The RAS Korean Literature Club discussion

.
This is a comprehensive list of books read and discussed by the RAS Korean Literature Club during the year:

2024.

(For earlier and later years, see this folder.)

Included is such information as: Author, translator, publisher, year; original titles in Hangul and author names and info in Hangul; notes on where online to find some of the hard-to-find or otherwise-unpublished material (when applicable); discussion leaders; and, where applicable, other notes (such as author presences or other special events).

Add a comment for corrections or additions, as with technical information, anything missing or incorrect.

For general discussion on the literary value, etc., of the books, go to the (General forum).



______________

. . . . . . . [2024] . . . . . . .
______________




______________

[January 11, 2024]
- Book: SEPTEMBER IS A PRAYER FOR THE ESTRANGED
- Author: Kim Byungwoon
- Translator: Paige Aniyah Morris
- Publisher: Literature Translation Institute of Korea (KLTI), Korean Literature Now magazine, Vol. 62 (Winter 2023-24
- Year publication: Dec. 2023
- Original book info: Published in a short-story collection titled "기다릴 때 우리가 하는 말들" (Things we say while waiting); author: Kim Pyŏng-un [Kim Byungwoon] (김병운, b.1986) published orig. Sept. 2022, Minumsa Publishing (민음사).
- GR entry: (Korean ) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
- Translated version available online: YES, at https://tinyurl.com/2x43bbcy (7500 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

- Note: In-person only (no Zoom)

____________

[February 15, 2024]
- Book: WHALE
- Author: Myeong-kwan Cheon
- Translator: Jae Won Chung
- Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press (Illinois, U.S.)
- Year of publication: Nov. 2016
- Original book info: Title, "고래," by Ch'ŏn Myŏng-kwan [Cheon Myeong-kwan] (천명관, b.1964) published orig. Dec. 2004, Munhak-dongnae [문학동네].
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

- Note: Whale was one of the novels selected for the "Great Works in Korean Fiction" series published by Munhak-Dongnae in 2014 (문학동네 한국문학전집).

_____________

[March 14, 2024]
- Book: SUN-I SAMCH'ON (Suni-Samchon)
- Author: Ki-young Hyun
- Translator: uncredited, commissioned by Asia Publishers
- Publisher: Asia Publishers, Seoul ("Modern Korean Literature series" No.3)
- Year of publication: July 2012
- Original book info: Title, "순이삼촌" (lit. Aunt Suni); author, Hyŏn Kiyŏng [Ki-young Hyun] (현기영, b.1941); published Sept. 1978 in literary magazine Changbi ("창작과 비평").
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
- Translated version available online: no
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

- Note: An earlier English-translation of Suni-Samchon, pub. March 2008 by a minor publisher, was criticized for its poor, nonliterary translation. The fresh-effort 2012 translation by Asia Publishers was well received. ("Review of 'Sun-i Samch’on'," Korean Literature in Translation blog, Feb 2014.)

_____________

[April 11, 2024]
- Book: WHEN ADAM OPENS HIS EYES
- Author: Jang Jung-il
- Translators: Sun-Ae Hwang & Horace Jeffery Hodges
- Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press (Illinois), "Library of Korean Literature" series (No.3)
- Year of publication: Nov. 2013
- Original book info: Title, "아담이 눈뜰 때"; author, Chang Chŏng-il [Jang Jung-il] (장정일, b.1962); published orig. 1990, Mihak Publishers (미학사).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

____________

[May 16, 2024]
- Book: THE AGE OF DOUBT
- Author: Pak Kyongni
- Translators: Translated by Sophie Bowman, Anton Hur, Slin Jung, You Jeong Kim, Paige Aniyah Morris, Mattho Mandersloot, Emily Yae Won and Dasom Yang, and "with insightful commentary by Professor Kang Ji Hee."
- Publisher: Honford Star Press (UK)
- Year of publication: Sept. 2022
- Original book info: Title, "불신시대" (Era of Distrust); author: Pak Kyŏng-ri [Pak Kyongni] (박경리, 1926-2008); published orig. May 2021, Moonji Publishing (문학과지성사).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... (and Korean version: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...)
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

- Note: In the 12 years after her death in 2008, Pak Kyongni's short stories had been widely republished, often with government encouragement, but generally as "one-offs" in other collections. This major new set of selected works published in May 2021 gained the attention of Korean-to-English specialist publisher Honford Star, who turned into a tour-de-force of active Kor-to-Eng translators.

____________

[June 13, 2024]
- Book: THE SPECTERS OF ALGERIA
- Author: Hwang Yeo Jung
- Translator: Yewon Jung
- Publisher: Honford Star Press (UK)
- Year of publication: April 2023
- Original book info: Title, "알제리의 유령들" (Algerian ghosts); author: Hwang Yŏchŏng [Hwang Yeo Jung] (황여정, b.1974); published in Dec. 2017 by Munhak-Dongnae Publishing (문학동네).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
- Translated version available online: no
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

- Note 1: Hwang Yeo Jung is a daughter of novelist Hwang Sok-yong (b.1943). In October 2017, Hwang Yeo Jung's Specters of Algeria won a prize for first-time novelists in a contest run by the Munhak-Dongnae organization.

- Note 2: After the June 2024, the Zoom component was discontinued and the KLC returned to an all-in-person gathering.

____________

*** LEADERSHIP CHANGE ***
In late-June 2024, Jenny Byun stepped down as Club leader-coordinator. Jenny Byun had led the club since March 2021 (ca. 3 years, 4 months).

After a few-weeks-long transition period, Seoul literary figure and poet Jeremy Seligson was chosen as interim discussion-leader for August 2024 and then took over full leader.

____________

[July 11, 2024]
- Book: GARUDA (a.k.a. "The Golden Phoenix")
- Author: Yi Mun-Yol
- Translator: Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Literature Translation Institute of Korea (KLTI). Among the places "Garuda" has appeared in English is KLTI's Korean Literature Now quarterly-magazine (No.22, Winter 2013-14 issue). NOTE: only half the story was published in the KLTI's magazine; the full version is available on Brother Anthony's website (see link below).
- Year of publication: 2013?
- Original book info: Title, "Kŭmshijo" (금시조); author, Yi Munyŏl (이문열, b.1948); published in 1983[?] by Dongsuh Publishers (동서문화사).
- GR entry: n/a
- Translated version available online: YES, at https://tinyurl.com/2reccysy (the full, 20,000-word translation)
- Discussion leader(s): Hwang Young

- Note 1: Brother Anthony of Taize, translator of "Garuda," was a special guest at this meeting.

- Note 2: An earlier translation of "Garuda," by Suh Ji-moon (?), was published in 1998. See: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

- Note 3: The KLC read and discussed "Garuda" also at its Dec 2013 meeting.

_____________
.

[August 8, 2024]
- Book: FOR THAT WHICH CANNOT BE RESTORED
- Author: Park Wan-Suh
- Translator: Soobin Kim
- Publisher: Strangers Press (Norwich, UK)
- Year of publication: April 2023
- Original book info: Title, "복원되지 못한 것들을 위하여"; author, Pak Wansŏ (박완서, 1931-2011); published in Jan. 2020 by Moonji Publishing (문학과지성사).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
- Translated version available online: no
- Discussion leader(s): Jeremy Seligson

- Explanation: "For That Which Cannot Be Restored" is a collection of Park Wan-suh (1931-2011)'s selected stories dating mostly to the mid-1970s to late-1980s. There are a few previously unpublished, dating to the late 2000s. The titular story, "For That Which Cannot Be Restored," originally appeared in 1988.

Author note for Park Wan-suh: She may be best known today for her "autobiographical novel" about growing up near Kaesong in the 1930s-40s. That novel was pub. 1992 (as "그 많던 싱아는 누가 다 먹었을까") and appeared in English in 2009 as "Who Ate Up All the Shinga?" (Columbia Univ Press, tr. Yu Young-nan & Stephen Epstein). The novel draws on her rural, mid-1930s-to-mid-1940s childhood and includes accounts of late-1940s Seoul and the Korean War.

(Pak Wan-suh, b.1931, left home in March 1944 to attend school in Seoul. In March 1950, she entered Seoul National University as one of the early women students in the literature department, but never graduated. With the disruption of the war and loss of family members, she married [1953]. She took no further part in literary endeavors until a debut novel in 1970.)

____________

[September 12, 2024]
- Book: THE DALLERGUT DREAM DEPARTMENT STORE
- Author: Lee Mi-ye
- Translator: Sandy Joosun Lee
- Publisher: Hanover Square Press (HarperCollins)
- Year of publication: July 2024
- Original book info: Title, "달러구트 꿈 백화점: 주문하신 꿈은 매진입니다" (Dallergut Dream Department Store: The dreams you ordered are sold out); author, Lee Mi-ye (이미예, b.1990); published in July 2020 by ClayHouse Books (클레이하우스).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
- Translated version available online: no
- Discussion leader(s): Jeremy Seligson

- Note: A sequel, confusingly referred to by the same name ("Dallergut Dream Dept Store 2"), was released in English in Nov 2024.

_____________

[October 10, 2024]
- Book: WELCOME TO THE HYUNAM-DONG BOOKSHOP
- Author: Hwang Bo-Reum
- Translator: Shanna Tan (Singapore)
- Publisher: Bloomsbury
- Year of publication: Feb 2024
- Original book info: Title, "어서 오세요, 휴남동 서점입니다" (Please come in, This is Hyunam-dong Bookshop); author, Hwang Po-rŭm [Hwang Bo-reum] (황보름, b.1980); published orig Jan. 2022, ClayHouse Books (클레이하우스).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
- Discussion leader(s): Jeremy Seligson

____________

[November 21, 2024]
- Book: ALMOND: A NOVEL
- Author: Sohn Won-Pyung
- Translator: Sandy Joosun Lee
- Publisher: HarperVia (HarperCollins)
- Year of publication: May 2020
- Original book info: Title, "아몬드" (Almond); author, Son Wŏnp'yŏng (손원평, b.1979), published March 2017 by Changbi Books (창비).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
- Discussion leader(s): Jeremy Seligson

- Note: The Club also read Almond in March 2021. (See March 2021 entry for a discussion of the novel's place the 2020s-era success of Korean literature-in-translation.)

______________

[December 12, 2024]
- Book: REAL TOADS, IMAGINED GARDEN
- Author: Frank Dax
- Translator: n/a (original in English)
- Publisher: Reflex Press (UK)
- Year of publication: December 2023
- Original book info: n/a
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
- Discussion leader(s): Jeremy Seligson

- Note: Author Frank Dax was special guest at the session. He spoke about his literary influences and other books in the tradition in which he was writing in Real Toads.

__________

.
The above is for books read and discussed in 2024 only. For earlier years, see:

LIST OF ALL BOOKS READ BY THE CLUB

.