Korean Novel ‘Taebaek Mountain Range’ to be Published in English and Russian Languages

KTLIT LogoFrom the Knowledge Pen website, the folks who are going to be publishing the book are announcing two new versions of Taebaek Mountain Range by Jo Jung Rae.

Knowledge Pen is proud to announce the signing of a contract with Jo Jung Rae, a prominent contemporary Korean author, to translate and publish Taebaek Mountain Range (in Korean:태백산맥) into both English and Russian.

A summary of the story:

Taebaek Mountain Range tells the story of Korea’s partition into North and South after its liberation from the Japanese occupation at the end of the Forties. This period of tremendous social and political upheaval has defined Korea’s destiny as a divided country. For Jo Jung Rae, understanding Korea’s past holds the key to the future – to resolving the ongoing confrontation between North and South Korea.

The book is long, how long is difficult to tell, but translated into French it is reproduced in 10 “Tomes” (lol!) the last of which weighs a pound in shipping! The always useful _list Magazine has a lengthy article on the book which you can search the _list site for, which notes that in Korea the book has already gone through a remarkable 200 printings. There is also a museum.

Taeback Mountain Range has already been made into a successful movie in Korea, The Tae Baek Mountains, directed by Im Kwon-taek and starring Ahn Seong-ki, Kim Myeong-kon, Kim Gap-su, Shin Hyeon-jun, Oh Jeong-hae.

It is difficult to say when the book will actually come out, with the website coyly noting, “The English translation of the first volume of the novel is due to be completed by October 2012,” which predicts nothing about publication.