Margaret Drabble reviews Park Kyung-ni’s Land in the Times Literary Supplement: “a remarkable and important work in which Eastern and Western traditions fruitfully meet” http://bit.ly/iQ7SBn # [Read More]
Books and literature (page 33)
Is this the only modern Korea-related novel published by Penguin Classics?
The number of Korea-related publications in the Penguin Classics list can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand, and most are by ancient Confucian sages. The publisher’s blurb below says that if you like Lee Changrae’s The Surrendered you’ll like this: Richard E Kim’s The Martyred. Lee didn’t do a good sales job … [Read More]
Shin Kyung-sook’s book roadshow comes to Europe
The Shin Kyung-sook roadshow arrives on mainland Europe. Please Look After Mother is already in its third print run in Spain. http://bit.ly/m7WUBL # [Read More]
Scorched Earth, Black Snow: Andrew Salmon presents his new book at the KCC
Last year Andrew Salmon presented his book To the Last Round at the KCC, in a fascinating evening. Another year, another book. To the Last Round is a great book, and it was sad that it really took the mainstream press a while to notice and appreciate it. This time round, the blogs and the … [Read More]
Book launch and talk on Ch’angguk by Dr Andrew Killick
Here’s something which I knew nothing about till a couple of days ago. But I’ll certainly be getting myself a copy. Book launch and talk on Ch’angguk by Dr Andrew Killick (Sheffield University) The Asian Performing Arts Forum (http://asianperformingartsforum.wordpress.com) is proud to sponsor a talk on Ch’angguk and book launch by Dr Andrew Killick at … [Read More]
Please Look After Mother serialised on BBC Book at Bedtime
Those who haven’t got around to reading Shin Kyung-sook’s massively successful Please Look After Mother yet (not that you have any excuse – it’s a very easy and quick read in Kim Chi-young’s translation) can now digest it in very easy chunks before going to bed. It has been abridged and serialised for radio, and … [Read More]
“A major addition to world literature” – a report from the launch of the translation of Park Kyung-ni’s T’oji
Monday night at the KCC was part celebration, part education: the launch of an English translation of a major portion of one of Korea’s best-loved modern epics: Park Kyung-ni’s Land. The evening was fronted by the translation’s publisher, Global Oriental (now part of the 300 year old Brill publishing house), but the three speakers were … [Read More]
The outside toilet in Park Wan-suh’s childhood memories – part 2
The second of two extracts from the early pages of Park Wan-suh’s Who ate up all the shinga? dealing with the memories of her childhood existence in the countryside near Kaesong in the 1930s and early 1940s, posted to coincide with the Korean garden at the Chelsea Flower Show this coming week, which features an … [Read More]
Michelin to issue Green Guide to Korea
About time too. Michelin finally releases a Green Guide to Korea. Now to collect those stars… http://bit.ly/mHfhl5 #. Currently only available in French, but in English from March 2012. [Read More]
The outside toilet in Park Wan-suh’s childhood memories – part 1
To coincide with the Korean garden at the Chelsea Flower Show this coming week, which features an outside toilet, here’s the first of two extracts from Park Wan-suh’s Who ate up all the shinga? The outhouse, it seems, was much more than a place for moving the bowels. Park Wan-suh was born in 1931 and … [Read More]
Book review: Shin Kyung-sook — Please look after Mother
Kyung-sook Shin: Please look after Mother Originally published in Korean as 엄마를 부탁해, 2008 Translated by Chi-Young Kim Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2011, 272pp Can we ever really appreciate who we have in our lives until they are gone? Kyung-Sook Shin’s Please look after Mother looks through the eyes of a family united in trying to … [Read More]
The London Sillok (aka LKL) – First Book Launch
One of the great things about London Korean Links is that it offers a gateway to Korea for non-Koreans like myself who take comfort in the fact the editor, Philip Gowman, comes at the country from a familiar perspective. There was a glorious sense of understatement about the book launch of the new book, ‘Royal … [Read More]
Thank you
Tonight at the Korean Cultural Centre, I’m told that it was a record attendance for a Global Korea Lecture. So, thanks to the people who came along to my talk. I think I said most of the things I wanted to, but missed a couple of things. More importantly, thanks to the Ministry of Culture, … [Read More]
DPRK-related books reviewed in Economist
Three DPRK-related books get a brief review in the Economist. Guy Delisle’s Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, the latest James Church, and the thriller Maximum Target by Martin Gower: http://econ.st/mqErGC # Links: LKL reviews Guy Delisle: Pyongyang – A Journey in North Korea [Read More]
Priest at the Empire Leicester Square
Screen adaptation of Hyung Min-woo’s manhwa “Priest” is on at the Empire Leicester Square now. Time Out gives it a neutral review. #. From the trailer it looks rather fun. [Read More]
A celebration of the launch of Park Kyung-ni’s Land in translation
In the mid-90s Kegan Paul published what was billed as Part 1 of Park Kyung-ni’s epic novel, Land (Toji). Translated by Agnita Tennant (Née Hong), the volume extended to 657 pages. In fact, this was only half of Part 1. Global Oriental is now publishing all of it, in three volumes totalling 1,172 pages. There’s … [Read More]