nanoomi

I met with noted author Shin Kyung-sook at a cafe at the Kim Jong-yeong Museum (thoroughly beautiful, by the way), located in Pyeongchang-dong, Jongno-gu. I was with Dylan Goldsby a photographer who was taking pictures for an upcoming segment on Ms. Shin in 10 Magazine, “10 Questions With Shin Kyung-sook,” a segment I had put together. I was there to take pictures to add to Shin’s Wikipedia page (which had been put up a while ago as part of KTLIT’s Wikipedia Project). Read the full story

This is Part 2 of an interview SubjectObjectVerb’s Jae Won Chung conducted in late March, right when Please Look After Mom was released in the U.S.

For Part 1 of the interview, click here.

SOV: Most readers have been talking about mojeong (maternal love) as the primary theme of your novel. As I was reading some of the blurbs for your book, novelist Gary Shteyngart—I’m a fan of his work—said something that struck me. He brings up another theme that’s more historical—about the tragedy that often accompanies migration from the countryside to the city. That flow isn’t limited to Korea. The center/periphery relationship can be Seoul/countryside, but also, U.S./Korea, for example.

I think this theme is hugely important, especially in the context of your novel’s own “migration” from Korea to the United States.

KS: That’s right. People move around for education, for example; it’s just how things are today. Now that I’ve come to the United State, I see that people do the same thing here. (Laughs) We’re constantly leaving where we are for something better, to achieve something. This brings alienation—the differences in environment, for example, between Seoul and the countryside. But this applies to the U.S. as well. In trying to gain something, you also lose something. But of course, something can be gained as well. This is true for Korea and for the United States. For example, you (referring to interviewer) – you were born somewhere else, and now here you are, in New York. This seems like a common story today.

As for the question of “center,” yes, most characters in my novel do not originate from the center. They started in the periphery, as outsiders, and worked their way to the center.

Read the full story

The Korean Cover: Chock full of Korean Cliches!

The invaluable London Korea Links reminded me that there are actually two titles for Shin Kyung-Sook’s new book:

• Please Look After Mom (USA)
• Please Look After Mother (UK)

And LKL also provided a link to see that book cover.  The covers are entirely different, as we’ll see in a minute.

Read the full story