Note: This article was written in early 2020 at the start of the pandemic. Since then, particularly in 2021, some fantastic translated fiction titles have appeared. We give a round-up of them here. Nevertheless, as of end December 2022 the top ten recommendations below still stand. I do, however, need to edit the choices for … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 20)
A Festival of Korean Dance 2020
Here’s hoping that I’m not tempting fate by posting this press release. I really hope that the health emergency is over by the end of May. Keep your fingers crossed, because this festival gets better each year. As last year, there are three performances and one pre-performance discussion: Fri 29 May: Collective A | MIIN: … [Read More]
Book review: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
Cho Nam-joo: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 Translated by Jamie Chang Scribner, 2020, 163pp Originally published as 82년생 김지영, Minumsa, 2016. Kim Jiyoung, as the blurb on the back cover of this translated novel tells us, is every woman. Her given name is unremarkable, familiar, and of course her family name is the most common in … [Read More]
Book review: Jeon Sungtae – Wolves
Jeon Sungtae: Wolves Translated by Sora Kim-Russell White Pine Press, 2017, 196pp Originally published as 늑대, Changbi Publishers, 2009 Jeon Sungtae’s Wolves takes us to another world – the world of Mongolia in the early years of this century, a decade after the adoption of capitalism. The country is modernising rapidly, but out on the … [Read More]
A round-up of the Korean crafts at Collect 2020
Collect this year moved from the Saatchi Gallery to Somerset House. The move had both advantages and disadvantages. At Saatchi there is greater openness of space and there is the added benefit of the lively environs of Sloane Square for coffee and snacks. Somerset House, on the other hand feels like a bit of a … [Read More]
Review: Bae Suah — Untold Night and Day
Bae Suah: Untold Night and Day Translated by Deborah Smith Jonathan Cape 2020, 152pp Originally published as 알려지지 않은 밤과 하루, Jaeumgwa Moeum, 2013 Let me say up-front that I have never regarded myself as a Bae Suah fan. My first encounter with her – Highway with Green Apples – registers in my memory as … [Read More]
Bong Joon-ho’s and Tilda Swinton’s Q+A after Snowpiercer
After the success of Parasite, BFI held the first major UK public screening of Snowpiercer on 1 March. Here is the BFI’s video of the Q+A that followed the screening. [Read More]
March events 2020
It’s LKL’s 14th birthday today. What’s in store as we start our 15th year online? Thankfully it’s a bit of a quiet month, though there’s plenty of music going on, and look out for conferences at Wolfson College and the LSE. My own highlight to brighten up these miserable days is Igudesman and Joo at … [Read More]
Musicians’ Company Concert: Julia Hwang and Ben Tarlton
A nice way to spend a cold Monday evening in March: Musicians’ Company Concert: Julia Hwang and Ben Tarlton Monday 9 March 2020, 7:30pm Wigmore Hall | 36 Wigmore Street | London W1U 2BP Tickets £10 – £20 | Book tickets Julia Hwang (violin) with James Drinkwater (piano) Ben Tarlton (cello) with Jâms Coleman (piano) … [Read More]
Book review: Cheon Un-yeong — The Catcher in the Loft
Cheon Un-yeong: The Catcher in the Loft Translated by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton Codhill Press, 2019, 191pp Originally published as 생강, Changbi Publishers, 2011 This book came almost out of nowhere. Cheon Un-yeong’s Ali Skips Rope was one of the short stories in the excellent collection The Future of Silence – very approachable, but not … [Read More]
Parasite: a non-review
What can one say about a movie that has won Best Picture at Cannes and the Oscars, that has won best screenplay at the Oscars and BAFTAs, best edited drama feature at the Eddies, and best ensemble performance at the Screen Actors Guild? A movie that has been seen more widely in this country, and … [Read More]
Jeronimo Lim Kim – revolutionary father of the Korean community in Cuba
Those who have read Kim Young-ha’s Black Flower will know about the Koreans who migrated to Mexico in 1905 as farm labourers, just before Korea became a Japanese protectorate. By the time their contracts were up, Japan was about to absorb Korea into their growing empire. Now stateless, some of the migrants stayed in Mexico; … [Read More]
Edinburgh conference on Reunification of the peninsula and the March 1st Independence Movt
The Edinburgh Korean Students Society is holding a conference on 29 February 2020 to commemorate the March 1st Independence Movement in 1919 against Japanese colonial rule: Korea Conference: Exploring the Korean Independence Movement and the Reunification of the Korean Peninsula Saturday, 29 February 2020, 10:00-19:30 Lecture Theatre A | David Hume Tower | George Square … [Read More]
Gallery: Joo Yeon Park’s Library of the Unword
As described in the exhibition notice, Joo Yeon Park’s Library of the Unword and its central piece Twenty Times a Thousand (2019) is inspired by Beckett’s poem Echo’s Bones. According to the artist, Echo in Beckett’s poem Echo’s Bones (1935) refers to the nymph in Ovid’s Metamorphoses who is punished by Juno so that she … [Read More]
Book review: Marilyn and Me
“Where did all the beautiful and hopeful young women go?” That was the thought that occurred to author Ji-Min Lee, looking back at the grim post-war years, and looking at a couple of photographs from the period: one of Marilyn Monroe performing for the US troops in Korea, and one of a female interpreter sandwiched … [Read More]
In pictures: 송 SONG’s exhibition at Whitehall Historic House
Courtesy of the artist, here are some installation shots of 송 SONG’s current exhibition at Whitehall Historic House in Cheam. Super cute evocations of Tudor style by the Korean artist. The exhibition lasts until 1 March. [Read More]