VOL.69/2024.04

 

Writer Baik Soulinne

Tirelessly, Steadily, and Delightfully – for a Long Time

 

2023.09.04

 

“Irreplaceable, beautiful sentences” is how writer Baik Soulinne’s works are commented on by her readers. Actively releasing stories of all styles, be they fiction, non-fiction, full-length, or short story, writer Baik has garnered much support from the Korean literary circle and readers with her unique, friendly viewpoint in her works. She recently published a new title – Brilliant Regards (Munhakdongne), through which she sends “brilliant” encouragement to all her readers. In her short interview, we could feel her warm attitude towards novels and writing. Following is a more in-depth story about writer Baik Soulinne, who says it’s her goal to write “tirelessly, steadily, and delightfully for a long time” with a “loving mind for fiction.”

 

 

It’s a pleasure to have you with us on K-Book Trends. Please introduce yourself to our readers.

 

Hello, everyone. I’m Baik Soulinne. I write fiction and sometimes do some translations. It’s good to be meeting you through this written interview.

 

You have won various literary awards, including the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award, Munji Literary Award, and Hyundae Munhak Literary Award. As such, your works are widely recognized in the Korean literary circle. What do you think powers such capacity?

 

Well, if I had such capacity, then it would have come from the loving mind towards fiction. Writing novels is hard every time, but whenever I read a good novel, I get to think that I want to write one. And I think that kind of thought makes me hold onto writing stories.

 

 

You published your first full-length novel in 12 years, Brilliant Regards, which revolves around a nurse dispatched to Germany. Could you please introduce us to the book and tell us how you feel about the release?

 

Ever since my short story won the annual spring literary contest, I have only been writing short stories or medium-length stories. This is my first time writing a full-length novel – the first time in 12 years. This story is about the main character, Haemi, who lost her older sister to a gas explosion accident in her childhood, being dispatched to Germany, meeting other dispatched nurses, and overcoming her wounds. I was worried and had quite a bit of a burden in my heart as it was my first full-length novel ever since my debut, but now I’m so happy that the book is loved by so many people, who say that my message was well-delivered throughout the story.

 

* K-Book Trends Vol. 60 – See brief introduction of Brilliant Regards

 

You have been writing mainly about foreigners and outsiders. What was the message that you intended to deliver through such characters?

 

“Women” and “outsiders” are both beings that are slightly outside of the mainstream. I’m really interested in those people. It’s fun to give voice to them, those who cannot stand, and raise a voice in society, through my stories. But, I don’t think I write novels about women or outsiders to “deliver a message.” Yet, I do hope that my readers can experience the world in a different way through those characters.

 

 

I write with a loving mind for fiction.

 

 

Where do you usually get the ideas for your works? What issues are you interested in these days?

 

I tend to find ideas for my stories in my own experiences or daily life. Well, not always, though. Nowadays, I have been quite interested in death or loss.

 

Apart from fiction, you have also published non-fiction and prose collections like Feeling Happy After a Long Time (Changbi) and Tender Days (Jakka Publishing). It must have been a different experience from writing fiction. What are the different charms of the two genres – fiction and non-fiction?

 

Fiction and non-fiction are very different genres to me. To liken it to physical activities (perhaps because I’m a novelist), fiction is like a high-intensity work-out, but non-fiction is like a light, joyful stroll. As it is hard to tell which one’s better – the satisfaction after sweating exercise or the joy of a light walk, writing fiction and non-fiction are both distinctively appealing.

 

 

We heard that you have been studying French literature for a long time. Maybe that’s why we can often discover topics about language and communication in your works. It was impressive to see your message, where you said that you can have fully complete communication only when you recognize the incompleteness of the language. On the other hand, books use language as a medium for communication. So, you must have thought a lot about what message to deliver through your books as well as how.

 

Just like you said, writing fiction is quite a challenging job for me, because I can only communicate with readers through this incomplete instrument called “language.” But, that’s where the charms come from. Looking back, I think that because I accepted the fact that language is incomplete, I could start delivering messages to my readers by using “language” to “draw” emotions that are difficult to capture in words. While it is almost an impossible goal to convey something that cannot be delivered through daily language, I believe that it is worth challenging if I use fiction as the medium.

 

 

I deliver emotions that are hard to capture with everyday language by “drawing” them with language.

 

 

You have translated French books, too. It seems that translators play a critical role, as can be seen in how they say, “Translation is another form of writing.” How is writing different from the two different perspectives of a translator and a writer?

 

Writing fiction and translating are similar but very different jobs. When I do translations, I get worried about mistranslations (as the original text exists in a physical form), which pushes me to aim for perfection. I’m more relaxed when writing novels. The fun thing is that while writing a draft is the most painful process when writing novels, it becomes the most exciting part when I’m translating. So, I enjoy working on both of them because they complement each other.

 

Many readers say that your sentences are elegant and beautiful, like an impressionist’s painting or landscape painting. Could you please introduce some of the sentences or scenes from your works that you particularly liked to our international readers?

 

There’s a story titled Brown Sugar Candies in my short-story collection, The Summer Villa (Munhakdongne). In that story, there’s a scene where an old Korean woman who doesn’t speak a word of French and an old French man who also doesn’t know Korean at all grow to love each other by stammering over a Korean-French dictionary. I really like this part. So, if you are a foreign reader interested in Korean fiction, I’m sure that you will like this part as well, as you will know the fun of communicating or reading in a foreign language.

 

 

I would also like to introduce some of the lines from my new title, Brilliant Regards. I wanted to share these lines as they depict Haemi, a girl in deep sorrow due to the loss of her sister, regaining happiness, and experiencing her first love during the adolescent period.

 

I was so happy to the extent that I felt guilty when I thought about my sister. The level of happiness made me talk to my sister inside my heart whenever guilt stabbed me in the chest. “Sis, what is it about the human heart that makes you reach out for a better self?”
Love cannot be hidden. Just like what the spring sun does to the branches, love makes us bloom no matter how we resist. It’s love that shakes us to the very bottom of our being, like the wind that grabs and shakes everything.

 

We look forward to your new work. Last but not least, please tell us about your future plans or goals.

 

I think I will be focusing on short stories for a while as I have set out plans with the publisher to release some short stories. I also have a few more translations coming out. It’s my biggest goal: to write tirelessly, steadily, and delightfully, for a long time.

 

 

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