The RAS Korean Literature Club discussion

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

2021.

(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in Hangul and author names and info in Hangul; notes on where online to find some of the hard-to-find or otherwise-unpublished material (when applicable); discussion leaders; and, where applicable, other notes (such as author presences or other special events).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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. . . . . . . [2021] . . . . . . .
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[January 7, 2021]
- Book: ONE LEFT: A NOVEL
- Author: Kim Soom
- Translator(s): Bruce Fulton & Ju-Chan Fulton
- Publisher: University of Washington Press (Seattle)
- Year of publication: Sept. 2020
- Original book info: Title, "Han Myŏng" (한 명) [One Person]; author, Kim Sum [Kim Soom] (김숨, b.1974); orig. pub. Aug. 2016, Hyundae-Munhak Publishing (현대문학).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
- Discussion leader(s): Yonjoo Hong & Brother Anthony of Taize

- Note 1: One Left is believed to be the first Korean-language novel translated into English that deals with the 1930s-40s "comfort women" controversy.

- Note 2: The club previously read a Kim Soom story in Jan 2017 and a third in Aug. 2021.

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[February 18, 2021]
- Story: VERTIGO
- Author: Kim Se-hee
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Koreana Magazine (Korea Foundation)
- Year of publication: Winter 2020-21 (Vol. 34, No. 4)
- Original book info: Title, "Hyŏn'gijŭng" [현기증]; author, Kim Se-hŭi [Kim Se-hee] (김세희, b.1987); published orig. June 2019 (?) in the author's short-story collection, Kamanhan Na-nal ("가만한 나날"), Minumsa Publishing (민음사).
- GR entry: (Korean version) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/33y3y4rk (7000 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Yonjoo Hong & Brother Anthony of Taize

- Note: Koreana magazine's Winter 2020-21 issue has an essay about the literary work of Kim Se-hee ("A Thrilling and Confusing Initiation," by Choi Jae-bong). The essay stresses Kim Se-hee's position as a younger-generation (b.1987) woman active literately in the 2010s.

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***Discussion-leader change***

-- In about late-February 2021, Yonjoo Hong stepped down as leader-coordinator. Jenny Byun took over as new leader.

-- Yonjoo Hong led or co-led the group for almost three years, starting about May 2018. Yonjoo had been involved heavily in RASKB activities in the 2010s and early 2020s (including several terms as RAS secretary, through Dec. 2022).

-- Jenny Byun would lead (or co-lead) the Literature Club through June 2024.

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[March 18, 2021]
- Book: ALMOND: A NOVEL
- Author: Sohn Won-Pyung
- Translator(s): Sandy Joosun Lee
- Publisher: HarperVia (Harper Collins)
- Year of this translation's publication: May 2020
- Original book info: Title, "아몬드" (Almond); author, Son Wŏnp'yŏng (손원평, b.1979), published orig. March 2017, Changbi Books (창비).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun & Brother Anthony of Taize

- Note 1: K-pop group BTS mentioned Almond favorably in Aug 2020. Some BTS band-members claim to have read it. Fans then bought, leading to breakthrough success. Almond's promotional material started to use the phrase: "A BTS fan favorite!"

- Note 2: Major US publisher Harper Collins launched "HarperVia" in mid-2019 to publish foreign-language literature in English translation. Almond, one of its first announced projects, was arguably the biggest Korean novel-in-translation success to have ever appeared by 2020.

- Note 3: A translator's note by Sandy Joosun Lee, apparently writing in 2019, has these words: "It's a rarity for Korean literature to be published in English..."

- Note 4: The Club read Almond again for its Nov 2024 (then led by Jeremy Seligson).

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[April 22, 2021]
- Book: LOVING
- Author: Jeong Ho-seung
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Seoul Selection
- Year of publication: Dec. 2020
- Original book info: Title, "Yŏnin" (연인); author, Chŏng Ho-sŭng (Jeong Ho-seung) [정호승, b.1950); published orig. 1998, Yolimwon Publishing (열림원).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun & Brother Anthony of Taize

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[May 20, 2021]
- Book: HWANGT'OGI (a.k.a., Red Clay Tales)
- Author: Kim Tong-Ni
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Literary Translation Institute of Korea (KLTI)?
- Year of publication: 2010s?
- Original book info: Title, "Hwangt'ogi" (황토기/黃土記); author, Kim Tong-ri (Kim Tongni) [김동리, 1913-1995); published orig. 1949.
- GR entry: n/a
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/2fhf5keh (9100 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun & Brother Anthony of Taize

- Note: Kim Tong-ni was active from the mid-1930s (selling poems and stories to newspapers) to the mid-1970s (shifting to novels). Emerging as an important literary figure in the late 1940s, he remained so throughout the 1950s.

Unlike many writers of his generation, Kim Tong-ni was never on the Left. During the literary-scene struggles of the late 1940s he was subject to ostracism from the Left. But he was also never quite accepted by the Right. He was considered a "purely literary figure" (순수문학). He tended to write on traditional themes in a 20th-century setting. He wrote several novels based on Korean War observations and experiences.

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[June 17, 2021]
- Book: TOWER
- Author: Bae Myung-hoon
- Translator(s): Sung Ryu (Singapore)
- Publisher: Honford Star (UK)
- Year of publication: Feb. 2021
- Original book info: Title, "T'awŏ" [Tower] (타워); author, Pae Myŏnghun (Bae Myung-hoon) [배명훈, b.1978); published orig. June 2009, Woongjin Publishing 'Omelas' [SF imprint] (웅진 '오멜라스') .
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun & Brother Anthony of Taize

- Note: Literary critics have proposed that Bae Myung-hoon's 2009 sci-fi novel Tower was a threshold moment for Korean science-fiction writing (also his successful 2010 An-nyong In-gong Kongjae; untranslated as of 2025). In the 10-15 years following Tower's release, Korean SF writing came into its own. In 2019, a scholar commenting on the then-recent emergence of Korean SF (which would break through in the early 2020s) said the trend owed much to Tower's pathbreaking.

- Note: Tower is the highest-rated on GoodReads of Bae Myung-hoon's three novels translated into English as of 2025.

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[July 22, 2021]
- Book: BLUEBEARD'S FIRST WIFE
- Author: Ha Seong-nan
- Translator(s): Janet Hong (Vancouver)
- Publisher: Open Letter Books (University of Rochester, New York)
- Year of publication: June 2020
- Original book info: Title, "P'urŭn Suyŏm-ŭi Ch'ŏt Pŏntchae Anae" (푸른 수염의 첫 번째 아내); author, Ha Sŏng-ran (Ha Seong-nan) [하성란, b.1967); published orig. March 2002, Changbi Publishing (창비).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun & Brother Anthony of Taize

- Note 1: Author Ha Seong-nan has been described as a relatively "crucial voice in the burgeoning movement of feminist fiction."

- Note 2: The Korean Literature Club previously read a story by Ha Seong-nan in its November 2017 session (Blooms of Mold).

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[August 19, 2021]
- Story: BIRTH OF A RAT
- Author: Kim Soom
- Translator(s): Brother Anthony of Taize
- Publisher: Koreana magazine
- Year of publication: Summer 2021 (Vol. 35, No. 2)
- Original book info: Title, "Chwiŭi T'ansaeng" (쥐의 탄생); author, Kim Sum [Kim Soom] (김숨, b.1974); published orig. Nov 2017, in a collection of the author's short stories (title: "나는 염소가 처음이야"), Munhak-Dongnae Publishing (문학동네).
- GR entry: n/a
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/3jc4jd7u
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun & Brother Anthony of Taize

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[September 23, 2021]
- Book: UNTOLD NIGHT AND DAY
- Author: Bae Suah
- Translator(s): Deborah Smith
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape Publishing (UK), Overlook Press (US)
- Year of publication: Jan. 2020 (UK), May 2021 (US)
- Original book info: Title, "Allyŏjiji Anŭn Pam-gwa Haru" (알려지지 않은 밤과 하루); author, Pae Su-a (Bae Suah) [배수아, b.1965]; published orig. April 2013 by Jaeum&Moeum Publishing (자음과모음).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun & Brother Anthony of Taize

- Note 1: Bae Suah was successful through the 1990s-2010s. Her first translations into English may be the "Modern Korean Literature Bilingual Edition" series (2013) by Asia Publishers [Seoul]. She has translated works from German into Korean and spent two years in Germany in the early 2000s.

- Note 2: The Club previously read a Bae Suah work for its July 2014 session.

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[October 28, 2021]
- Book: CASTELLA
- Author: Min-gyu Park
- Translator(s): Sora Kim-Russell
- Publisher: The American Reader magazine
- Year of publication: May 2013
- Original book info: Title, "K'asŭt'era" (카스테라); author, Pak Min-kyu [박민규, b.1968]; published orig. June 2005 as titular story in a collection of short stories by the author, Munhak-Dongnae Publishing (문학동네).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
- Translated version available online? YES, at https://tinyurl.com/2j4j6jv9 (5000 words)
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun & Brother Anthony of Taize

- Note: "Castella" originally appeared in US literary magazine The American Reader. In that magazine's three-year run (Oct 2012 to Oct 2015), around 20 issues appeared, in which were included around 70 short-stories, many of which were translations. Only "Castella" was from Korean. The cover of American Reader's May/June 2013 edition said: "New literature from South Korea!" The coming K-wave would make this early (2013) offering look quaint, when viewed from 8.5 years later when the Club read and discussed "Castella."

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[November 18, 2021]
- Book: NO ONE EVER WRITES BACK
- Author: Jang Eun-jin
- Translator(s): Jung Yewon
- Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press (US), "Library of Korean Literature" series
- Year of publication: Nov. 2013
- Original book info: Title, "Amu-do P'yŏnjihaji Ant'a" (아무도 편지하지 않다); author, Chang Ŭnchin [Jang Eun-jin] [장은진, b.1976); published orig. Sept 2009, Munhak-Dognae Publishing (문학동네).
- GR entry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
- Discussion leader(s): Jenny Byun & Brother Anthony of Taize

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[December 2021]
No meeting

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(This list is for books read and discussed in 2021 only. For earlier and later years, see the other threads in the "List of all books read by the club" folder.)