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English
The End of August
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English
Rock Is Thunder
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French
La fabrique d'excuses
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English
Parting After Parting
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Russian
Удар
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English
Invincible and Righteous Outlaw
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Japanese
魔法少女はなぜ世界を救えなかったのか?
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Spanish
La gran tienda de los sueños
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Turkish
7 kedi gözü
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Russian
Ночь пяти псов
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Chinese
最後一人
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English
Walking Practice
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German
Miss Kim weiß Bescheid
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German
Himmel, Wind, Sterne und Poesie
WRITERS & MEDIA
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This project was launched in 2017 with the aim of expanding the foundation for the exchange of Korean literature and globalizing Korean literature by identifying and supporting Korean diaspora literature. LTI Korea has been striving to establish diaspora literature as a valuable asset of world literature through the support for multilingual translation of outstanding works of diaspora literature, production of sourcebooks on the history and current status of diaspora literature, hosting of exchange events between Korean and overseas writers, hosting of essay contests on works of overseas Korean writers, and production of digital contents related to works of diaspora literature.
A bleak and absurd atmosphere pervades the novels of Bora Chung. Her readers will feel a shiver run down their spines when reading her works, among which is Cursed Bunny, a short story collection shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize. These ten stories are seemingly unrelated to each other, yet all are filled with revenge, curses, slaughter and betrayal. In the title story, “Cursed Bunny,” the narrator walks into the darkness after bidding farewell to his grandfather’s spirit who is standing still in the river of time with complete amnesia. “In this twisted world, this darkness is my only solace,” the narrator sighs. The short story “Snare” amplifies human greed and cruelty spreading beyond the main character’s yard in the form of a legend. With a shamanic ending, the writer tells us that the bloodline of greed still continues insidiously within human society. In “Goodbye, My Love,” the common motif of robots attacking humans is renovated with the tricks of love and betrayal between the master and the robot. “The Frozen Finger” tells a story of an eerie car accident in a swamp, where an insidious curse becomes bizarrely tied up with the driver’s memories of her dying, post-death, and living moments, creating a terrifying but intriguing experience. All ten short stories are briefly detached from the real world, and can thus be labelled as surrealism, magical realism, fantasy, science fiction, horror, or fable. However, this detachment is transient, because through these magical, frightening and absurd stories, we can feel the suffocating oppression and conflicts that occur as often as not in society, and witness the vile reality of greed and wealth. The talent to construct these fables stems from the writer’s free and unrestrained creative imagination. Chung, who studied in Europe and received her PhD in the US, teaches Russian literature and science fiction. Her academic and life experiences have given her the ability to “break” literary inertia and spiritual shackles, enabling her works to cross boundaries with ease—boundaries between life and death, human and spirits, humans and other species, and even humans and objects. In some traditions, human life is akin to a long river where life and death are the two banks. The journey of life may be likened to “crossing the river,” that is, the process of going from one bank to the other. However, in Chung’s stories, this process is often broken and the clear boundary between life and death is constantly “crossed.” In “Cursed Bunny,” life is frozen, or recurs as a fixed memory. When the grandfather, who symbolizes death, disappears in the river of time, the two banks disappear altogether, leading to an overwhelming question: “Will the river be in its original state of life without its banks?” In “Reunion,” an old man’s walks through a plaza in Poland unfold into a hauntingly beautiful story between the narrator and her tormented lover. She concludes: “Whether alive or dead, [we are] ghosts of the past.” In “The Head,” the garbage thrown into the toilet forms a blurred human head that often talks to its owner. As time passes, the head develops into a full human form, comes out of the toilet, and replaces its owner after stuffing her into the toilet. In these stories, the familiar boundaries between life and death, human and ghost, human and things blur or disappear, conjuring up the dark and uncanny. Reading this collection is like walking into a pitch dark alley alone, but when you gaze into the darkness amidst this tense silence, you may somehow feel a bit of solace. For only a lonely person can become so profound and deep, and only a lonely gaze so limpid and pure.
A bleak and absurd atmosphere pervades the novels of Bora Chung. Her readers will feel a shiver run down their spines when reading her works, among which is Cursed Bunny, a short story collection shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize. These ten stories are seemingly unrelated to each other, yet all are filled with revenge, curses, slaughter and betrayal. In the title story, “Cursed Bunny,” the narrator walks into the darkness after bidding farewell to his grandfather’s spirit who is standing still in the river of time with complete amnesia. “In this twisted world, this darkness is my only solace,” the narrator sighs. The short story “Snare” amplifies human greed and cruelty spreading beyond the main character’s yard in the form of a legend. With a shamanic ending, the writer tells us that the bloodline of greed still continues insidiously within human society. In “Goodbye, My Love,” the common motif of robots attacking humans is renovated with the tricks of love and betrayal between the master and the robot. “The Frozen Finger” tells a story of an eerie car accident in a swamp, where an insidious curse becomes bizarrely tied up with the driver’s memories of her dying, post-death, and living moments, creating a terrifying but intriguing experience. All ten short stories are briefly detached from the real world, and can thus be labelled as surrealism, magical realism, fantasy, science fiction, horror, or fable. However, this detachment is transient, because through these magical, frightening and absurd stories, we can feel the suffocating oppression and conflicts that occur as often as not in society, and witness the vile reality of greed and wealth. The talent to construct these fables stems from the writer’s free and unrestrained creative imagination. Chung, who studied in Europe and received her PhD in the US, teaches Russian literature and science fiction. Her academic and life experiences have given her the ability to “break” literary inertia and spiritual shackles, enabling her works to cross boundaries with ease—boundaries between life and death, human and spirits, humans and other species, and even humans and objects. In some traditions, human life is akin to a long river where life and death are the two banks. The journey of life may be likened to “crossing the river,” that is, the process of going from one bank to the other. However, in Chung’s stories, this process is often broken and the clear boundary between life and death is constantly “crossed.” In “Cursed Bunny,” life is frozen, or recurs as a fixed memory. When the grandfather, who symbolizes death, disappears in the river of time, the two banks disappear altogether, leading to an overwhelming question: “Will the river be in its original state of life without its banks?” In “Reunion,” an old man’s walks through a plaza in Poland unfold into a hauntingly beautiful story between the narrator and her tormented lover. She concludes: “Whether alive or dead, [we are] ghosts of the past.” In “The Head,” the garbage thrown into the toilet forms a blurred human head that often talks to its owner. As time passes, the head develops into a full human form, comes out of the toilet, and replaces its owner after stuffing her into the toilet. In these stories, the familiar boundaries between life and death, human and ghost, human and things blur or disappear, conjuring up the dark and uncanny. Reading this collection is like walking into a pitch dark alley alone, but when you gaze into the darkness amidst this tense silence, you may somehow feel a bit of solace. For only a lonely person can become so profound and deep, and only a lonely gaze so limpid and pure.
THEMES
+ moreThe Seoul International Writers’ Festival is a literary festival that aims to raise the status of Korean literature on the world stage by allowing overseas readers to enjoy their favorite Korean books. From 2006 to 2022, 295 Korean and foreign writers from 58 countries have gathered to share their thoughts about the world, language, life, and literature, and the relationship between writers and readers. This year’s theme, “Crossing the Bridge of Language,” will undoubtedly bring us more memorable stories. With her short story collection, Spring Light, Jeong Ji A, author of the bestselling novel My Father’s Liberation Diary, makes waves on the social level. Choi Eunyoung’s Shoko’s Smile needs no introduction, while Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park illustrates a new perspective of love from the younger generation. Kim Keum Hee takes inspiration from the ordinary to create extraordinary episodes in her novel, Too Bright Outside for Love, and poet Jin Eun-young writes letters to her readers through her poems. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s read the works of these five authors, and get hyped for this year’s festival! ㅣ La lumière du printemps (Spring Light) [French] *one of the collections from 'Corée des villes, Corée des champs' Author Jeong Ji A Translators Kim Jeong-Yeon, Suzanne SalinasPublisher Decrescenzo ÉditeursYear Published 2019Originally published in Korea by Changbi in 2008 As with the acclaimed My Father’s Liberation Diary from last year, and her first novel, Partisan Daughter, which was published when the author was just twenty-five, Jeong Ji A strikes yet another chord with this story collection that explores lives destroyed by war and ideologies. This collection contains eleven short stories, including “Landscape,” winner of the Lee Hyoseok Literary Award. Through eclectic characters like an elderly person with dementia, a partisan’s wife who withhold her thoughts, a mother and son who grow old together, and two fated people with the same name that meet on a hiking trail, we are shown glimpses of the writer’s affection towards the humankind. ㅣ Shoko’s Smile  [English] Author Choi EunyoungTranslator Sung RyuPublisher Penguin Publishing GroupYear Published 2021Originally Published in Korea by Munhak Dongne in 2016 Comprising of seven stories, Shoko’s Smile was awarded a prize just two months after its publication. Choi Eunyoung has risen quickly to stardom, becoming a writer loved and trusted by many readers. The novel introduces characters like Shoko, an exchange student from Japan, Mrs. Nguyen, a survivor of the Vietnam war, an elderly person and a middle-aged woman who meet during the protests for the Sewol ferry disaster. These stories vividly capture the characters’ progress as they learn to maneuver relationships, and learn how to empathize by putting themselves in the shoes of others.  ㅣ Love in the Big City  [English]  Author Sang Young ParkTranslator Anton HurPublisher Grove PressYear Published 2021Originally published in Korea by Changbi in 2019 Sang Young Park’s novel has been a trending topic after being nominated for the Booker Prize, one of the world’s three top literary awards, and for the International Dublin Literary Award. Strung together by episodes, the book kicks off with the winner of the Young Writer’s Award, “A Bite of Rockfish, Taste the Universe,” and the title episode, “Late Rainy Season Vacation.” Through humor and lighthearted prose, the author delves into the love and heartbreak experienced by a young gay man. While overturning the preconceived idea of a queer narrator, this story deeply contemplates love and loss, and life and death. The title story is currently being adapted into a TV series.  ㅣ We, Day by Day  [English] Author Jin Eun-youngTranslator YoungShil JiPublisher White Pine PressYear Published 2018Originally published in Korea by Moonji in 2008 After studying philosophy to compose better poems and eventually becoming a poet, Jin Eun-young has confessed that philosophy has helped her look at the world with new eyes. Writing poetry is a very personal pursuit, but if poems are written as letters with the belief that someone will read them one day, then the poems of this collection are love letters that will one day reach her readers. The forty-nine poems in this collection create a stark contrast between the pure and delicate language in which they are written and the memories of reckless but passionate days.  ㅣ 大白天的戀愛 (Too Bright Outside for Love)  [Chinese] Author Kim Keum HeeTranslator 杜彦文Publisher 臺灣商務印書館Year Published 2021Originally Published in Korea by Munhak Dongne in 2016 After winning the Shin Dong-yup Prize for Literature with her first collection, Sentimentality Works Only for a Day or Two, the Hyundae Literary Award for the story “Everything About Chess,” and captivating her readers with her collection, Kyeong-ae’s Heart, Kim Keum Hee has won the Young Writers’ award for the title story of Too Hot Outside for Love, her second short story collection. These nine stories are about past memories that are better forgotten, not only because they’re insignificant, but also because they cannot be spoken about. Childhood memories, love stories that ended in painful breakups, and traumas buried in the subconscious reveal hidden truths and summon them to the present. Yoon Hye Suk Yoon Hye Suk started her career with the historical novel The Boys Are Coming. She now has more than thirty publications of fairy tales and YA novels under her belt. She teaches creative writing at Sejong Cyber University and Hankyoreh Cultural Center.