nanoomi

The other day I caught the 401 bus, just to see where it ran. After a bit, it went by COEX in Gangnam, which contains a reasonably sized Bandi & Luni. So I hopped off.  After a cup of coffee in a Caffe Bene, I went down to Bandi & Luni look for some exciting new translation I hadn’t previously seen.

I went to the “translated Asian literature” section, which was one panel of a bookcase.

I was utterly dismayed by incredibly small number of books in translation. There were three big books that I had never heard of, The Dwarf by Cho Se-hui, two books by Kim Young-ha, a soft and hard cover version of Shin Kyung-sook’s Please Look After Mom. And that was it. The total.

In fact, there were more books by Korean-Americans than by Koreans (don’t get me started on the risible notion that Korea seems to have that Korean-Americans are somehow actually Koreans and should count in with native Koreans when book numbers are totalled), with Chang-Rae Lee having all his books represented.

Read the full story

This is post four of a multi-post series on Korean GLBT Literature, featuring a Q&A with Gabriel Sylvian, the founder of The Korea Gay Literature Project.

An interesting transcript of an interview with Haun Saussy (Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago) which took places at the Asia Institute Seminar at the conclusion of  December 2011. This is from Emanuel Pastreich‘s blog Korea: Circles and Squares, which became immediately lovable to me when I read Pastreich’s About page which says about the author, “He runs a bog known as “Korea: Circles and Squares.” Now THAT is either a bit of completely knowing yourself or an amusing typo.

In any case, the piece begins with a rather philosophical bit of discussion about awareness of the ‘other,’ world-history, philosophy and world-literature. But about two-thirds of the way through they get to issues of Korean literature in translation. Read the full story

I found a combination of thoughts from Professor Kim Seong-kon of SNU quite intriguing (for out-of-country folks, you should know that Korea University education is quite hierarchical and SNU is considered the cream of the crop, and thus what their professors say is either influential or represents considered wisdom). He was discussing the laudable LTI Korea/Dalkey Archives publication collaboration of 25 Korean works:

An email from LTI Korea tells us that we’ve won an “Award of Excellence” in their recent Korean Literature English Essay Contest. The essay was on Kang Yong-sook’s Brown Tears, an excellent and redemptive story of confusion, separation, and community in 1970′s Seoul (obviously, although never stated). Interested readers of that story can find the pdf here (and it is worth reading).  The Award Ceremony will be on the 6th of December, and anyone in Seoul is welcome to come out and hoot and whistle at my name.

The “winning”  (is 3rd place winning?) essay is reproduced below. Read the full story

Some time ago I wrote here bemoaning, or maybe just examining, the lack of humor in translated Korean literature. I wondered if something was hidden behind the drapes of translation? I wondered if there was something about Korean literature’s national nature that made it focus on serious subjects? I wondered if it was based on the inherent difficulty in translating humor, particularly that above the level of slapstick? I also wondered if Korean literature expressed humor differently (this is a topic that goes back and forth on the internet and which about at least one pair of Korean academics has weighed in on in the affirmative).

Yun Dong-ju is often known as a poet and patriot. He was arrested by the Japanese more than once, and was a firm believer in conserving important elements of Korean culture during Japanese colonialism. There is some suspicion that his death might have been the result of Japanese medical experimentation (191).

The Heavens, the Wind, The Stars and Poetry is an omnibus type book. It contains 120 poems, a short biography, and excellent frontispiece photo, a 19 page analysis of his poetry, and an interesting bit of “research” into the religious basis of his work.
But also included in the book are four short stories, of which three are very short. Not surprising for a poet, the works are full of allusion and symbols, with nature taking a very high rank in the list of allusions and symbols. This can be pretty easily noted just by looking at the titles of his short stories. Yun is a complicated read as well, hopping from thing to thing with little notice and employing a writing style that is in some ways reminiscent of the surrealism of Yi Sang and the absurdity of Pak Min-gyu. That’s good territory to be in, if you don’t know the authors. Read the full story

By F N Souza

With support from the Korea Foundation, the Embassy of India and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations present an exhibition, “Kalpana – Masterpieces of Figurative Indian Contemporary Paintings” at the Korea Foundation Cultural Center from 28 May to 11 June 2010. 

The exhibition titled Kalpana (meaning imagination or fantasy in Hindi) celebrates masterly expressions of the figurative arts as seen in the last 100 years through the works of 14 of India’s best known painters. It displays a diverse range of works by artists who represent different regions of India and also displays their unique styles. The exhibition features paintings of Jamini Roy who was deeply influenced by the Kalighat Pat folk art style of Bengal, the distinctive depictions of rural India of Amrita Shergil, the Hindu mythological themes of A. Ramachandran, the bold works of M.F. Hussain who has been called the “Picasso of India,” and the feminist concerns of Arpana Caur.
Curated by India’s eminent artist Anjolie Ela Menon, the exhibition Kalpana sets a high standard because of its innovative use of excellent reprints of original canvases.

The exhibition is open from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, except Wednesday when it is open from 10 a.m. to 9. p.m. Admission is free.

UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression 

The Press Conference is Monday, May 17th at 10:30am on the 19th floor of the Korea Press Center Building, Taepyongno-1Ga, Jung-Gu, Seoul.

Yesterday, in a different venue, La Rue spoke quite a bit about the importance of the internet and bloggers, calling them important “reporters” and “the poor man’s press”. He spoke about the need for Korea to be an example for Asia and the world in this regard because of the high interconnectivity. 

La Rue said the he was particularly interested in visiting Korea because of Internet issues. He said the Korean government had a commitment not only to protect individual’s right to freedom of expression but also to promote it. 

The Monday press conference is open to all. La Rue said he would take questions on anything. A reporter from the Korea Herald in the audience asked if he would discuss Samsung’s suit against Breen. He said he would. 

I wonder if any English language and/or Korean language bloggers will show up to cover this press conference. It might be a good chance to bring up some important issues (people seem to be feeling a chill lately) and to reaffirm the rights of citizens and non-citizens to express themselves on blogs. 

There have been several examples of foreigners having their livelihoods or their visa status threatened because of an opinion expressed on a blog. 

The last time Korea had a UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion in town was 15 years ago… This may be an ideal opportunity to address some important issues.