VOL.69/2024.04

Export Prospects of Korean Books

KPIPA’s Choice for Supporting Abstract · Sample Translation

 

2017.12.01

 

Art and Gravitational Acceleration

1. Publication Details

Imprint | Bookhouse Publishers

Title | Art and Gravitational Acceleration

Author | Myounghoon Bae

Format | 140*210

Binding | Paperback

Pages | 324pages

ISBN | 978-89-56057-85-9

 

 

2. Contact

Name | Areum Han

Phone | +82-2-3144-2703

Email | reumie@hanmail.net

URL | http://www.bookhouse.co.kr

 

 

3. Marketing Information

Circulation, Sales Rank | 4,000 copies

Subject | The future and the value of communication

Primary Readers | Fans of science fiction who have been waiting for another author like Arthur Clarke and Ted Chiang

Media Reviews and Press Release | Featured in JTBC Newsroom

Received the Munhakdongne Young Writers Award in 2010

Received the 2005 Science and Technology Creative Writing Award in the short story category

Received the Daehak Literary Award for in 2004

“The captivating world of a writer who sends our awareness off beyond gravity, with his witty and unique depiction of the countless beings in the universe and all the things awaiting an explanation” – yes24

 

 

4. About the Author

Myounghoon Bae was born in Busan in 1978 and graduated with a BA and an MA from the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Seoul National University. He received the Daehak Literary Award in 2004, and the Science and Technology Creative Writing Award in 2005 in the short story category with his story, “Smart D.” He has published his works in Mirror, the fantasy literature webzine, as well as in I Met Someone, a collection of stories by three authors, and in Fantastic, a science fiction journal.
Bae, the most watched young author in Korea, published his first collection of short stories, Tower, in 2009. He went on to publish Hello, Artificial Intelligence! (2010), Mr. President (2012), both short story collections, and the full-length novels,The Orbit of God (2011), Hidden (2012), as well as science fiction novels for children,The Very Important Mission of Creak Creak (2011) and Gamateul Style (2014), creating a sensation in the literary world as an author straddling the line between mainstream literature and science fiction.

 

 

5. About the Book

This is the third short story collection by Myounghoon Bae, who made his literary debut with his short story, “Smart D,” in 2005 and has since been straddling the invisible line between science fiction and mainstream literature. The collection includes “Smart D,” the legendary story whose title only could be found in his author profile thus far.
“Art and Gravitational Acceleration,” the title story of the collection, was originally published in the winter 2010 issue of The Quarterly Changbi. The story is about Eungyeong, a dancer, who makes a dogged effort to perfectly reenact a zero-gravity dance once performed on the moon, and the protagonist who tries to understand the workings of her complex inner world. The book should come with the warning, “Do not read while eating,” as it may cause severe dizziness, calling to attention the impossibility of understanding others completely, and the unbridgeable gap between two people, as well as the depth of misunderstanding that comes as a result.

 

 

Gray Documents

 

1. Publication Details

Imprint | Moonji Publishing co., Ltd.

Title | Gray Documents

Author | Kang Yeongsuk

Format | 128*188

Binding | Paperback

Pages | 248pages

ISBN | 978-89-320-2890-3

 

 

2. Contact

Name | Yun Seohee

Phone | +82-338-7224(ext.7129)

Email | salutseohee@moonji.com

URL | http://www.moonji.com

 

 

3. Marketing Information

Circulation, Sales Rank | 4,000 copies

Subject | Cracks hidden in the everyday lives of ordinary city dwellers

Primary Readers | 20s-30s

Media Reviews and Press Release | “Kang YeongSuk, an author who patches up the cracks in the world with sentences, is a good novelist who shrinks from using the expression, ‘good novel.’” –Maeil Business Newspaper

 

 

4. About the Author

Kang YeongSuk, born in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, graduated from the Department of Creative Writing at Seoul Institute of the Arts. Her writing career began when she won Seoul Shinmun’s annual spring literary contest in 1998 with her short story, “A Meal in August.” Her works include the short story collections, Shaken, Every Day is a Celebration,and Black in Red, and the full-length novels, Rina, Writing Club, andThe Sad and Delightful Teletubby Girl. She has received the Hanguk Ilbo Literary Award, the Baek Shin-ae Literatury Award, and the Kim Yu-jeong Literary Award.

 

 

5. About the Book

This book consists of seven short stories that depict cities of today, where darkness has deepened, and those who endlessly wander the dark, labyrinthine streets share their wounds with complete strangers, bound in strange solidarity.
Everyday life passes, but peace is no longer. Survivors of natural and capitalistic disasters roam the maze like ghosts in hell. And we call that everyday life. The characters in Kang’s stories come face to face with the meaninglessness of life and attempt to flee everyday life. But the navigation systems of those who have lost their way fail to function.
In the end, they are thrust into another hell, whose reality remains ambiguous. Kang’s characters are fragmented; there’s no one to hold them back when they leave. They find strangers to make love with, get into relationships without emotional connection, and return home to find themselves when the relationship is severed. Jinwuk, the protagonist of “Incurable,” is a bank teller who has always been a diligent, exemplary worker. He starts seeing Suyeon, who applies for a loan at the bank, but returns home when the relationship comes to an end. Riri, the Japanese protagonist of “Thunder of the Sea,” has been traumatized by a severe earthquake. Unable to sleep soundly after the earthquake, she comes to Korea for the sole purpose of getting some good sleep. Even when people leave of their own will, they are caught off balance when they arrive at their destination. In “Black Puddle,” Jeongyeon, who has retired from her job, where she has worked for 25 years, goes drinking with a group of people, dozes off, and ends up trapped in the last subway train. Where they arrive at is not a magical place that makes their wishes come true. Their hometown is beyond recognition, and the northern village of Seoul is a place where anything can happen to strangers. In a city half in ruins, at an unfamiliar bus terminal, in a stray alleyway, or on the last subway train, they are still faced with chaos.

 

 

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