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:

2017.

(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in Hangul and author names and info in Hangul; notes on where online to find some of the hard-to-find or otherwise-unpublished material (when applicable); discussion leaders; and, where applicable, other notes (such as author presences or other special events).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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. . . . . . . [2017] . . . . . . .
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[January 2, 2017]
- Book: THE NIGHT NOBODY RETURNS HOME
- Author: Kim Soom
- Translator(s): Jeon Miseli
- Publisher: Asia Publishers
- Year of publication: June 2014
- Original story info: Title, "Amudo toraoji annŭn pam" [아무도 돌아오지 않는 밤]; author, Kim Sum [Kim Soom] (김숨, b.1974); published orig. Jan 2013 in author's short-story collection titled Kuk-Su (국수), by Changbi Publishers (창비).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
- Discussion leader(s): Patrick Bourgo

- Note: The Club also read a story by Kim Soom for its Jan 2021 session.

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[February 6, 2017]
- Book: SAD CONTRADICTION
- Author: Yang Kon-sik
- Translator(s): Hwang Sun-Ae & Horace Jeffery Hodges
- Publisher: Literature Translation Institute of Korea (KLTI)
- Year of publication: Nov. 2014
- Original story info: Title, "Sŭlp'ŭn Mosun" [슬픈 모순]; author, Yang Kŏnsik (양건식, 1889-1944); published orig. Feb 1918.
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
- Translated version available online? YES, at: https://tinyurl.com/yj8ej3jz (2500 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Patrick Bourgo

- Note: In December 2013, husband-and-wife translators Hwang Sun-ae & Horace Jeffery Hodges (the latter then a professor at Ewha University) were featured in US magazine World Literature Today's "75 Notable Translations of 2013," for their "exciting" translation of The Soil, a 1932 novel by Yi Kwang-su (1892-1950). See: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...).

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[March 6, 2017]
- Book: GUIDE TO SEOUL CAVE
- Author: Kim Mi-wol
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Koreana magazine
- Year of publication: Autumn 2011
- Original story info: Title, "Sŏul tonggul kaidŭ" [서울 동굴 가이드]; author, Kim Mi-wŏl (김미월, b.1977); published orig. May 2007 (as the titular story in a short-story collection by Kim Mi-wol), Moonji Publishing (문학과지성사).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/bdd8vy93 (8500 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Michael Welles

- Note 1: Michael T. Welles (RASKB Librarian), guest host for the session, led a lively gathering. He characterized "Guide to Seoul Cave" as "excellent."

- Note 2: The Club read another work by Kim Mi-wol at its Nov 2016 session.

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[April 3, 2017]
- Book: THAT WOMAN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
- Author: Kim In-Suk
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Koreana magazine
- Year of publication: Autumn 2007 (Vol. 21. No.3)
- Original story info: Title, "Kŭ yŏja-ŭi chasŏjŏn" [그 여자의 자서전]; author, Kim In-suk (김인숙, b.1963); published orig. Aug 2005, Changbi Publishing (창비).
- GR entry: n/a
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/mr3a69k4 (9000 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Patrick Bourgo

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[May 15, 2017]
- Book: IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
- Author: Gu Hyo-seo
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Koreana magazine
- Year of publication: Spring 2017 (Vol. 31, No. 1)
- Original story info: Title, "Hwayang-yŏnhwa" [화양연화]; author, Ku Hyo-sŏ (구효서, b.1958); published orig. Autumn 2011 in literary magazine Munhak-Namu (문학나무); and in book form in Sept 2013 (author's short-story volume "별명의 달인," Munhak-Dongnae Publishing).
- GR entry: n/a
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/3e3vf9f9 (8000 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Patrick Bourgo

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[June 12, 2017]
- Book: THE BATTLE OF DRAGON WITH DRAGON
- Author: Shin Ch’ae-ho
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Literature Translation Institute of Korean (KLTI)
- Year of publication: 2000s?
- Original story info: Title, "Yong-gwa yong-ŭi taegyŏkchŏn" [용과 용의 대격전]; author, Shin Ch'ae-ho (신채호, 1880-1936); published orig. 1929.
- GR entry: n/a (Kor.: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...)
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/5yzy2e89 (7800 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Patrick Bourgo

- Note 1: Shin Ch'ae-ho, involved with the dissident-independence movement outside the Korean Peninsula in the 1920s, is remembered for association with the left-anarchist movement. He clashed with (rightist) Syngman Rhee. In May 1928, shortly after completing "The Battle of Dragon With Dragon," then-48-year-old Shin Ch’ae-ho was arrested by Japanese authorities while in Taiwan for involvement in banned anarchist political activities. He died in prison eight years later (1936).

- Note 2: It has been proposed that North Korean ideologues drew from elements of the life of Shin Chae-ho for their constructed Kim Il Sung mythos.

- Note 3: The Club read and discussed "Battle of Dragon with Dragon" again at its Sept 2022 session.

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[July 3, 2017]
- Book: VARIATIONS ON DARKNESS
- Author: Kim Wŏn-il
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Literature Translation Institute of Korea (KLTI)
- Year of publication: 2010s?
- Original story info: Title, "Ŏdum-ŭi Pyŏnju" [어둠의 변주]; author, Kim Wŏn-il (김원일, b.1942); published orig. Sept 1976 by Hyundae-Munhak literary magazine (현대문학). Unclear when first published in book form, but republished many times in story collections.
- GR entry: n/a
- Translated version available online? YES, at http://anthony.sogang.ac.kr/Variation... (3000 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Patrick Bourgo

- Note: Kim Won-il bio at: https://tinyurl.com/5d7rhhb6. Beginning in the late 1960s, his stories regularly include the word "Darkness" in the title (including his prize-winning breakthrough Soul of Darkness, first published in a literary magazine, Jan. 1973).

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[August 2017]
No meeting.

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[September 4, 2017]
- Book: NAKDONG RIVER
- Author: Cho Myong-Hui
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Literature Translation Institute of Korea (KLTI)
- Year of publication: early 2010s?
- Original story info: Title, "Nakdong-gang" [낙동강]; author, Cho Myŏng-hŭi (조명희, 1894-1938); published orig. July 1927 in a Seoul literary magazine (조선지광, existed 1922-1930).
- GR entry: n/a
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/58zpv98d (3000 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Patrick Bourgo

- Note: Within months of publication of this story, Cho Myong-hui fled Korea/Japan (eventually) for the Soviet Far East. He had been involved in the left-wing political-literary group KAPF.

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*** Special events: In lieu of a regular October 2017 gathering, the club participated in two special poetry events (one with Ko Un; one with Ahn Do-hyun).

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***Special event***
[September 30, 2017]
Ko Un poetry-readings and author-discussion.

The RAS-KLC co-hosted poet Ko Un at the Seoul Global Cultural Center, Myeongdong. Co-host: Asia Publishers. Many RAS Korean Literature Club regulars and friends attended. The occasion was the launch of Asa Publishers' K-Poetry series in late 2017 (it ran through the early 2020s).

-- Longtime poet Ko Un (b.1933) was near the top of his prestige in 2017. In the 2000s and early-mid 2010s, he was thought likeliest to be Korea's first Nobel Prize in Literature laureate.

-- Ko Un's decades of prestige within the literary world was disrupted in spring 2018, six months after this poetry-reading event. A whispering campaign, a flurry of (unproven) rumors, insinuations, innuendos, and "he-said-she-saids" caused his ostracization amid the exuberance of the late-2010s MeToo movement. His defenders say that the motivation was long-held jealousies and that even the accusations were tame by the standards of such things. (The 2018 scandal is interpreted as having eliminated Ko Un as a Nobel Prize contender. Six years later, in 2024, came the shock that the Nobel Prize in Literature would go to Han Kang, many of whose writings were feminist in orientation; the contrast with the villified Ko Un noted by many.)

-- Ko Un's reputation abroad remains strong into the 2020. His name, however, became almost taboo after mid-2018; his profile in Korea dropped to near-zero for some years. Had the event (September 30, 2017) been scheduled for a mere six months later than it was, it is likely it would not have happened.

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***Special event***
[October 14, 2017]

Book launch and author-visit.

- Book: POEMS BY AHN DO-HYUN / 안도현 시선
- Author: Ahn Do-hyun
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Asia Publishers
- Year of publication: Oct. 2017
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
- Discussion leader(s): Brother Anthony of Taize & Barry Welsh

- Note: Poet Ahn Do-hyun joined the event. Venue: Seoul Global Cultural Center at Myeongdong.

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[November 6, 2017]
- Book: BLOOMS OF MOLD
- Author: Ha Seong-nan
- Translator(s): Janet Hong
- Publisher: Azalea, Journal of Korean Literature & Culture (Univ. of Hawaii Press)
- Year of publication: 2007 (Vol. 1)
- Original story info: Title, "Komp'angi Kkot" [곰팡이 꽃]; author, Ha Sŏng-ran [Ha Seong-nan] (하성란, b.1967); published orig. in the author's short-story collection Yŏpchip Yŏja [옆집 여자], Dec. 1999, Changbi Publishing (창비).
- GR entry: Much later than original appearance in English (2007 vs. 2019), the story was published in translation in full-book form, as Flowers of Mold: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
- Discussion leader(s): Patrick Bourgo

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[December 4, 2017]
- Book: MI IN APRIL, SOL IN JULY
- Author: Kim Yeonsu
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Koreana magazine
- Year of publication: Autumn 2017 (Vol. 31, No. 3)
- Original story info: Title, "Sawŏr-ŭi Mi, Ch'irwŏr-ŭi Sol" [사월의 미, 칠월의 솔]; author, Kim Yŏn-su [Kim Yeonsu] (김연수, b.1970); published orig. in Winter 2010-11 issue of a literary journal ("자음과모음"); and in book form (as "사월의 미, 칠월의 솔"), Nov. 2013, Munhak-Dongnae Publishing (문학동네).
- GR entry: (Korean version) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/3krr6kca (6700 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Patrick Bourgo

- Note: The RAS-KLC again read works by Kim Yeonsu for its Sept 2016 and April 2023 sessions.

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The above is for books read and discussed in 2017 only. For earlier years, see:

LIST OF ALL BOOKS READ BY THE CLUB

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