VOL.69/2024.04

Endless Possibilities in Korean Science Books and SF

Emergency Doctor’s Pick

2023.12.04

Science is hard. But there is nothing more fun than science. Science is about exploring the nature of the world, and when you study science, you always get to the root of existence. After all, our world looks different through the eyes of science. On the other hand, science is also a difficult field for the public. It is inevitably accompanied by difficult formulas and unfriendly, counterintuitive facts. Dr. Kim Sang-Wook, a professor of physics at Kyunghee University, is one of the scientists who interacts most closely with the public in Korea. Among the many branches of science, he specializes in physics, which is the closest to the essence of science, but also the most complex.

* K-Book Trends Vol. 42 – Go to the interview with writer Kim Sang-Wook

Science is like a textbook, if it is explained at an easy and moderate level. If you explain it in a straightforward manner based on evidence and principles, it is like a professional textbook. On the other hand, if you explain it in your own literary language with philosophy, history, and a sense of awe and wonder about the world, then it becomes a good liberal arts book. Professor Kim Sang-Wook is one of the best liberal arts writers in Korea who writes books about physics. He is also a popular lecturer who has been on various TV programs, introducing intricate concepts like quantum mechanics in the most interesting way possible. His book Tremolo and Echo (East-Asia Publishing) is a science book that is comparable to Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, at least in Korea. Let me end with a quote from him about the nature of the world and the source of existence. “Humans live happily in this meaningless universe inside their own imaginary world, enjoying an imaginary happiness they created. That is why humans are far more extraordinary than the universe.”

Diligent Korean writers are already producing world-class science fiction. Korean science fiction is characterized by a wide variety of native references that are borrowed and transformed. The book Eversible (Arzaklivres) is a work that pushes the boundaries of how far Korean science fiction can go.
In this novel, metaphors for periodic disasters and catastrophes in Korea, its dynamic social structure, its exclusionary culture for foreign members, and its corrupt public authorities and illegal organizations function as one axis. On the other hand, the battles of superheroes, the rules of romance genre-fiction, the fan-fiction culture of idols, and extreme and unyielding love operate on the other axis. These two axes seem disjointed, but at some point, they blend together and penetrate our minds. With the main characters acting with clear motivations and the fantasy setting explained, the genre of the novel shifts from mystery to romance, which makes “irreversible” an overly sad statement for time travelers. There is a sentence that I keep coming back to after the story ends. “It would have been nice to have killed this man at that moment, by any means necessary. That is what comes to her mind whenever she thinks about the moment.” Closing the book, I felt so torn that I wanted to hug the person who wrote this sentence.

Written by Namkoong-Ihn (Writer and emergency doctor at Ewha Mokdong Women’s University Hospital)