FIND OUT TOMORROW!! How old do you think the people in that picture to the right are? That’s the picture of Sonagi from Google’s page honoring Hwang Sun-won on his recent birthday. But those people are at least 14, possibly even 15 or 16? Why does it matter? Because that’s how English-language readers often think…
Regular readers will recall my fulminating about works that have been re-translated and re-translated and one of the examples I frequently use in lecture is Hwang Sun-won’s (an excellent writer in translation, in general) Sonagi. However, as I’m sorting through an appallingly large set of abstracts to edit, I come across this (Attentive readers will…
This weekend I had a chance to visit Sonagi Village in Suneung-ri, Seojong-myeon Yangpyeong. Sonagi Village is a 7.5 hectare (18.5 acre) outdoor literature park in Gyeonggi province. The village is the literary museum of noted Korean author Hwang Sun-won, who wrote Sonagi, Cranes, The Dog of Crossover Village, and a variety of other classic…
Today I’m lucky enough to be reviewing a rarity: The Drizzle and other Korean short stories. This is volume two of a ten volume series put together by Korean UNESCO. These are interesting volumes on several grounds, one of which are there unusual construction. In this series two authors are chosen per book, and the…
Hwang Soon-won’s “A Man” is not the book to buy if you want to read Hwang.