Woke up yesterday and it was snowing in South Central. The OAF and I met at SC Yeok and headed up to Seoul. As the KTX rolled north the flurries of big snowflakes were replaced by blue skies and colder air.
We shopped a bit for clothing then headed to Itaewon for some bookshopping. We went to "What the Book" and entirely cleaned out their translated Korean literature section. Since the entire section was comprised of five slender volumes, each containing short stories by one author, this cleaning out process was brief. I got
Chinatown by 오숭히
A Toy City by 이텅하
Human Decency by 겅지영
House of Idols by 재인훈
An Appointment with my Brother by 이문열
These works range from 1960 to the late 90s and two of the authors are women, so it should be a good set. I want to read them all and review them here - also start some kind of notation system for elements and themes in them, in case I ever want to write something bigger about them.
A good trip, even if I didn't get the apartment I really wanted (right after I saw it, someone made an offer on it).
1 comment:
I've been watching Korean news about how much it snowed in the southern area. The setting is perfect for Yvonne to fall and break her hip / dislocate her elbow again. Please tell her that she needs to be careful.
As for the books, isn't it ironic that you can readily find English translations of Korean books in Korea with much ease than to find / purchase them in the US where English is the official language (not to mention the target audience)?
Note: some of the authors' that you typed in Korean my differ from the actual names. :)
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