21st Century Literature discussion

This is a thread for general discussion and sharing resources. The discussion thread with spoilers will open tomorrow. Our choice for this month, Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin, serendipitously coincides with the Women in Translation Month.

Here is an interview with the author and the translator, Aneesa Abbas Higgins, sponsored by the Embassy of Switzerland in the UK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WzBc...

And if you are interested in the reviews, here are a couple of interesting ones:
- BOMB magazine:
https://bombmagazine.org/articles/eli...
- The New Statesman:
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/...

Please share if you know of any other sources of interest or have general comments about the book or the author.

Who will be joining us?

I'll be joining! Looking forward to smart people helping me navigate this interesting book :)

I will be joining the discussion. Thank you for posting these resources!

Thanks for this Vesna, I've already read, and very much liked, this one so interested to see what people make of it. Although on balance I think the recent translation The Pachinko Parlour is stronger.

Bretnie, Susan, Alwynne - great to have you on board!

Like Alwynne, I read her most recent The Pachinko Parlour and was very much impressed. I'll finish Winter in Sokcho by tomorrow and it would be interesting to see how this earlier work panned out.

I had put the title on my wishlist, but forgot that it was going to be discussed here, so I went ahead and read it "in a gulp." It makes an interesting counterpoint to The Island of Sea Women, with a sharp contrast in writing style, geography, and character. Looking forward to the discussion.

Hee, both those reviews caught the "bug" of poetic expression in their descriptions. The three-way interview with the author AND the translator was helpful for its insight into both sides of bringing a text to another language. I wished hard that I was bilingual, to catch the differences between French responses and English translations.

I'm going to start reading today and will be joining as well. I look forward to it.

Just finished reading this a few days ago. Looking forward to the discussion.

I read it a couple of years ago. Not sure if I'll manage a reread but I'll try to contribute.

I read a year or so ago but will not be re-reading. I will follow the discussion, though, and chime in if makes sense. I liked the book although quite melancholy.

I read this recently and still have access. I found it a quite unusual read, which I did enjoy. Look forward to all the comments. I'll try to add to the discussion.

It's exciting to see that you'll all be participating in the discussion! Others are welcome to join as well.

Linda, I'm still reading it, but the word 'melancholy' works magic on me! It will be interesting to compare our reactions.

I will be along but probably will only comment late on ambiguites in the novel that I found most entertaining to avoid spoilers. In anticipation, I am interested in how readers perceived the ending.

I will join the discussion. Thanks for doing this.

Welcome to our group discussion, Daniel!

Sam, I've just finished it and I can see why you are interested in our responses to the ending.

I'll open up the discussion thread by tomorrow morning. Look forward to it.

I read this nine months ago. Pleased to say it has still left a lingering impression. That is more than many.

This novel was multi layered. I read it as, among other things, a search for identity for both the protagonists. I also thought that the landscape became a character that stood out vividly in relation to the spare dialogue between the unnamed narrator and the graphic artist.

Daniel wrote: "This novel was multi layered. I read it as, among other things, a search for identity for both the protagonists. I also thought that the landscape became a character that stood out vividly in relation to the spare dialogue between the unnamed narrator and the graphic artist."

Great points, Daniel! I've just created the discussion thread (sorry for a bit of delay):
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Marcus, her The Pachinko Parlour had the same effect on me and I suspect it will be the case with Winter in Sokcho as well.

There are three other short vids by the translator on behalf of the Swiss Book Club: https://youtu.be/6CklQhZoJcE
https://youtu.be/6CklQhZoJcE and https://youtu.be/rELI5Voqog4

Also https://youtu.be/HOqosQE_4TI

Mark wrote: "There are three other short vids by the translator on behalf of the Swiss Book Club: https://youtu.be/6CklQhZoJcE
https://youtu.be/6CklQhZoJcE and https://youtu.be/rELI5Voqog4"

Thank you, Mark. Lovely to hear from from such an eloquent translator. The correct link to part 2 shows on the YT sideline to be here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29GcC...

I've just watched all three segments with the translator. Part 1 is a brief overview of the book, but in part 2 she raises a couple of themes that we didn't talk about - the visual imagery and the idea of perfection in reference to Kerrand and the boyfriend. If you are interested in these aspects, we can take it over in our discussion thread.

We briefly touched upon the communication/language that she highlights in part 3 and, given the prevalence of food, we discussed it extensively, but it's nice to see the translator also covering it in this segment.

I hope everyone got a chance to watch the 4th video related to the above which brings the author into the conversation with host and translator. The author speaks mostly in French but I think this video is valuable in the discussion, especially the last remarks by the translator.

https://youtu.be/0WzBcnA2jCI

Sam wrote: "I hope everyone got a chance to watch the 4th video related to the above which brings the author into the conversation with host and translator. The author speaks mostly in French but I think this ..."

Sam, I linked to this same conversation with the author and translator in my post/comment #1.

This is the video that was already referred to in our discussion, so just to make sure there is no confusion. Glad you found it interesting too.

Vesna wrote: "Sam wrote: "I hope everyone got a chance to watch the 4th video related to the above which brings the author into the conversation with host and translator. The author speaks mostly in French but I..."

I see that now. I did not watch the video thoroughly since it was stuttering and freezing at the time I tried the link and never made it to the end where Higgins explains what liberties she chose in her translation.

Sam wrote: "I see that now. I did not watch the video thoroughly since it was stuttering and freezing at the time I tried the link and never made it to the end where Higgins explains what liberties she chose in her translation."

Yes, that last part about the process of translation is very telling and shows the advantages of translating contemporary fiction when both the author and the translator communicate. When this happens, we can trust that the author still "speaks in her own voice" in a different language, as Dusapin graciously complemented Higgins' rendition. Alas, something we'll never know for sure with the classics.

I just ran across a short radio essay that supplies some background to this novel. :

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/23/119544...