications (Seutoriga Seupegeul Iginda) Galleon Kim Young Joo largo@wjbooks.co.kr 82-2-3670-1132 www.galleonbook.com

70p If I Were to Become a Real Tree (Jinjja Namuga Doendamyeon) BIR Publishing Co., Ltd. Kim Hyo Young lavida97@bir.co.kr 82-2-3443-4318 www.bir.co.kr

71p The Gorilla that Reads to Others (Chaek Ilgeojuneun Gorilla) Borim Press Eom Heejeong omugeng@borimpress.com 82-31-955-3456 www.borimpress.com

Yujin and Yujin (Yujingwa Yujin) Prooni Books, Inc. Choi Hye-ran agency@prooni.com 82-2-581-0334 (Ext.122) www.prooni.com

76p 8 Days of King Jeongjo's Visit to Hwaseong, etc. (Jeongjoui Hwaseonghaengcha Geu 8Il) Hyohyung Publishing Co. Ahn Young-Chan editor@hyohyung.co.kr 82-31-955-7600 www.hyohyung.co.kr

79p The Complete Works of Chung Chae Bong, etc. (Jeongchaebongjeonjip) SAMTOH Publishing Co., Ltd. Hong Mira rights@isamtoh.com 82-2-763-8965 www.isamtoh.com

list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010 87

Afterword

Reading Fiction as Art Albert Thibaudet, a prominent literary critic of NRF1 in its early years, used to distinguish the books that we read for themselves and the ones we read for what they tell us about their time. The same is true for books we read for what they tell us about their country. More often than not, novels and short stories translated from Korean are considered as belonging to the category of books we read more for what they tell us on Korea than for themselves. I derive this statement from what I know of the French situation regarding works of fiction translated from Korean: the people in France who read books from Korea do it mainly out of curiosity, to respond to a quest for exoticism, to picture how those people who live so far in the East happen to feel, think and…live. Is this also the case for books translated in other western languages like English or German? My guess is that things are not much different.2 This implies that those who read translated Korean books are mainly people who have an interest of one sort or another in Korean realia, may it be history, culture, traditions and usages, food, and the like. We would certainly not disregard this pragmatic aspect of literature: a piece of fiction may provide us with data on foreign countries and societies in a highly informative, at the same time effortless, even pleasant, manner. We often learn more about a society, in a more appealing way, from a novel than from a scholarly survey supported by graphs and statistics. When reading L’Invité (The Guest), a major book by Hwang Sok-yong, we come close to the truths (plural intended) expressed by the protagonists about their miserable life during the Korean War in a most lively, emotional and striking way, which no history book is able to render.3 This is allowed by the magic of literature, the road par excellence to get deep into our fellows’ brain. But viewing Korean fiction this way leads to their confinement to the small group of people interested in Korean realia, as expressed by the way booksellers usually arrange books on their shelves: “Books from Japan,” “Books from Korea,” and so forth. Meanwhile translators do not translate fiction from Korea with a view to teach their potential readers about Korean matters; they translate because they assume they are good literary books which deserve to overcome the limits of the language they have been nurtured in. Publishers publish books wherever they come from, provided they feel they are good enough to reach new readers. Is it necessary to mention that L’Invité (like most of the Korean books recently translated into French) is worth being read for itself, and that its right place on the shelves should be not in the corner “Books from Korea” but in the much broader section “Modern Literature?” By Jean-Noël Juttet *Jean-Noël Juttet has, with Choi Mikyung, translated Korean modern fiction (Kim Yu-jong, Hwang Sun-won, Hwang Sok-yong, Lee Seung-woo) into French. They have also translated the classical texts Chunhyang-ga and Byeon Gangsoe-jeon.

1. La Nouvelle Revue Française (Gallimard), established in 1908 2. On the other hand, this is not relevant in Japan and China, historical links and cultural nearness not allowing as much room for exoticism. 3. French translation of The Guest, Paris, Zulma, 2004; pocket ed. Points Seuil, 2010.

88 list_ Books from Korea Vol.9 Autumn 2010

KLTI Grants for Prospective Publishers KLTI Overseas Marketing Grants

KLTI Overseas Publication Grants

Areas of Funding Publication marketing events and advertisements

Applicant Qualifications Any publisher who has signed a contract for the publishing rights of a Korean book. The book should be published by December 2010.

Vol.6 Winter 2009 A Quarterly Magazine for Publishers Vol.6 Winter 2009 A Quarterly Magazine for Publishers

Top Five Questions for Vol.6 Winter 2009 A Quarterly Magazine for Publishers

Vol.6 Winter 2009 A Quarterly Magazine for Publishers

Vol.6 Winter 2009

1. What is list_Books from Korea,forand where can I find it? A Quarterly Magazine Publishers

Vol.6 Winter 2009 A Quarterly Magazine for Publishers

list is a quarterly magazine packed with information about Korean books. Register online at www.list.or.kr to receive a free subscription.

2. Can I get it in English? The printed edition of list is available in English and Chinese. The webzine (www.list.or.kr) is available in English, Chinese, and Korean.

3. What if I want information about Korean books more often? We offer a bi-weekly online newsletter. Simply email list_korea@klti.or.kr to begin receiving your free copy.

Contact: list_korea@klti.or.kr

Vol.9 Autumn 2010

Special Section

Korean Art Publications Connect with Readers Interviews

Novelist Park Bumshin Director Lee Chang-dong The Place

Yi Sang’s “Wings” and the Department Store

ISSN 2005-2790