infobae / May 05, 2018

El boom de la literatura coreana llegó esta tarde a la Feria del Libro de Buenos Aires con una charla sobre los escritores más reconocidos del lejano oriente.   "Los autores coreanos del siglo XX y del siglo XXI tienen la particularidad de que utilizan su literatura para reflejar la realidad de su país", explicó el editor Miguel Balaguer, director junto a Valentina Rebasa del sello Bajo la luna. Esta editorial argentina fundada en 1991 lleva publicados algunos de las obras coreanas más famosas de la actualidad, incluyendo La vegetariana de la novelista Han Kang y Tengo derecho a destruirme del autor Kim Young-ha. ...  

keulmadang / April 19, 2013

La guerre de Corée est la source d’inspiration de nombreux romanciers. Des écrivains comme Park Wan-seo, Park Kyong-ni, Choi In-hoon, Jo Jong-nae, Yi Mun-yol et Kim Won-il, ont choisi la guerre de Corée comme thème principal de leur œuvre.   La guerre de Corée est la source d’inspiration de nombreux romanciers. Des écrivains comme Park Wan-seo, Park Kyong-ni, Choi In-hoon, Jo Jong-nae, Yi Mun-yol et Kim Won-il, ont choisi la guerre de Corée comme thème principal de leur œuvre. Celle-ci a été dépeinte comme « une guerre fratricide tragique », « une guerre de libération nationale » ou « une guerre par procuration entre Etats-Unis et Union Soviétique », selon l’orientation politique de chacun. Pour les écrivains coréens, pourtant, elle n’est pas un souvenir que l’on pourrait simplement représenter par une position politique sûre. Bien que la guerre soit terminée depuis longtemps, son souvenir perdure dans les mémoires.

keulmadang / April 19, 2013

Le vol des mouettes imite l’exil. L’oiseau n’a pas de territoire à lui, il erre, toujours en quête d’ailleurs. Oiseau de mer, il hante les terres, oiseau des ports, il hante les bateaux qui courent l’océan, oiseau qui aime la proximité des hommes, il hante les dépotoirs où les hommes entassent à l’écart leurs déjections et leurs déchets.

The Quartely Conversation / March 16, 2015

Kim Namcheon, Scenes from the Enlightenment (translated by Charles LaShure) Choi In-hun, The Square (translated by Kim Seong-kon) Ch’oe In-ho, Another Man’s City, (translated by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton) Hailji, The Republic of Uzupis, (translated by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton) Park Min-gyu, Pavane for a Dead Princess, (translated by Amber Hyun Jung Kim)   Despite South Korea having the kind of vibrant literary scene you’d expect from a country with one of the highest literacy rates in the world, we’re still not exactly inundated with English translations of South Korean fiction. Given this dearth, Dalkey Archive Press’s Library of Korean Literature series, twenty five titles published in collaboration with the Literary Translation Institute of Korea, was always going to be a welcome endeavor, though there are also niggling doubts: will the books stand on their own merits, or will they require some pre-existing knowledge of Korea to be properly appreciated? Is there some kind of cultural propaganda going on, a desire for “representativeness” that might have skewed the selection process?

Homa & Sekey Books / -

Reflections on a Mask explores the disillusionment and search for identity of a young man in the post-Korean War era.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung / October 15, 2005

Die Literatur Koreas, das sich als Gastland der diesjährigen Frankfurter Buchmesse in zahlreichen Lesungen, Symposien und Kulturveranstaltungen präsentiert, ist eng verbunden mit seiner geopolitischen Lage. Als Halbinsel umfangen vom Reich der Mitte, China, und der aufstrebenden Großmacht Japan, war das "Land der Morgenstille" zugleich Kulturbrücke und Spielball der Mächte.

TERRA / October 20, 2005

Bastante antes que el alemán Gutenberg imprimiera la Biblia en 1455 con letras móviles en planchas metálicas, een la península coreana ya se empleaban placas de madera en las que se colocaban los caracteres chinos. Esta es la afirmación que figura en la introducción de una exposición sobre la historia de la imprenta en este país asiático, que contrasta con los avances hechos hoy por Corea, que ofrece este año, como nación invitada en la Feria del Libro de Fráncfort, la impresión casi instantánea de libros a quien la solicite.

list_Books from Korea / -

Conflicted Souls within a Divided Korea: The Square by Choi In-hun   By Jung Yeo-ul on Nov 02 2014 01:05:25 Vol.3 Spring 2009   The Square Choi In-hun Kim Seong-Kon Dalkey Archive Press 2014 153pp. ISBN 978-1628970678 After the first printing in 1961, this book has sold over ten-thousand copies each year, reaching up to sixty printings. When we talk about Korean history, one horrific event that can never be left out is the Korean War. And the first thing that comes to mind when we think about that terrible war is Choi In-hun’s work, The Square. The open square is not just a symbol of division but an ideological symbol that compresses the discussion of modern Korean history. The crux of The Square, which contrasts North and South Korea through the metaphor of open squares versus secret rooms, is that Korean history is not just a topic to be discussed but a compression of the universal conflicts of modern people. “Back when individuals’ secret rooms and open squares were permeable,” thought the protagonist Lee Myong-jun, “people were at ease. When kings and commoners had only open spaces without secret rooms, the world was at peace. But trouble began when the division opened up between secret rooms and open squares. When people can no longer find open squares to inquire into life, what will they do?"

list_Books from Korea / -

Society & The Imagination: Novels Testify to Their Era   By Jeong Young-hoon on Nov 09 2014 23:16:53 Special Edition 2011 Japanese literary critic Karatani Kojin once talked of the death of modern literature. Although literature used to deal with matters that politicians couldn't handle, he claimed that in the current era, modern literature had given up this role, thereby signaling its own demise. An interesting fact is that Karatani held up Korea as evidence of this decline. In reality, South Korean writers exposed various contradictions facing society, focusing their efforts on portraying the people's difficulties in navigating a paradoxical society. They accomplished many achievements big and small in visualizing these struggles. It is no exaggeration to say that the power of social visualization played a dominant role in the work of Korean writers. Due to this influence, we can see the various detailed facets of life from historical periods portrayed in fiction. On the other hand, to achieve a better understanding of Korean novels, one sometimes has to be informed about the social, political, and historical currents prevalent in Korean history. Choi In-hun's novel The Square covers the period immediately after Korean liberation to the beginning of the armistice ending the Korean War in 1953. The protagonist is Lee Myong-jun, a college student in the South who is persecuted for having a father in the North. He returns home and participates in the Korean War on the side of the North. Lee is captured and after the armistice chooses to live in a third country. On his way to a new land, he flings himself into the sea.