The RAS Korean Literature Club discussion

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in Hangul and author names and info in Hangul; notes on where online to find some of the hard-to-find or otherwise-unpublished material (when applicable); discussion leaders; and, where applicable, other notes (such as author presences or other special events).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



______________

. . . . . . . [2017] . . . . . . .
______________




______________

[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.

______________

[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...).

______________

[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.

______________

[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

______________

[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

______________

[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.

______________

[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).

______________

[August 2017]
No meeting.

______________

[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.

______________


*** 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).

______________

***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.

______________

***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.

______________

[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

______________

[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 also read works by Kim Yeonsu at its Sep 2016 and April 2023 sessions.

______________

______________

(This list is for books read and discussed in 2017 only. For earlier and later years, see the other threads in the "List of all books read by the club" folder.)