VOL.69/2024.04

South Korea Book Exports

Kyung-sook Shin's The Court Dancer Sold Into the United States

 

2017.10.10

 

South Korean author Kyung-sook Shin known for her acclaimed novel Please Look after Mom is about to become published in the United States once more. The novel in the limelight is The Court Dancer, which was first published in South Korea in 2007. The book is already sparking waves of curiosity as to how successful it will be in the United States as a historical novel by Shin that looks at the deep inner workings of man.

 

Cover art for the English version of 『The Court Dancer』 to be released in 2018

 

The English language rights for Kyung-sook Shin's The Court Dancer were sold into the United States. Shin is a New York Times bestseller and one of the recipients of the Man Asian Literary Prize and this will be her fourth book to be published in the United States after Please Look After Mom, I'll Be Right There and The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness.

 

Shin's novels published in the United States
FROM LEFT: Please Look After Mom, I'll Be Right There and The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness

 

The Court Dancer tells the story of an actual court dancer named Yi Jin who loved a French diplomat. The main protagonist, Yi Jin, grows to be a court dancer under the guidance of the queen and she becomes known for dancing like a butterfly within the palace, as well as walking the streets of Paris in a dress the color of water and reciting Maupassant's works in French. She was not only just a woman from the late 19th century but someone who could fit into today's society if she wished. Within the whirlwind of swiftly changing history, Yi Jin created her own history, memories, love and relationships and was a person who took the initiative of her own simple life, taking charge of her destiny.

 

The Korean language cover of The Court Dancer 
ⓒ Munhakdongne

 

The novel takes place in the late 19th century and traces a grand story from the palaces of the Joseon Dynasty to the Champs Elysees. Shin depicts a variety of humans in the book, including the hoi polloi, noblemen, royals, peddlers and scholars. This book is set in an age far before the time settings in Shin's three other books that were published in English, but it tells the tale of a woman today's readers can relate to.

 

This novel has already been published in China and France and it will also be translated and published in Romania soon.

 

 

Cover art for the Chinese and French versions of The Court Dancer

  

 

 

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Written by Joseph Lee, President of KL Management