6. 제11회 젊은작가상 수상작품집 : 강화길 <음복>/The 11th Young Writer Award Collection: Eumbok (Partaking of Sacrificial Food and Drink) by Kang Hwa-gil (2020)
The Young Writers Award (by 문학동네) awarded to seven works that have shown the most outstanding achievement among interrupted novels released in a year by young writers less than 10 years since their debut. [www.munhak.com, translated by papago]
Also known as a familial thriller, Kang Hwa-gil’s <Eumbok> is a story of women surrounding a husband who knows nothing. [metizen.co.kr]
In her book Eumbok (which means to partake of sacrificial food and drink) that features ancestral rites, and in Gawon and Hand that mainly describe our daily life, she talks about psychological violence, hatred, suppression, and horror that women experience. [www.kbook-eng.or.kr]
7. Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas (2018)
Anand Giridharadas takes us into the inner sanctums of a new gilded age, where the rich and powerful fight for equality and justice any way they can—except ways that threaten the social order and their position atop it. They rebrand themselves as saviors of the poor; they lavishly reward “thought leaders” who redefine “change” in ways that preserve the status quo; and they constantly seek to do more good, but never less harm.
Giridharadas asks hard questions: Why, for example, should our gravest problems be solved by the unelected upper crust instead of the public institutions it erodes by lobbying and dodging taxes? His groundbreaking investigation has already forced a great, sorely needed reckoning among the world’s wealthiest and those they hover above, and it points toward an answer: Rather than rely on scraps from the winners, we must take on the grueling democratic work of building more robust, egalitarian institutions and truly changing the world—a call to action for elites and everyday citizens alike. [www.amazon.com]
8. Bieguni/Flights by Olga Tokarczuk (2007)
From the incomparably original Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk, Flights interweaves reflections on travel with an in-depth exploration of the human body, broaching life, death, motion, and migration. Chopin's heart is carried back to Warsaw in secret by his adoring sister. A woman must return to her native Poland in order to poison her terminally ill high school sweetheart, and a young man slowly descends into madness when his wife and child mysteriously vanish during a vacation and just as suddenly reappear. Through these brilliantly imagined characters and stories, interwoven with haunting, playful, and revelatory meditations, Flights explores what it means to be a traveler, a wanderer, a body in motion not only through space but through time. Where are you from? Where are you coming in from? Where are you going? we call to the traveler. Enchanting, unsettling, and wholly original, Flights is a master storyteller's answer.
9. 村上春樹 「色彩を持たない多崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年」/Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami (2013)
"One of the most revered voices in literature today gives us a story of love, friendship, and heartbreak for the ages.
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is the remarkable story of a young man haunted by a great loss; of dreams and nightmares that have unintended consequences for the world around us; and of a journey into the past that is necessary to mend the present."
10. The Shallows by Nicholas G. Carr (2010)
"Nicholas Carr’s bestseller The Shallows has become a foundational book in one of the most important debates of our time: As we enjoy the internet’s bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply? "
11. 강화길, 서이제, 임솔아 <소설 보다 : 여름 2020>/See the Novel: Summer 2020 by Kang Hwa-gil, Seo I-je, Im Sol-ah
<소설 보다> began in 2018 as a book project in which 문학과지성사 selects "Fiction of the Season" quarterly, discloses the results on its website, and publishes them seasonally. The selected works will be nominated for the Munji Literature Award.
[moonji.com, translate by papago]
12. Agnès Varda: Interviews, Ed. T. Jefferson Kline (2014)
Over nearly sixty years, Agnès Varda (b. 1928) has given interviews that are revealing not only of her work, but of her remarkably ambiguous status. She has been called the "Mother of the New Wave" but suffered for many years for never having been completely accepted by the cinematic establishment in France. Her films have finally earned recognition as deeply probing and fundamental to the growing awareness in France of women's issues and the role of women in the cinema. "I'm not philosophical," she says, "not metaphysical. Feelings are the ground on which people can be led to think about things. I try to show everything that happens in such a way and ask questions so as to leave the viewers free to make their own judgments." The panoply of interviews here emphasize her core belief that "we never stop learning" and reveal the wealth of ways to answer her questions.
13. 박은지 <여름 상설 공연>/Summer Permanent Performance by Park Eun-ji (2021)
Poet Park Eun-ji's first collection of poems, "Summer Permanent Performance" was published as Minumsa's Poem No. 288. The title "Summer Permanent Performance," which promises a fantasy stage that takes place every day at the same time and at the same place, gives a foreboding to the tense coexistence of reality and fantasy. In Park Eun-ji's poem, the illusion is not a magical moment that briefly appears and disappears, but an illusion that promises to come back here. Promise to repeat the beginning and end of a fantastic world, attempts and failures every day. Poet Park Eun-ji offers to share this promise. Let's dream together of the most impossible things where we can't escape, where we fail every day.
[minumsa.minumsa.com, translated by papago]
14. 전하영, 김멜라, 김혜진, 박서련, 서이제, 한정현, 김지연 <2021 제12회 젊은작가상 수상작품집>/The 12th Young Writer Award Collection by Jun Ha-young, Kim Mel-la, Kim Hye-jin, Park Seo-ryun, Seo I-je, Han Jung-hyun, Kim Ji-yeon (2021)
Short stories collection of The Young Writers Award (by 문학동네).
15. 村上春樹 「女のいない男たち」/Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami (2014)
Across seven tales, Haruki Murakami brings his powers of observation to bear on the lives of men who, in their own ways, find themselves alone. Here are lovesick doctors, students, ex-boyfriends, actors, bartenders, and even Kafka’s Gregor Samsa, brought together to tell stories that speak to us all. In Men Without Women Murakami has crafted another contemporary classic, marked by the same wry humor and pathos that have defined his entire body of work.
16. 한강 <작별하지 않는다>/I Do Not Bid Farewell by Han Kang (2021)
The novel depicts the tragedy of a 1948 civilian massacre on South Korea's southern island of Jeju from the perspective of three women. [m.koreatimes.co.kr]
"When I was asked what kind of novel I was writing, I was torn about how I should answer. Sometimes I said it was about utmost love. Other times I said it was about crossing from death to life, or about the April 3 (events) in Jeju. I was sincere when I said all of those things. If I were to choose one, I would like to choose the phrase that it is a novel about utmost love." [m-en.yna.co.kr]
17. 김진영 <아침의 피아노>/ The Morning Piano by Kim Jin-young (2018)
Morning Piano, however, is not a journal just of his battle with illness. It shows the achievement of his thoughts on literature, aesthetics, and philosophy as well as an honest record of his attention to small events that touched his body, heart, and mind after his cancer diagnosis.
Although the book can be considered a personal account by a dying man who experienced that “all daily life had stopped, like a store shutter pulled down,” it is also a warm record of dignity that could only possibly be written by an old scholar who “experiences the life of a sick person, its uniqueness and prestige, and remembers the love and gratitude only then discovered and reflected upon, and who opens his eyes toward the world and others.”
The book is filled with his thoughts on the world and other people, as he had always emphasized that one should consider one’s own thoughts precious, not only learning to know difficult philosophers and their thoughts. His writings might seem to be nothing more than short notes, but the aphorisms encompass all of his life’s work. [k-book.or.kr]
18. 정보라 <저주토끼>/Cursed Bunny by Chung Bo-ra (2017)
This collection of short stories by Chung Bora was published in 2017. It contains a total of ten short stories, including “The Frozen Finger,” “The Embodiment,” “Scars,” “Ruler of the Winds and Sands,” and the title story. All that the lonely and powerless need, according to the author, is a curse that will take revenge on all who made them suffer.
19. 최은영 <애쓰지 않아도>/Don’t Push Yourself by Choi Eun-young (2022)
Writer Choi Eun-Young’s new title Don’t Push Yourself ranked 4th among bestselling fiction (2nd Week, May 2022). The book is a short-story collection that delicately depicts friendship and love among the characters through heartwarming sentences. If you leisurely swim through the short, light stories, you will find yourself in good comfort without even noticing.
20. 太宰治 「人間失格」/No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai (1948)
The poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas.
Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness. [www.amazon.com]
21. 장강명 <한국이 싫어서>/Because I Don't Like Korea by Chang Kang-myoung (2015)
This novel by Chang Kang-myoung was published in 2015. It follows a character who, thinking there is nothing she can do in Korea that will make her happy, resolves abruptly to immigrate to Australia – a decision she immediately goes about putting into action. Exploring theories of happiness prevalent among young millennials in the 2000s, the author takes a critical look at Korean society.
22. 松家仁之 「火山のふもとで」/At the Foot of a Volcano by Masashi Matsuie (2012)
"The story begins in 1982 at a mountain lodge at the foot of Mt. Asama, which erupted for the first time in about 10 years. Murai Architects, where I joined, only works during the summer. It was customary to move office functions to a villa in Karuizawa. The director studied under the master craftsman Wright in the United States before World War II, and is timeless. A quiet old architect who continued to create simple and beautiful buildings. The work of the library staff is in preparation for the National Modern Library design competition in the fall. At the same time, a secret love between the teacher's niece and "me"..."
"It is carved into just one summer. The joy of reading a novel is filled with each detail, A unique long novel that has many people saying, ``I want to read it forever.''" (Winner of the 64th Yomiuri Literature Award) [www.amazon.co.jp, translated by google]
23. 박준 <운다고 달라지는 일은 아무것도 없겠지만>/Although Crying Would Not Change Anything by Park Joon (2017)
This collection of essays by Park Joon, who is a poet, was published in 2017. The collection is divided into four parts; however, it is organized so that readers can open to any page and read. Written in the first-person narrative voice in which the writer shares his own personal experiences, the essays deal with topics which are universal and ubiquitous—poverty, parting, and death.
24. 한강 <소년이 온다>/Human Acts by Han Kang (2014)
Sonyeoni onda (소년이 온다, Human Acts) is a South Korean novel written by Han Kang. The novel draws upon the democratization uprising that occurred on May 18, 1980 in Gwangju, Korea. In the novel, one boy’s death provides the impetus for a dimensional look into the Gwangju uprising and the lives of the people in that city. Human Acts won Korea's Manhae Prize for Literature and Italy’s Premio Malaparte.
25. 한강 <채식주의자>/The Vegetarian by Han Kang (2007)
The Vegetarian by Han Kang is a three-part novel published in 2007. It won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016. The author deals with the themes of trauma, human desire, vegetativeness, existence, and death.
With Yeonghye as the central character, The Vegetarian is told in three parts from the perspective of three different narrators: a husband who does not understand his wife (“The Vegetarian”), Yeonghye's brother-in-law, who covets the Mongolian mark on his sister-in-law's buttocks (“Mongolian Mark”), and Inhye, who witnesses an affair between her husband and her sister, but has no choice but to accept it and carry on (“Flaming Trees”).
26. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
A contemporary classic, The Remains of the Day is Kazuo Ishiguro's beautiful and haunting evocation of life between the wars in a Great English House.
In the summer of 1956, Stevens, the ageing butler of Darlington Hall, embarks on a leisurely holiday that will take him deep into the countryside and into his past.
27. 松家仁之 「光の犬」/Dog of Light by Masashi Matsuie (2017)
"They are born, grow up, live, get sick, and die. At that moment, there was definitely a glimmer of life there. Three generations of a family rooted in a northern town, and the Hokkaido dogs that shine alongside them. From the childhood of my grandmother, a midwife, during the Meiji era, to my father's three single sisters who live next door with their parents, the youth of their children, and the present day of their parents and aunts aging together... A long-awaited new full-length novel that depicts a family over more than 100 years, and after reading it, you will be filled with the feeling of having lived together for a long time!"
[www.amazon.co.jp, translated by google]
28. 유현준 <공간이 만든 공간>/Space Created Space by Yoo Hyun-joon (2020)
Hyunjoon Yoo is an influential architect and writer already familiar to us for his insightful interpretations of cities and architecture in his books What Cities Live By (2015) and Where Do You Want To Live (2018). In his recent book Space Created by Space (2020), he analyses architecture using a cultural anthropological approach. [vmspace.com]
"Space Created Space - Cultural Evolution represented by changes in space. The climatic and geological limits of each region created a unique lifestyle and culture. Walls made of stone were central to Western architecture with the region having less rain and hard ground. Slanted roofs and pillars were integral to Eastern architecture with the region having soft ground and frequent rainfall. And today, A new style of architecture emerged with inter-regional exchange and development of IT technologies. What will create new ideas and culture and a new form of architecture in the future?" "Architecture always evolves to survive in the surrounding environment” [www.kbook-eng.or.kr]
29. 한강 <여수의 사랑>/Yeosu by Han Kang (1995)
The author's first book and first collection of novels. Published in 1995, "Yeosu" delicately examines the essential loneliness and hardship of life and depicts the loss of existence and wandering.
In seven short stories, which incorporate a serious look at fate and death, solitary and isolated characters leave, abandon, wander, and fall. The beings who never stop longing for people and the world while awakening the existence of beings near death leave a cold and hot lingering image. [moonji.com, translated by papago]
30. Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski (2020)
Set in early 1980s Poland against the violent decline of communism, a tender and passionate story of first love between two young men who eventually find themselves on opposite sides of the political divide.
31. 읽는 사람-허윤선 인터뷰집/The Reader: Interview Collection by Heo Yoon-sun (2023)
"The story of a book is not just about a book. When we talk about books, we talk through books. We borrow a book, lean on the book, and expresses our sincerity that could not be conveyed if it were not. This is why conversations about books can be more sincere than any other conversation."
Heo Yoon-sun's interview book, "The Reader," was published by Minumsa. "The Reader" is a collection of conversations about 'reading' with 34 artists, including actors, musicians, film directors, and writers, in the interview section of the literary magazine "Littor". [minumsa.minumsa.com, translated by papago]
32. 한강 <내 여자의 열매>/Fruits of My Woman by Han Kang (2000)
This is a collection of short stories by Han Kang, published in 2000. It contains eight short stories that embody the intuitively-grasped sense of life. Eight short stories, including “The Fruit of My Woman,” “Baby Buddha,” and “Cheolgireul heureuneun gang (River flowing along the railroad),” each contain the story of death and fate, the meaning of life reached through daily life, fleeting miracles, and those who live through them.