London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

LKL book database logo

Booklist: Literature Fiction and Poetry (page 39)

I’ll be right there

by tr Sora Kim-Russell pub Other Press (2014)

Set in 1980s South Korea amid the tremors of political revolution, I’ll Be Right There follows Jung Yoon, a highly literate, 20-something-year-old woman, as she recounts her tragic personal history as well as those of her three intimate college friends. When Yoon receives a distressing phone call from her ex-boyfriend after eight years of separation, … [Read More]

I’m OK, I’m Pig!

by tr Don Mee Choi pub Bloodaxe (2014)

From the publisher’s website: Kim Hyesoon is one of South Korea’s most important contemporary poets. She began publishing in 1979 and was one of the first few women in South Korea to be published in Munhak kwa jisong (Literature and Intellect), one of two key journals which championed the intellectual and literary movement against the US-backed military … [Read More]

The Shadow of Arms

by tr Chun Kyung-ja pub Seven Stories Press (2014)

The Shadow Of Arms examines the phenomenon of an intrinsically capitalist war: looking to expand their imperialistic market control to include the rest of Southeast Asia, America’s ‘Vietnamese intervention’ was considered to be the quickest, most efficient means of achieving this end. In essence, the war itself was a kind of business being conducted on … [Read More]

One Day, Then Another

by tr Cho Young-shil pub White Pine Press (2014)

From the publisher’s website: These poems give voice to the voiceless. His poetic task is to find a way to honor the weak and disenfranchised through small cautious steps into the cracks of this hidden world. Kim Kwang-Kyu’s most recent translation in English is The Depth of a Clam. He lives in Seoul, Korea. [Read More]

Shadows of the Void

by tr Brother Anthony of Taizé pub Seoul Selection (2014)

From the publisher’s website: Ynhui Park’s poems are not difficult; they are usually simple and suggestive, inviting the reader to share an experience of some moment, some scene, in which the underlying void seems to have yielded to value and meaning…. His poems very often re-enact a search for consolation and peace, faced with the … [Read More]

The Investigation

by tr Kim Chi-young pub Pegasus (2014)

Fukuoka Prison, 1944. Beyond the prison walls, the war rages. Inside, a man is found brutally murdered. What follows is a searing portrait of Korea before their civil war, and a testimony to the redemptive power of poetry. Watanabe Yuichi, a young guard with a passion for reading, is ordered to investigate a murder. The … [Read More]

Spring Night (Bi-lingual, Vol 55 – Family)

by tr Jeon Seung-hee pub Asia Publishers (2014)

Although Su-hwan spoke like this, he thought that since his illness was extending his denominator to infinity, his value was not only smaller than 1, but also approaching zero. No, it was not even just his illness. Since he had met Yeong-gyeong at the age of forty-three, he hadn’t done anything much for Yeong-gyeong other … [Read More]

The Korean Popular Culture Reader

ed Kyung Hyun Kim, Youngmin Choe pub Duke University Press (2014)

From the publisher’s website: Over the past decade, Korean popular culture has become a global phenomenon. The “Korean Wave” of music, film, television, sports, and cuisine generates significant revenues and cultural pride in South Korea. The Korean Popular Culture Reader provides a timely and essential foundation for the study of “K-pop,” relating the contemporary cultural landscape to … [Read More]