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JacktheCat
Joined: 08 May 2004
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 Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:15 pm Post subject: Japanese writers more popular than Korean writers |
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Kyobo Bookstore, which maintains one of South Korea's most authoritative best-seller's list, said this week it has recorded more Japanese works in translation on its top 50 list than from Korean authors.
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Among the biggest sellers in South Korea are translations from Japan's Haruki Murakami, Kaori Ekuni and Banana Yoshimoto
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Hong Suk-yong, a spokesman for Kyobo, the boom in Japanese contemporary fiction in South Korea will last for some time because several Japanese writers have endeared themselves with Korean readers.
"Murakami and some other Japanese writers tell stories that are similar to the lives led by South Korean young adults. They like the light-style of writing and they can feel sympathy for the characters," Hong said.
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ladyandthetramp
Joined: 21 Nov 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 2:09 am Post subject: |
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Does anyone know any good Korean authors or books?
Haruki Murakami has some good shiz, though. If you haven't read any, you should check him out. |
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bosintang
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Location: In the pot with the rest of the mutts
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| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 5:17 am Post subject: |
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| There's a significantly lot more successful Chinese writers translated into English as well. The only times I've tried to get into Korean literature have been dissapointing. |
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little mixed girl
Joined: 11 Jun 2003
Location: shin hyesung's bed~
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| Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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i love banana yoshimoto.
as someone that works at a library, i can say first hand that the english translated korean books are...probably something i could count on one hand.
korea needs it's own battle royale or ring to get a jump in interest. |
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batman
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
Location: Oh so close to where I want to be
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| Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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Some that I have enjoyed recently:
- "Plain Stories by Grandpa" by Park Jung-Ki
- "A Drawf Launches a Little Ball" by Cho Se-Hui
- "To Swim Across the World" by Park Fran-ces and Park Gin-ger
- "Memories of My Ghost Brother by Heinz Insu Fenkl |
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marlow
Joined: 06 Feb 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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| little mixed girl wrote: |
| i love banana yoshimoto. |
She is good. I recently read Kitchen and thought it was great. When I get the chance I'm going to order her other books. |
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jjurabong
Joined: 22 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 6:22 pm Post subject: |
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Marlow, try Banana's colection of short stories called "Asleep" - like eating literary handmade chocolate....lazy, sensual and dream-like.
A long time ago, I read the novel "Fox Girl" by Korean-American Nora Okja Keller and was blown away. It's about the lives of the children of prostititutes who serviced African-American soldiers in Korea - brutal and beautiful. |
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shakuhachi
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Location: Sydney
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| Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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| jjurabong wrote: |
| It's about the lives of the children of prostititutes who serviced African-American soldiers in Korea - brutal and beautiful. |
And I suppose this book doesnt even contain a hint of race baiting, huh? |
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jjurabong
Joined: 22 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 7:57 pm Post subject: |
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If you read it from the inside, it's not that kind of book - really.
If you read it objectively, with a cool eye, no one - the soldiers, the Koreans who shun the mixed kids, or even the mixed kids themselves - comes off well. |
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Wishmaster
Joined: 06 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 12:07 am Post subject: |
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| Honestly, I can't name one famous Korean writer past or present. Hell, I can't name one Korean writer period. Everyone that I know can't name even one either. Guess it shows that they lack production in this area. |
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Son Deureo!
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 1:52 am Post subject: |
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| Honestly, I can't name one famous Korean writer past or present. Hell, I can't name one Korean writer period. Everyone that I know can't name even one either. Guess it shows that they lack production in this area. |
Just because you don't know about them doesn't mean they don't exist. Korea does have a very active literary scene, but relatively little has been translated, and what is available is poorly marketed. Or difficult to market.
Add to that the fact that there are very few people who are capable of properly translating Korean literature into English. Very few native English speakers also speak Korean well, and not many of the Koreans who do speak English would be up to the job. The laughable English language materials from Arirang as well as the hilarious English language websites and advertisements from the KNTO and major Korean corporations should be a testament to this.
Here are some links to articles written by Brother Anthony of Taize, an English literature professor at Sogang University who has translated many works from Korean into English about some of the reasons why Korean literature has not yet swept the world, and the problems facing Korean literary translation:
http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony/MunhakSasang.htm
http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony/Edinburgh.htm
http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony/Pen.htm
BTW, Our Twisted Hero by Yi Munyul is a very interesting novel that is available in translation. It's about an elementary school class president who rules his class with an iron fist, and is a thinly veiled allegory for the Park Jung Hee years. It reminded me a bit of Animal Farm. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 3:18 am Post subject: |
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Thanks, Son Deureo! for the links. He has some interesting things to say.
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| In particular, a lot of Korean writing evokes nationalistic emotions, related to Korea��s recent history, that only Koreans can feel. |
This is not too surprising, is it? I dearly love my Korean friends and enjoy working and living in Korea, but nationalism is not an attractive emotion. In another place, Brother Anthony uses the word 'parochial'. I think that is a fair choice of words for many Koreans' outlook. Wasn't it Michael Breen who said something about the more educated a Korean gets, the more nationalistic? I'm sure it's an over-generalization, but it does have some truth to it.
One of my favorite authors is Thomas Hardy. He only wrote about people in a small out of the way corner of England. That is a perfect recipe for parochialism, if anything is. But it isn't at all.
What seems to get in the way is the common Korean belief that Korea is different, special. Every place is unique, but the human experience is universal.
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| In addition, many short stories and novels make quite harrowing reading. ��Why is Korean literature so depressing?�� is a frequently asked question. |
In every single Korean movie I've ever seen, someone dies at the end. I used to know a Korean writer slightly. I asked him to tell me some of his stories. In every single one of them, the main character dies or else the woman he loves dies. He hasn't had a story published in years. |
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