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:

2012.

(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in Hangul and author names and info in Hangul; notes on where online to find some of the hard-to-find or otherwise-unpublished material (when applicable); discussion leaders; and, where applicable, other notes (such as author presences or other special events).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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THE R.A.S. KOREAN LITERATURE CLUB (RAS-KLC)'S 2011 FOUNDING AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT

(Essay expanded and moved. --PJ. See: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... ).

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[2012]

Korean Literature Club, book/meeting records and info for 2012

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[January 30, 2012]
- Book: THE NOVELS OF PARK JIWON: TRANSLATIONS OF OVERLOOKED WORLDS
- Author: Park Ji-won (18th century)
- Translator(s): Emmanuel Pastreich
- Year of publication: Jan. 2011
- Original book info: Stories by Chosŏn-era literati Pak Chiwŏn (박지원, 1737-1805).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
- Translated version online: no
- Discussion leader(s): Robert Fouser

- Note 1: FIRST GATHERING. The January 2012 session is believed to be the Club's inaugural regular meeting. At the time, and until about early spring 2013, attendance was limited to RAS members.

- Note 2: ACTIVITIES LEADING UP TO FIRST GATHERING. At the time of compilation of this list, it was believed the book read and discussed at the RAS-KLC's Jan 2012 gathering was Emmanuel Pastreich's 2011 translation of 18th-century Park Jiwon stories. Emmanuel Pastreich had given an RAS talk two weeks earlier (on January 17, 2012). The talk was titled: "Park Jiwon’s Short Stories: How a Yangban Uncovered the World of Ordinary People."

The Club been organized in late 2011; then-first-term RAS President Brother Anthony of Taize announced its formation in late-December 2011. Between late-October and late-December 2011, a number of meetings of a planning and exploratory nature were held. These included discussions at RAS-council meetings (first mentioned by the council: Oct 19?, 2011). It is believed that by December 2011, one or more informal gatherings of persons interested had been held, generally in connection with other RAS activities, but that regular sessions were not held due to end-of-year activities.

The official public launch of the Club, in the new-year 2012, was promoted at the RAS lecture-gathering at Somerset Palace, Seoul, on January 17, 2012 (see above). The members' annual general-meeting was held the same night.

The Jan 30, 2012 inaugural regular-meeting was one week after the "Seollal" Lunar New Year holiday (Lunar New Year's Day: Monday, Jan 23, 2012). With the calendar finally clear of end-of-year and Lunar New Year holiday-gatherings, the Club started with lively activity.

FOUNDING-COMMEMORATION DATE: It has been proposed that the Club's founding, or first gathering, could be tied to the movable date "one week after Lunar New Year." This would make Feb 24, 2026 the opening of the 15th year of activities; and Feb 13, 2027, the 15-year anniversary.

For more on the Club's formation and early history, see the separate essay tied to year 2011: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

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[February 27, 2012]
Meeting held.
(At time of this list's compilation, book unknown.)
- Discussion leader(s): Robert Fouser

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[March 27, 2012]
- Story: MY INNOCENT UNCLE
- Author: Ch'ae Mansik
- Translator(s): Bruce Fulton, Ju-chan Fulton, Kim Chong-un, & Robert Armstrong
- Publisher: Jimoondang & Literature Translation Institute of Korea (KLTI)
- Year of publication: April 2003
- Original book info: Title, "Ch'isuk" (치숙/痴叔); author, Ch'ae Man-sik (채만식, 1902-1950); published orig. March 1938, serialized in the Dong-A Ilbo (동아일보) newspaper at the time.
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
- Translated version online: no
- Discussion leader(s): Robert Fouser

- Note: "My Innocent Uncle" appeared in the "Portable Library of Korean Literature" series, released ca.2001-2006, one of the first major projects undertaken by the (South Korean government-funded) Literature Translation Institute of Korea (KLTI, founded 1996).

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[April 30, 2012]
- Story: SEOUL: 1964, WINTER
- Author: Kim Sŭng-ok
- Translator(s): Marshall Pihl
- Publisher: Hollym
- Year of publication: March 2008
- Original book info: Title, "Sŏul, 1964-nyŏn Kyŏul" (서울, 1964년 겨울); author, Kim Sŭng-ok [Kim Seung-ok] (김승옥, b.1941); published orig. June 1965 issue of literary magazine Sasanggye (사상계).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
- Translated version online: no
- Discussion leader(s): Robert Fouser

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[May 2012 session] [June 4, 2012]

- Story: ANOTHER MAN'S ROOM
- Author: Ch'oe Inho
- Translator(s): Kevin O'Rourke
- Publisher: Columbia University Press, in Modern Korean Fiction: An Anthology
- Year of publication: August 2005
- Original book info: Title, "T'ain-ŭi Pang" (타인의 방 / 他人의 房); author, Ch'oe Inho (최인호, 1945-2013); published orig. Spring 1971 issue of literary magazine Munhak-kwa Chisŏng (문학과지성) and appeared in the author's short-story collection of the same title ("T'ain-ŭi Pang") in 1973, published by Yemungwan Publishing (예문관).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
- Translated version online: no
- Discussion leader(s): Robert Fouser

- Note: "Another Man's Room" was awarded the Hyundae Munhak Literary Award (현대문학상) in 1972 for best short-story.

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[June 25, 2012]
- Story: THE SHAMAN PAINTING
- Author: Kim Tongni
- Translator(s): John Holstein?
- Publisher: Cornell University Press, in A Moment’s Grace: Stories from Korea in Translation
- Year of publication: March 2010
- Original book info: Title, "Munyŏdo" (무녀도); author, Kim Tong- ri (김동리, 1913-1995); published orig. May 1936 issue of weekly magazine Chung-ang (<중앙>; existed, 1933-1936; published by the Chung-Ang Ilbo newspaper [조선중앙일보], Seoul)
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
- Translated version online: no?
- Discussion leader(s): Robert Fouser

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[July 23, 2012]
- Story: THE OLD HATTER
- Author: Yi Munyol
- Translator(s): Suh Ji-moon
- First publisher: Korean Literature Today magazine [existed, 1996-2007?]
- First published: Spring 1999 (Vol. 4, No. 1);
- Book-form publication: Modern Korean Fiction: An Anthology , Bruce Fulton & Youngmin Kwon, eds.; Columbia Univ Press, Aug. 2005 (see also Note 3)
- Original book info: Title, "Sarajin Kŏttŭl-ŭl Wihayŏ" (사라진 것들을 위하여; lit., For things that have disappeared); author, Yi Mun-yŏl [Yi/Lee Munyol] (이문열, b.1948); published orig. Jan 1979, Hankuk Munhak literary magazine (한국문학, founded 1973).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2..., https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
- Translated version online: YES, at https://tinyurl.com/bdtrt7w7 (8400 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Robert Fouser

- Note 1: "The Old Hatter" was the basis for a 1h50m tv-movie which aired in South Korea on KBS in Sept 1981. (Available, as of 2025, at the "옛날티비: KBS Archive" Youtube channel [Korean audio; no subtitles].)

- Note 2: Yi Munyol in 2006 published a nonfiction-commentary book under the same title as his 1979 story but unrelated to it ("사라진 것들을 위하여; lit., For things that have disappeared), on the need to update the study of fiction in schools.

- Note 3: Bruce Fulton again republished "The Old Hatter" in his Penguin Book of Korean Short Stories (2023) in the section titled "Tradition."

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[August 2012]
(no meeting?)

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[September 10, 2012]
- Book: MOTHER'S HITCHING POST (2)
- Author: Park Wan-so
- Translator(s): Kim Miza & Suzanne Crowder Han
- First publisher: Korea Journal
- First published: 1999 (Vol. 39, No. 1 [Spring 1999] & Vol. 39, No. 2 [Summer 1999] issues)
- Book-form publication: Modern Korean Fiction: An Anthology, Bruce Fulton & Youngmin Kwon, eds.; Columbia University Press, August 2005.
- Original book info: Title, "Ŏmma-ŭi Malttuk" (엄마의 말뚝); author, Park Wan-so (박완서, 1931-2011); published orig. 1980-1983 as a serialized set of stories in Munhak Sasang magazine [문학사상] (see note).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
- Translated version online: YES, can be found at Korea Journal website (17,700 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Robert Fouser

- Note: In September 1981, Park Wan-so was awarded the Yi Sang Literary Prize (이상문학상) for "Mother's Hitching Post 2" (the entry in the series later translated into English).

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[October 8, 2012]
- Book: WAYFARER
- Author: Oh Jung Hee
- Translator(s): Bruce Fulton & Ju-chan Fulton
- Publisher: Columbia University Press, in Modern Korean Fiction: An Anthology
- Year of publication: August 2005
- Original book info: Title, "Sullyeja-ŭi Norae" (순례자의 노래) [lit. Pilgrim's song]; author, Oh Chŏng-hŭi (Oh Jung Hee) (오정희, b.1947); published orig. Oct. 1983 issue of literary magazine Munhak-Sasang (문학사상); and in July 1986, in book form, in author's short-story collection "바람의 넋," Moonji Publishing (문학과지성사).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
- Translated version online: no
- Discussion leader(s): Robert Fouser

- Note 1: "Wayfarer" was produced as a television drama that aired on South Korean television in April 1984 (MBC, "Bestseller Theater" series).

- Note 2: In July 2025, Penguin published a collection of Oh Jung Hee's short-stories under the title Chinatown , translated by Bruce & Ju-chan Fulton. The Club later hosted Oh Jung Hee and the Fultons at its November 2025 session and read more Oh Jung Hee selections for its Feb. (?) 2026 session.

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[November 12, 2012]
- Book: GRAY SNOWMAN
- Author: Ch'oe Yun
- Translator(s): Bruce Fulton?
- Publisher: Columbia University Press, in Modern Korean Fiction: An Anthology
- Year of publication: August 2005
- Original book info: Title, "Hoesaeng Nunsaram" (회색 눈사람); author, Ch'oe Yun (최윤 [pen name], b.1953); published orig. Summer 1992 issue of literary magazine Munhak-kwa Sahoe (문학과사회).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
- Translated version online: no
- Discussion leader(s): Robert Fouser

- Note: In 1992, Ch'oe Yun was awarded the Dong-In Literature Award (동인문학상) for "Gray Snowman."

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[December 3, 2012]
???
- Discussion leader(s): Robert Fouser

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The above is for books read and discussed in 2012 only. For earlier years, see:

LIST OF ALL BOOKS READ BY THE CLUB

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