VOL.78/2025.01

Bringing Korean Voices to French Readers

2024.12.02

Korean literature and Editions Picquier have a long story. We began publishing books from Asia nearly 40 years ago: Korea and its literature, virtually unknown in France at the time, have fascinated us from our earliest days. The first works we published - Kim Won Il’s Mr Lee’s Travel, KIM Song Dong’s Mandala, Yun Hung Kil’s The Mother - almost went unnoticed; it was challenging to bring readers into contact with a literature that was far removed from the habits and preoccupations of French readers. It was a literature that gave pride of place to cultural traditions, to the earth, to history. We thus decided to publish anthologies of short stories and essays to give French readers some reference points. This had a pedagogical purpose, establishing a foothold in Korean literature and presenting a more organized history to readers. More than 30 years ago, what was being published in France was a literature whose history we knew very little about, with few points of reference, known mainly through novels featuring a reality dominated by painful events such as the war or political and social problems which marked Korean literature for many years.

Then, one day, Kim Young-ha appeared in our catalog. In 1996, we published I Have the Right to Destroy Myself (Bokbokseoga), which was met with critical acclaim. Kim Young-ha’s novel arrived like a shooting star: it was a first novel by a talented and promising young writer; a scabrous subject, a provocative tone, with wry humor, and an ironic lightness that heralded a style of writing that was very different from the books we were being offered from Korea at the time. I remember the introduction to readers was not easy at first- we had to change the cover three times before we could claim our first Korean success!
Then came other major authors to whom we have since become very attached, such as Hwang Sok-yong and Gong Ji-young. They are all writers to whom we remain faithful to this day, because our ambition as a publisher - the way we envision publishing - is to commit to what we call our ‘oath of loyalty’ to authors. We commit to publishing several books by the same author over time, as it is evidently true that one cannot be known, recognized, or truly appreciated as a writer without a coherent body of published work in France as well as in Korea.
This is how our ‘oath of loyalty’ with Kim Young-ha started; his first title was followed by Black Flower (Bokbokseoga), then Empire of Lights (Bokbokseoga), Diary of a Murderer (Bokbokseoga), and many others. Each published title is like a building block, each success is like a groundswell that breathes new life into previously published titles; I believe a catalog is truly built on this virtuous cycle. It was a particular pleasure for us to meet with Hwang Sok-yong in person on several occasions and to publish his works. We welcomed him to France and have held great admiration and friendship ever since. Gong Ji-young’s novels also greatly touched the hearts of French readers; her social commitment resonated strongly in France.

Have French readers changed? I think they have. Readers of books from Asia are now more attentive and much more curious. Much to our delight, Korea has become a major cultural player through the export of its culture. Korean culture has made its mark in film - Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite”, TV series like “Squid Game” - and music with hugely successful global K-Pop artists. I think we are seeing a similar phenomenon with K-Lit.
I am not just talking about the Nobel Prize, which has just been awarded to Han Kang, but about books of all genres which are now easily available in bookshops all over the country, including children’s books, illustrated books, thrillers, fantasy and, more recently, popular healing books.
In the face of a literature that is sometimes excessively globalized - Anglo-Saxon literature largely dominates the market for translated literature - Korean literature brings its own singularity, its own voices. A diversity that we can finally recognize and appreciate in France. For our part, we have achieved major successes with books that are all very different: for example, Cats’ School (Munhakdongne) by Kim Jin-kyeong and Kim Jae-hong, which we have been reprinting constantly since 2006; literary books such as Princess Bari (Changbi) by Hwang Sok-yong, Empire of Lights by Kim Young-ha; thriller novels such as The Good Son (EunHaeng NaMu) by Jeong You-Jeong; another one which I particularly like is Gong Ji-young’s Our Happy Time (Hainaim Publishing), who now has a loyal readership. We are proud to welcome different Korean voices to our catalogue, as we have done for Japan and China, and we pay close attention to showcasing a culture and a country in all its diversity.

I have noticed a real shift in recent years, to the extent that the global excitement for Korean culture has enabled us to publish books that I would never have imagined being able to publish before, such as Dallergut Dream Department Store (Sam & Parkers) by Lee Mi-ye, Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop (Clay House) by Hwang Bo-reum or The Second Chance Convenience Store (previously known as The Uncanny Convenience Store)(Namu Bench) by Kim Ho-yeon, which have naturally found their way into bookshops. They both are best-sellers in Korea, as well as huge successes in France.

* K-Book Trends Vol. 44 – Go to the interview with writer Kim Ho-Yeon

I would like to conclude that Korean literature does not seem as foreign today as it once was, as it becomes clear that the background is eclipsed by distinctive voices which the readers recognize as singular. And these voices are even closer to us when the text produced by a talented translator allows it to equal the original. While these novels may sometimes allow us glimpses of Korean history, they also speak about a great deal more than that. They show us that fiction is sometimes more convincing than reality. They speak to us about the difficulty of being in the world, and about the time of writing, which is also that of memory. They tell a lie that enriches our existence and compensates us for the tragic condition that is ours. Novels have their own life, their own genius - that of each writer - which can resonate with the concerns of readers far beyond their country of origin.
As for me, my only concern is to keep up the momentum, to continue to be the ‘first French reader’ of writers I am learning to discover, thanks to the work of talented translators, the faith that Korean publishers have placed in me, with a great deal of humility and curiosity.

Written by Juliette Picquier (Éditions Picquier)