無人知曉的藝術家之淚與宰桐義大利麵

by Sang Young Park, 朴相映, 胡椒筒 (Translator)

我們的確連世界上的渺小一點也不如。不要說成為一個點了，我們根本一無是處。不要說參加坎城電影節了，我連一部像樣的酷兒電影都沒拍出來。我們未能理直氣壯地愛一場，甚至沒有忠於自己的感情。我們完蛋了。我們一事無成。我們無所作為，也不可能有所作為。我們當初就什麼都不是，現在也是如此，永遠都只會是這樣。——〈無人知曉的藝術家之淚與宰桐義大利麵〉

近年作品《在熙，燒酒，我，還有冰箱裡的藍莓與菸》同步改編為電影及影集《大都市的愛情法》後，朴相映成為韓國文壇的熱門話題。事實上朴相映是以文學獎出道的作家，早在二〇一六年便憑藉短篇小說〈尋找芭黎絲．希爾頓〉獲得文學村新人獎，二〇一八年即憑推出的首部小說集《無人知曉的藝術家之淚和宰桐義大利麵》獲得文學村青年作家獎。獲獎當年即被韓國文壇看好：「是一位如彗星般崛起的青年作家，將他傑出的小說才華發揮得淋漓盡致」「我們可以期待這位二十一世紀的未來作家扮演金英夏在二十世紀九〇年代韓國文學中所扮演的角色」「看來他已經準備好以自己的風格寫出第三部和第四部作品了」。此後，他也無畏地以獨特的節奏和幽默的文風將社會問題融入作品，證明了他足以成為拓寬韓國文學邊界和深度的作家。

《無人知曉的藝術家之淚和宰桐義大利麵》收錄七篇短篇小說，聚焦在情感生活，深刻描繪出人性裡面對愛情的掙扎及不知所措。書中七篇故事也出現了「並連式小說」的形式，這個特性貫穿了他一路以來的小說作品。例如讀來如同一位男子情感日記的《在熙，燒酒，我，還有冰箱裡的藍莓與菸》，以及從四個登場人物交集形成如同長篇小說的《信任的模樣》。收錄書中的〈尋找芭黎絲．希爾頓〉與〈釜山國際電影節〉則分別以一對戀人的兩種角度來書寫，前者是男友的角度，後者是女友的角度，讀來相當有趣。

這些故事中的人們，徘徊在酒吧和夜店，飲酒作樂，揮霍生命，面對未來想要擁有幸福卻又害怕承諾與付出。〈中國製偽造藍色小藥丸、齊齊和關於遍地流淌小便的短笑話〉展現了非主流族群面對傳統社會價值觀的扞格與挑戰。朴相映首次獲得文學獎的出道之作〈尋找芭黎絲．希爾頓〉則以一隻走失的博美犬暗喻現代人迷茫失重的情感與生活。〈釜山國際電影節〉寫出網路世代對於社群平台的人設沉迷，詰問情感的道德邊界。同名小說〈無人知曉的藝術家之淚與宰桐義大利麵〉則透過失意導演描繪了年輕一代的逐夢群像。

本書同時呈現朴相映更多元的書寫風格，除了長期以來關注年輕一代的情感及生活面向，也觸及社會底層弱勢族群等寫實面。如〈喬的房間〉直接以應召女郎及性愛錄影切入社會議題。〈哈姆雷特怎麼樣？〉的主人翁是韓國娛樂產業的練習生，追尋夢想卻落空。〈陶瓷〉則聚焦於單親家庭憂傷殘酷的黑暗面。

Genres: Fiction, Queer

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 7, 2018

About the author

Sang Young Park was born in 1988 and studied French at Sungkyunkwan University. He worked as a magazine editor, copywriter, and consultant before debuting as a novelist. The title story of his bestselling short story collection, The Tears of an Unknown Artist, or Zaytun Pasta, was one of Words Without Borders’ most read pieces ever. He is the author of Booker International-longlisted Love in the Big City (translated by Anton Hur). He lives in Seoul.

Reviews

[Mika Suh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my type of novels, but it shows new trends of Korean novels. Gay storys have never been mainstreams in Korea, but many now consider this author's novels represent current 90s born generation's culture. Interesting.

[Hoong · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a serialized web fiction entitled 'Tears Unknow, Artist Zaytum Pasta' in English. It was much shorter than Park's later work, 'Love in the Big City,' but bore the same treatment. It's a story of two college grads who met while deployed to Iraq and later returned back home to Korea. Neither of them was successful in their careers and was living a lower-middle-class life of drinking to the point of drunkenness and lack of self-restraint. It must have been geared at educated and mature gay readers to understand the follies of these anti-heroes. Likely, BL fans who represented straight female teens and women will never find this entertaining. However, it is instructional for educated and mature gay readers to reflect on the fictional and disastrous scenarios in this novella. Compared to 'Love in the Big City,' I find this better narrated as the novel is too long and tedious to read without many stops.
I hope to read another author Park's novella or novel soon as he writes gay-themed fiction, not BL fiction.

[Sunny · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new addition to the Korean language material in my regional library.
A collection of short stories- the one with same book title was most notable.

[Lonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

진짜 재밌다. 근데 그 '유머'가 자학적이고 자멸적이라 진짜 슬프다. 다 읽고 나서 느낀 점은, 사람은 사람이라는 거. 우리 사실 다 똑같은 사람들이라는 거. 도토리 키재기 하면서 교만하고 정죄하고 판단하고 혐오하는 거 좀 그만 했으면 좋겠다.