K-Book Trends - Books That Expanded My Horizons

ENG: KOR

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One-Liner Quotes Books That Expanded My Horizons Korean-French Translator’s Pick: Korean Books 2024.09.02 As a French translator, Somi Chang has been translating modern and contemporary French literature into Korean, including Margrit Duras, Albert Camus, Françoise Sagan, Romain Garrigue, Michel Uelbeck, Hervé Guibert, and Valérie Ferenc. From the position of being an introducer of foreign books to Korean readers, I have gone the other way, introducing books by Korean authors to international readers. I browsed through my bookshelves. Adding the keyword “Korea” to my personal book selection criteria of “books that expand my horizons,” regardless of language, I picked out two books with great effort. Two books are: Leaning Against the Entasis Solumns at Muryangsujeon Hall (Hakgojae Publishers, 1994) and Music Story Collection (Franz, 2024). Leaning Against the Entasis Solumns at Muryangsujeon Hall is a guide to the beauty of Korea by art historian Choi Soon-Woo, who has spent his entire career working in museums and has made a significant mark on Korean art history. The words in the book’s title, “Entasis Solumns,” refer to columns whose bodies are wider than their heads or roots. If you are expecting to get a comprehensive knowledge of Korean art as you read the table of contents, which categorizes architecture, bulsang (statue of Buddha), seoktap (stone pagoda), cheongja (celadon), baekja (white porcelain), hoehwa (painting), and crafts into genres, you are half right and half wrong. If you follow Choi’s perspective, which places the roots of Korean art in the environmentally friendly lives of “civilized people who have lived with nature and yet have obeyed it,” you will find yourself immersed in the beauty of the spirit as well as the material. You will be moved by Choi’s deep affection and understanding of Korea’s sky, land, wind, mountains, and fields, the deep contemplation and beauty of Korean art that stems from it, and his heartfelt and cheerful optimism about life, all of which will open your eyes to a new way of looking at nature and art. “It’s midday at Buseoksa Temple, at the foot of the Sobaek Mountains, and the courtyard, empty of monks and villagers alike, is strewn with five-colored fallen leaves, soaked with early winter mist. Muryangsujeon Hall, Anyangmun Gate, and Eunghyanggak greeted me with a wistful smile, as if weary of longing, and it is difficult to describe the strange beauty of this secluded, yet rustling place. Leaning against the Entasis Solumns at Muryangsujeon Hall, I repeatedly asked myself the meaning of this beauty with a grateful heart.” The book, Music Story Collection, is a musical anthology of short stories written on the topic of “music” by Kim Ae-Ran (writer of Said Goodbye), Kim Yeon-Soo (writer of Onto the Surface), Yoon Sung-Hee (writer of Lullaby), Eun Hee-Kyung (writer of Weathering), and Pyun Hye-Young (writer of Green Sweater). Authors who hold a prominent place in Korean literary history have gathered together in many ways. Unlike the old saying “much cry and little wool,” this book presents a snapshot of the current state of Korean literature. The truths of life presented in each style are sharp, and the interviews behind the works are vivid. It is a compact book, but by no means small - it is a gift. “When she is like that, she is a completely different person. Dad told me not to provoke her at times like that. Believing it was for the best, I walked toward my room, not even looking in her direction. That’s when I heard it: the piano. The first note, and then the next. And then another, and another. Behind my back, my mom was playing the piano. We’d always had a piano there, but I’d never seen her play it before. The sounds of the piano were just so beautiful after expecting something terrible.” - from Onto the Surface by Kim Yeon-Soo Written by Somi Chang (Korean-French translator) Somi Chang (Korean-French translator) #Korean-French Translator #Leaning Against the Entasis Solumns at Muryangsujeon Hall #Korean art history #Music Story Collection #Musical anthology

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