If you have any interest in reading 'modern classics of Korean literature', you really do have to check out the Korean Literature Today website. KLT is a journal which is devoted to translating Korean literature into English, and the good news is that this quarterly journal's back issues from 1996 to 2000 are all (mostly) available online.
So if you're looking for short stories by writers like Hwang Sun-won, Lee Bom-son, Choi Yun, Yi Sang, Cho Se-hui, and many others, there are at least one or two stories available by each one. There's also quite a bit of poetry translated as well. The people responsible for these translations have made the Portable Library of Korean Literature possible; many of the titles on the KLT website have been published as part of this series. If I had any complaints, it would be that many of the authors' best known works are not included in this series (for example, Hwang Sun-won's 'Sonagi', and Choi Yun's 'There a Petal Silently Falls', which inspired the 1997 Jang Sun-woo film about the Kwangju Uprising, 'A Petal'), but that's a minor quibble.
First chance looking at your new blog matt. Look's great, I still think you should do a cultural studies degree or something..
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oh, and the title/theme you use to tie all of this together is perfect, uber poetic too!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words. When I logged in and saw 2 comments on this post, I thought "wtf? Comments?"
ReplyDeleteCultural studies? My gr. 13 English teacher suggested that 12 years ago. Maybe one day...
Nice information.
ReplyDeleteIf you dig around pretty deep I think there are also stories @ www.ltikorea.net .
I have translation coming out in _ Portable Library.._ soon, _The Fruit of My Woman_ by Han Kang (yes, her name really is "Han Kang," former classmate of mine). There will be two stories in the booklet, that one's mine.
Nice blog keep it going!
Thanks for the info and kind words; I look forward to reading your translation. I'm also sorry to see your blog MIA again - hope it gets up and going again soon!
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