About
THE TRANSLATOR and THE EDITOR (with the help of OUR KOREAN ASSOCIATE), trying to take some kind of look at translated Modern Korean fiction. This is always a work in progress, as the field is vast and our experience is small. Even worse, the field of translated English literature is small. ^^
We welcome opposing viewpoints and will be happy to post anything good.
THE TRANSLATOR was born in Korea and teaches Korean in California, he is an international man of mystery.
THE EDITOR, Charles Montgomery, was born in the US and teaches in the English Interpretation and Translation Division of Dongguk University in Seoul. He can be reached at charles (at) ktlit (boink!) com.
OUR KOREAN ASSOCIATE is Jae-gon Kim, a student of life from Suwon, Korea, and a fierce copy-editor!
Strangely, we’re not that into link exchanges/blog-rolling. If you have an interesting site, send us something. If we are interesting to you, feel free to link us. We live in the meh zone.^^
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
Hi Here at 3wm we are choosing a few of our fave blogs to work with.
Place each other in our blog roll and cross post interesting stories etc..
Check us out thethreewisemonkeys.com
Mizaru,
Actually, I know and watch your blog. Recently I love the title to “Seoul, Hard, Messy and..”
well, I don’t recall the whole title.. but it was well done…
I’d be happy to swap blogrolls… or contribute.. Just think of me as HooARyou?
Charles,
I’ve been reading yr blog with great interest for the last couple of hours. I didn’t realise the blogosphere had its own resident Korean Literature fanatic. It’s also nice to find someone with more than their share of talent in the field of litcrit. More power to you!
My name’s Andrew O’Donnell and I’m an English poet stationed in Gwangju, a six year exiled-in-Korea veteran. I’ve teamed up with a few people on translations of Korean poetry (Yu Chi Hwan, Yun Dong Ju, Han Yong Eun etc)in recent years and am considering working on an application for the KLTI. There are a number of different directions I, and a Korean co-translator, could go in.
I too think Go Eun needs a lot more attention internationally (do you know any worthy extant books in English outside of anthologies?) We’re also interested in Kim Ji Ha and a number of other neglected poets, particularly those from Cheollanamdo, perhaps even doing some work on the most recognised Pansori scripts?! I also run a U.K based independant press (with one chapbook under its belt) and also may have some interest from another U.K based small press for a volume of modern Korean poets. I guess I’m writing this as a touch of self-promotion but also to garner interest in any/all of these projects. I’d also be keen to know if there were any corollary small presses in the states that might be interested in material of this kind.
My blog (although mostly politics) is at:
http://www.myspace.com/ajodonnell
http://www.openseasonpress.com
andrewodonnell@riseup.net
…I think I answered one of my own questions, at least! Just found Go Un published at Green Integer Books in the U.S. Marvellous!
hi,
i dig on this korean literature. i hope to compare how the korean literature differs with japanese literature. since very few scholars are studying and looking into korean literature. i think, korea has something to offer in the literary scene.
all the best.
Marvin,
You raise a point that has been of some interest to me. As an aging academic^^ I am intrigued by how wide-open the field of Korean literature is. I checked out your blog (nice graphic on top!) and it seems to be primarily poetry. If you ever want to web-publish something about Korean Lit, feel free to do it here.. we always welcome lucid contributions.
I too think Go Eun needs a lot more attention internationally (do you know any worthy extant books in English outside of anthologies?) We’re also interested in Kim Ji Ha and a number of other neglected poets, particularly those from Cheollanamdo, perhaps even doing some work on the most recognised Pansori scripts?! I also run a U.K based independant press (with one chapbook under its belt) and also may have some interest from another U.K based small press for a volume of modern Korean poets. I guess I’m writing this as a touch of self-promotion but also to garner interest in any/all of these projects. I’d also be keen to know if there were any corollary small presses in the states that might be interested in material of this kind.
+1
Enrico,
I’m not much up on Poetry… alas.
Enrico,
Actually.. cruising the web, I see that Brother Anthony of Taize has just answered your question…
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2010/05/135_66277.html
I too think Go Eun needs a lot more attention internationally (do you know any worthy extant books in English outside of anthologies?) We’re also interested in Kim Ji Ha and a number of other neglected poets, particularly those from Cheollanamdo, perhaps even doing some work on the most recognised Pansori scripts?! I also run a U.K based independant press (with one chapbook under its belt) and also may have some interest from another U.K based small press for a volume of modern Korean poets. I guess I’m writing this as a touch of self-promotion but also to garner interest in any/all of these projects. I’d also be keen to know if there were any corollary small presses in the states that might be interested in material of this kind. +1
+1
Hello. This is Julie, a korean student who is studying publishing at Oxford Brookes.
I’m much impressed by your blog.
I’m doing my MA dissertation on Korean Literature Exportation and doing some case studies for that.
May I ask you a few questions?
Is this website supported by any Korean national institute or perfectly individual blog?
And I’ve seen Kim Youngha’s novel, Photo shop murder posted for free on this website
and is this kind of Kim Youngha’s international book promotion?
If you reply, I’d appreciate it very much.
Thank you!
Julie
Julie,
This blog is NOT supported by the Korean Government. I wish they would support it.^^
Through the blog I have met with people from the government, KLTI, etc.. but that is the extent of it. I post whenever I can, but it is around my work schedule. If you ever have anything you would like to post, feel free to contact me about it.
Also, Kim Young-ha is not involved in this blog in any way (actually, he may have commented here) although I do know him very peripherally on Facebook. I’m just a fan of his work and see it as some of the most culturally translatable of current Korean fiction.
Today (I hope) I’ll put up my review of Kim’s new book – a short version of which will also appear in 10 Magazine. It’s good.
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
Charles..
Hello! I just wanted to introduce myself and my interest in this blog! I am a recent English literature graduate from Western Kentucky University living in Chungcheongbuk-do (soon to be Cheonan) on a Fulbright English teaching scholarship, and although the past month has provided my first experiences with both Korean language and culture, I have already become very interested. I did notice, when preparing for my grant year, the lack of English-language information on Korean literature, but I would love to delve into it. Glad this operation exists!
Eileen Ryan
Eileen,
Thanks for dropping by and feel free to use the RSS or twitter link on the home page to get updates. If you have any specific suggestions, or want to make any contributions, feel free.
Glad to have another reader!
Very interesting site, and also great to see that Korean literature is being offered the chance to be spread beyond Korea. I’ve struggled to find work in translation and I still do. I’ve added you site to my own list of links on my blog and I hope to drop by more and more often. As an idea kind of thing, is there any chance of an occasional newsletter for those of us who forget but want to remember to drop by … if you know what I mean?