Jo Jeongnae is really annoying.

Always was, but:

There is a small lecture series sponored by the 한국문학번역원 for literary translators of Korean lit from around the world, most of the participants are Joseonjok translating into Chinese, but there are others. Anyway, last month Jo Jeongnae came to talk to us. Perhaps excited at the opprotunity to talk at no end about what anyone who lived in Korea knows already, he went on forever about the situation then, and said the role of literature is to record that which historians are unable to, as was the case in hte 80's. He spoke forever about han and all the suffering, including that occupation by Japan was psychologically harder on Koreans than Nazi Germany was on the Jews. Each time someone asked him a question he spoke for 20 mins. Until I asked him one: if the role of literature is to record that which historians cannot, what is the role of literature when historians are not censored any longer? Your novel spoke about things that historians could not as easily have gotten away with writing during the 80's, but now that is no longer a problem, so do you think anyone will read Taebaek Sanmaek in 20 years? He quickly changed the subject and said anyone who thinks literature should be about love and happiness is having a big chakgak. The way the story starts with "love" for the daughter of a mudang... "anyone who thinks that is a regular love scene is misreading the novel," he said. In difficult times, the partisans wanted to be able to "인간성 확인" because of the frailty of their existence, and so made love. So, even the love and sex in there - scenes that seem to appear on a regular basis - are noble acts.

I think Taebaek Sanmaek is popular fiction. There's nothing wrong with that and I think pop fiction plays a far more important role in society, but I really don't think it is the timeless classic many would've liked to think it is. I do like his sentences. He writes with more clarity than most Korean authors (also essential for pop fiction) and there's a lot to be said for that.
oranckay | Homepage | 05.28.05 - 3:10 pm | #

I stumbled on this entry when i was googling Jo Jang-rae, i was actually looking for a copy of Taebaek Sanmaek in English, any ideas where i might find one? Thanks. Am new to korea
MS | 09.15.05 - 11:32 am | #

As far as I know, Taebaek Sanmaek has not been translated to English.
Antti | Homepage | 09.16.05 - 9:06 am | #