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:

2023.

(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in Hangul and author names and info in Hangul; notes on where online to find some of the hard-to-find or otherwise-unpublished material (when applicable); discussion leaders; and, where applicable, other notes (such as author presences or other special events).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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. . . . . . . [2023] . . . . . . .
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[January 2023]
NO MEETING.

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[February 9, 2023]
- Book: LIGHT'S ESCORT
- Author: Cho Hae-jin
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Koreana magazine
- Year of publication: Spring 2015 (Koreana, Vol. 29, No. 1).
- Original book info: Title, "Pich'ŭi Howi" (빛의 호위); author, Cho Hae-chin [Cho Hae-jin] (조해진, b.1976); published first in Summer 2013 issue of Hanguk-Munhak magazine (한국문학, founded in 1973); and in Feb. 2017 as titular story in the author's short-story collection (volume titled 빛의 호위), by Changbi Publishing (창비).
- GR entry: (to 'Koreana' Spring 2015 issue) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/2tdakves (7000 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

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[March 9, 2023]
- Book: BROKEN SUMMER
- Author: J. M. Lee (Jung-Myung Lee)
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Amazon Crossing
- Year of publication: Sept. 2022
- Original book info: Title, "Pusŏjin Yŏrŭm" (부서진 여름); author, Yi Chŏng-myŏng (이정명, b.1965); published in May 2021 by EunHaeng NaMu Publishing (은행나무).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

- Note: The early-2020s novel Broken Summer is one of many cases of how different the Korean-literary-translation market had become in the early 2020s (strong), against what it had been as recently as the mid-2010s (weak; low-profile).

With Broken Summer, there was little lag between the initial-Korean and the English-translation publications; it was major U.S. publisher; there were many buyers/readers (as of January 2025, Broken Summer had 2,700 ratings on Goodreads, suggesting a total global readership into the hundreds of thousands).

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[April 13, 2023]
- Book: A FUTURE AS ORDINARY AS THIS
- Author: Kim Yeonsu
- Translator(s): Sean Lin Halbert
- Publisher: Korea Literature Now magazine
- Year of publication: March 2023
- Original book info: Title, "It'orok P'yŏngbŏmhan Mirae" (이토록 평범한 미래); author, Kim Yŏnsu (김연수, b.1970); published as the titular story of a short-story collection in October 2022 by Munhak-Dongnae (문학동네).
- GR entry: (Korean original version) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
- Translated version available online: YES, at https://tinyurl.com/mrc62y4 (7000 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

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[May 11, 2023]
- Book: I'LL GO ON
- Author: Hwang Jungeun
- Translator(s): Emily Yae Won
- Publisher: Tilted Axis Press (UK)
- Year of publication: Oct. 2018
- Original book info: Title, "Kyesok-haebogetsŭmnida" (계속해보겠습니다); author, Hwang Chŏng-ŭn [Hwang Jungeun] (황정은, b.1976); first published in Oct. 2014 by Changbi Publishers (창비).
- GR entry: (English version:) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... , and (Korean version:) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

- Note 1: Author Hwang Jungeun won a number of Korean literary prizes in the 2010s.

- Note 2: The translation-publisher Tilted Axis Press (founded June 2015, UK) -- at first a one-woman operation of Deborah Smith -- came to prominence after the May 2016 shock awarding of the International Man-Booker Prize to The Vegetarian (by Han Kang; tr. Deborah Smith). Tilted Axis Press began publishing and got a head-start in the emerging Korean-to-English literary-translation market. I'll Go On (Oct. 2018) was Tilted Axis' ninth book, and the club's second Tilted Axis Press book (the first was Love in the Big City, read for the May 2022 session).

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[June 8, 2023]
- Poetry: "Ten Poems by Moon Chung-hee"
- Author: Moon Chung-hee
- Translator(s): Clare You, Zack Rogow, & J. Vera Lee
- Publisher: Literary journal Asymptote (Taiwan)
- Year of publication: Jan 2023 (issue)
- Original book info: Various; collected from previous work by Mun Chŏng-hŭi (문정희, b.1947), apparently commissioned in translation by Asymptote.
- GR entry: n/a
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/3kxs39ca
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

- Note: Moon Chung-hee is a longtime poet with dozens of poetry collections, few of which have been translated into English. She was appointed Director of the National Museum of Korean Literature in 2022.

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[July 13, 2023]
- Book: THE CABINET
- Author: Un-Su Kim
- Translator(s): Sean Lin Halbert
- Publisher: Angry Robot Press (UK)
- Year of publication: Oct. 2021
- Original book info: Title, "K'aebinit" [Cabinet] (캐비닛 ); author, Kim Ŏn-su (김언수, b.1972); published in Dec. 2006 by Munhak-Dognae (문학동네).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

- Note: Angry Robot Press is a UK science-fiction publishing house (est. 2008?). It has little-to-no experience as a publisher of translated works. (As of January 2025, in 16 years, Angry Robot had evidently published only three translations; two from Hebrew and this one from Korean.) Angry Robot Press publishing a Korean-to-English translation in late 2021 is a sign of how much the Korean-fiction market had changed over the preceding five+ years.

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[August 10, 2023]
- Book: THE HARD ROAD OUT: ONE WOMAN'S ESCAPE FROM NORTH KOREA
- Author: Jihyun Park & Seh-lynn Chai
- Translator(s): Sarah Baldwin
- Publisher: HarperNorth (HarperCollins)
- Year of publication: June 2022? (revised ed., June 2023?)
- Original book info: Authors, Pak Chi-hyŏn (Jiyhun Park) (박지현, b.1968, North Korea) & Ch'ae Se-rin [Seh-lynn Chai] (채세린, b.1965); published originally in French, April 2019, as Deux Coréennes; later French-to-Korean translation released July 2021 under title "Karyŏjin Segye-rŭl Nŏmŏ" [가려진 세계를 넘어] (lit. Going over to the blocked-from-view world);
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun & special co-host

- Note 1: Author Seh-lynn Chai was special guest (co-host) for the session.

- Note 2: Co-author Jihyun Park is one of the few North Korean grantees of a refugee visa by the UK (2008).

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[September 14, 2023]
- Book: LOOKING FOR THE ELEPHANT
- Author: Kyung-ran Jo
- Translator(s): Heinz Insu Fenkl
- Publisher: Korean Literature Now
- Year of publication: Summer 2015 (Vol. 28)
- Original book info: Title, "K'okkiri-rŭl Ch'ajasŏ" (코끼리를 찾아서); author, Cho Kyŏng-ran (Kyung-Ran Jo) (조경란, b.1969); published orig. May 2002 as titular story in a short-story collection, by Moonji Publishing (문학과지성사).
- GR entry: n/a
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/2s44csx3 (6600 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

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[October 12, 2023]
- Book: TOGANI
- Author: Gong Ji-young
- Translator(s): Bruce Fulton & Ju-chan Fulton
- Publisher: Univ. of Hawaii Press
- Year of publication: April 2023
- Original book info: "Togani" (도가니) [meaning "The Crucible"]; by Kong Chi-yŏng (Gong Ji-young) [공지영, b.1963]; published orig. June 2009, Changbi Publishers (창비).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

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[November 9, 2023]
- Story: MY TALE OF THE BAMBOO WIFE
- Author: Hwang Sun-won
- Translator(s): Bruce Fulton & Ju-chan Fulton
- Publisher: The story "My Tale of the Bamboo Wife" [orig. by Hwang Sun-won (1915-2000), tr. Bruce & Ju-chan Fulton, originally appeared in the volume Trees on a Slope by Hwang Sun-won, tr. Bruce Fulton, Univ. of Hawaii Press
- Year of publication: March 2005 (in English)
- Original book info: Title, "나의 죽부인전"; author: Hwang Sunwŏn (황순원, 1915-2000); published first ca. spring 1960 serialized in the monthly literary magazine Sa-Sang-Gye (사상계, existed 1953-1970) and appeared in short-story collection titled "나무들 비탈에 서다" (Trees stand on the slope), published Sept 1960. The English-translation edition of that book (pub. 2005 as "Trees on a Slope") translated the entire volume, including "Bamboo Wife."
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

- Note: The "Bamboo Wife" story, originally appearing in English in 2005, was reprinted in literary journal Azalea, Vol. 8 (2015).

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[December 14, 2023]
- Book: BLACK FLOWER
- Author: Kim Young-ha
- Translator(s): Charles La Shure
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- Year of publication: Oct. 2012
- Original book info: Title, "Kŏmŭn Kkot" (검은 꽃), by Kim Yŏng-ha [Kim Young-ha] (김영하, b.1968); published orig. Aug. 2003, Munhak-Dongnae Books (문학동네).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun

- Note 1: Black Flower deals with a group of early (1905) Korean emigrants to Mexico's Yucatan region. In 2019 [?], the Yucatan state government declared May 4 "Korea Day" in the state, likely thanks in part to this novel's influence. A well-received Spanish translation of Black Flower was released in September 2021 [?] (as Flor Negra).

- Note 2: Black Flower achieved a rare staying-power in the Korean market in the twenty years after its 2003 publication, boosted by an award in 2004 (동인문학상). By the early 2010s, it was known as a reliable "steady-seller" (per Namu-wiki). By the time of the 2012 translation, author Kim Young-ha had a degree of public profile in the (then-minor) Korean-literature-in-English-translation area, thanks to the modest success of his Your Republic if Calling You (English trans., Sept. 2010; see: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...). There were major new Korean editions published in 2014 and 2020.

- Note 3: Young-ha Kim's Author's Note indicates the novel had no connection to a 1994-95 tv-drama series about the 1905 Yucatan emigrants (title: 인간의 땅, ca.30 hours), or a 1997 b-movie (Henequen/애니깽).

- Note 4: The Dec. 2023 Korean Literature Club gathering included a "year-end celebration" by members. Food and drink were served and consumed at the venue, following the discussion.

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(This list is for books read and discussed in 2023 only. For earlier and later years, see the other threads in the "List of all books read by the club" folder.)