The Three Most Popular Novelists in Korea? One Book Available in English

LOL – the title is a bit of a cheat, since the next two authors bring the total up to 5 currently in print and as many as 8 potentially available. πŸ˜‰

In any case, here is an interesting but brief list of the favorite Korean novelists of Koreans from the Korea Times.

Interesting to note that two of the top four authors are women, something that you would likely not see in the United States, for reasons I leave for other amateur sociologists to follow up. I also note that they are all pretty old (Park Kyung-ni is recently deceased at age 81, Lee Oi-soo is 62 as is Yi Mun-yol, and Hwang Suk-young is 67, only Gong Ji-young is young at a sprightly 46)

Here are the first five authors and the availability of their work in English (as I could find it on the web):

Most popular was Lee Oi-soo – For whom I could find no translated works
Second, Park Kyung-ni – The Land (Currently out of Print)
Third, Gong Ji-young – My Sister, Bongsoon
Fourth Yi Mun-yol – Our Twisted Hero; Twofold Song; An Appointment with My Brother; The Poet (apparently out of print)
Fifth, Hwang Suk-youngThe Shadow of Arms; The Old Garden (Which may or may not be published in translation soon)

The excellent news for me is that I now have another Yi Mun-yol book to track down. He’s gone three for three on books I found, so I have high hopes.