The RAS Korean Literature Club discussion

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A comprehensive list of books read and discussed by the RAS Korean Literature Club during the year:

2018.

(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in Hangul and author names and info in Hangul; notes on where online to find some of the hard-to-find or otherwise-unpublished material (when applicable); discussion leaders; and, where applicable, other notes (such as author presences or other special events).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).



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. . . . . . . [2018] . . . . . . .
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[January 8, 2018]
- Book: GEUN-WON, AS SUCH
- Author: Paik Ga-huim
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Koreana magazine
- Year of publication: Autumn 2013 (Vol. 27, No. 3)
- Original story info: Title, "Kŭrŏn, Kŭnwŏn" [그런, 근원]; author, Paek Ka-hŭm [Paik Ga-huim] (백가흠, b.1974); published orig. July 2011 in short-story collection (<힌트는 도련님>), Moonji Publishing (문학과지성사).
- GR entry: n/a
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/3sk6ktde (8800 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Patrick Bourgo

- Note: "Puy, Thuy, Whatever," another story from the author's 2011 collection, was translated and published in June 2014 by Asia Publishers (Seoul).

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[February 2018]
(No meeting)

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[March 2018]
(No meeting)

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[April 2018]
(No meeting)

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*** Hiatus and Relaunch ***

Patrick Bourgo left Korea in 2018. He had been leader or co-leader of the RAS-KLC for most of the preceding five years. After the January 2018 session, the Club's meetings were put on hold and a "rethink" and reorganization was undertaken. The late-May 2018 relaunch was associated with the annual RASKB Garden Party.

In May 2018, translator Sophie Bowman came on as temporary leader. Later, Yonjoo Hong then took over as longer-term leader and RASKB President Brother Anthony of Taize was often defacto co-leader.

Brother Anthony in spring 2018 secured an agreement for the Club to use a spacious, well-appointed site in Jongno, Seoul, known as the North Terrace Building (then called North Terrace Cafe). It remains the Club gathering-place as of late 2025.

(For several years prior to the May 2018 relaunch, most RAS Korean Literature Club gatherings had been at the Jongno District Office "little library" [작은도서관]'s assembly-lounge area. In its first year, the club had met in a meeting-room at a building belonging to Inje University near Myeongdong, Seoul.)

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[May 23, 2018]
- Book: THE WHITE BOOK
- Author: Han Kang
- Translator(s): Deborah Smith
- Publisher: Portabello Books
- Year of publication: Nov. 2017
- Original story info: Title, "Hŭin: The Elegy of Whiteness" ["흰: The Elegy of Whiteness," the subtitle, in English, is from the Korean version]; author, Han Kang (한강, b.1970); published orig. May 2016, Nanda Publishing (출판사 난다).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
- Discussion leader(s): Sophie Bowman

- Note 1: In mid-March 2018, The White Book was one of thirteen works "longlisted" for the International Booker Award. It made the second round ("shortlisted"; top 6) in mid-April 2018, but did not win the prize (which was announced May 22, 2018, one day before the Club's meeting).

(The shock awarding of this prize to The Vegetarian two years earlier, May 2016, likely precluded another win by the same author so soon.) Following this second Booker nomination, several larger publishing-houses bought rights to the book and republished it.

- Note 2: The Club read Han Kang works for its Nov 2015, Jan 2025, Feb 2025, and May 2025 sessions.

- Note 3: The May 2018 meeting was the first to use of the North Terrace Building book-cafe basement. This remains the club's meeting-place as of spring 2025 (this writing).

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[June 27, 2018]
- Story: I GO TO THE CONVENIENCE STORE
- Author: Kim Ae-ran
- Translator(s): Sophie Bowman
- Publisher: Koreana magazine
- Year of publication: Winter 2017-18
- Original story info: Story title, "Na-nŭn P'yŏnŭijŏm-e Kanda" [나는 편의점에 간다]; author, Kim Ae-ran (김애란, b.1980); published orig. in author's short-story collection titled "Tallyŏra, Abi" (달려라, 아비), Nov. 2005, Changbi Publishing (창비).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
- Translated version available online? NO -- (Koreana magazine website did not make the back issues available at time of this compilation)
- Discussion leader(s): Sophie Bowman & Yonjoo Hong?

- Note 1: A stage-play of "I Go to the Convenience Store" ran in South Korea in 2018.

- Note 2: The Club discussed another work by Kim Ae-ran at its July 2019 gathering.

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[July 25, 2018]
- Book: THE ACCUSATION: FORBIDDEN STORIES FROM INSIDE NORTH KOREA
- Author: Bandi (alleged pseudonym of a North Korean writer)
- Translator(s): Deborah Smith
- Publisher: Grove Press (New York)
- Year of publication: March 2017
- Original story info: Title, "Kobal" [고발]; author (pseudonym) Pan Ti [Bandi] (반디, allegedly born ca.1950 in North Korea); published orig. May 2014, "Cho Gab-je Dot Com Press" (조갑제닷컴), Seoul; allegedly written 1989-1995 and smuggled out of North Korea in ca. early 2010s.
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
- Discussion leader(s): Yonjoo Hong?

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[August 30, 2018]
- Book: INCURABLE
- Author: Kang Young-sook
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Koreana magazine
- Year of publication: Summer 2018 (Vol. 32, No. 2)
- Original story info: Story title, "Pulch'i" [불치]; author, Kang Yŏng-suk [Kang Young-sook] (강영숙, b.1967; published orig. Aug. 2016 in the author's short-story volume titled "Hoesaengmunhŏn" (회색문헌), Moonji Publishing (문학과지성사).
- GR entry: n/a
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/y5hthrk2 (6600 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Yonjoo Hong & Brother Anthony of Taize?
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[September 27, 2018]
- Book: THE GOOD SON
- Author: Jeong You-jeong
- Translator(s): Kim Chi-young
- Publisher: Penguin Books
- Year of publication: June 2018
- Original story info: Title, "Chong-ŭi Kiwŏn" [종의 기원] (Origin of Species); author, Chŏng Yu-chŏng [Jeong You-jeong] (정유정, b.1966); published orig. May 2016, EunHaeng NaMu Publishing (은행나무).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
- Discussion leader(s): Yonjoo Hong & Brother Anthony of Taize?

- Note 1: The psychological thriller The Good Son was Jeong You-jeong's first-ever translation into English. She had had considerable success in South Korean following a 2007 break-through.

- Note 2: Earlier in 2018, a movie adaptation of a different Jeong You-jeong novel was released: Seven Years of Night (novel: March 2011; movie: March 2018).

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[October 31, 2018]
- Book: THE HOLE
- Author: Hye-Young Pyun
- Translator(s): Sora Kim-Russell
- Publisher: Arcade Publishing (Skyhorse)
- Year of publication: Aug. 2017
- Original story info: Title, "Hol" [홀]; author, P'yŏn Hye-yŏng [Hye-Young Pyun] (편혜영, b.1972); published orig. March 2016, Moonji Publishing (문학과지성사).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
- Discussion leader(s): Yonjoo Hong & Brother Anthony of Taize?

- Note 1: Hye-young Pyun's novel The Hole was awarded the Shirley Jackson Award for best novel "for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic" (July 2017). This following a number of awards from the Korean literary world.

- Note 2: In early 2017, when the contract to publish The Hole in English was secured, the market for Korean-to-English translation fiction was still weak. Despite acclaim, it failed to secure a major publisher. (Skyhorse Publishing, unconnected to the "Big Five" publishers, has a world market-share <0.1%.)

- Note 3: Hole is to be republished in July 2025 by major big-five publisher Penguin [UK].

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[November 29, 2018]
- Book: THE COURT DANCER
- Author: Kyung-sook Shin
- Translator(s): Anton Hur
- Publisher: Pegasus Books (New York)
- Year of publication: Aug. 2018
- Original story info: Title, "Rijin" [리진]; author, Shin Kyŏng-suk [Kyung-sook Shin] (신경숙, b.1963); published orig. May 2007, Munhak-Dongnae Publishing (문학동네).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
- Discussion leader(s): Yonjoo Hong & Brother Anthony of Taize?

- Note 1: Translator Anton Hur was special guest at this session.

- Note 2: In March 2012, Kyung-sook Shin had been awarded the "Man Asian Literary Prize" (a forerunner of the Man-Booker Intl Prize) for a different novel, Please Look After Mom, published in English in April 2011.

- Note 3: From a writeup of the discussion: "We had a very lively discussion about The Court Dancer this evening. The dynamic translation won high praise. The novel did not feel at all "foreign" and flowed most convincingly. The conclusion is truly moving. It remains true that the book is weighted down with excess erudition about the period, as if it were a kind of history textbook, while the inner psychology of the relationship between the French diplomat and the Korean dancer is left starkly underexplored..." (unsigned; likely by Brother Anthony of Taize).

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***Special event: Book launch***
[December 15, 2018]

- Book: THE UNDERGROUND VILLAGE: THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES OF KANG KYEONG-AE
- Author: Kang Kyeong-ae [Kang Kyŏng-ae]
- Translator(s): Anton Hur
- Publisher: Honford Star Press (UK)
- Year of publication: Nov. 2018
- Original story info: Title, "Chiha-ch'on" [지하촌]; author, Kang Kyŏng-ae (강경애, b.1906-1944); story originally written in Manchuria and published in the Chosun Ilbo newspaper (Seoul) in installments between March 12 and April 3, 1936; the Honford Star book published in Nov. 2018 was apparently a translation of the short-story portion a book of a book published in 1999 (Title: "강경애 전집" [Collected Works of Kang Kyŏng-ae], ed., Yi Sang-kyŏng; Somyŏng Publishing [소명출판].)
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
- Discussion leader(s): club hosts, Yonjoo Hong & Brother Anthony of Taize?; with special gusts Anton Hur (translator) and persons connected with Honford Star (publisher).

- Note 1: The Club participated in the book-launch event for Underground Village, held at the same venue as the Club's own gatherings, and formed a bulk of attendance. Club members chatted and mingled for the evening with translator Anton Hur, agent(s) of the publisher, and many other guests. The Club resolved to read and discuss the Underground Village book at the coming (Jan 2019) session.

- Note 2: The Club had previously discussed a story by Kang Kyŏng-ae for its Oct 2015 session.

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The above is for books read and discussed in 2018 only. For earlier years, see:

LIST OF ALL BOOKS READ BY THE CLUB

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