Kim Yeonsu Explained

Kim Yeonsu
Birth Place:South Korea
Birth Name:Kim Yeongsu
Occupation:Author
Nationality:South Korean
Period:1970-Present
Genre:Modernist
Language:Korean, English
Module:
Child:yes
Color:khaki
Hangul:김연수
Hanja:金衍洙
Rr:Gim Yeonsu
Mr:Kim Yŏnsu

Kim Yeonsu (The romanization preferred by the author according to LTI Korea;[1] ; born 1970) is a South Korean writer.[2]

Life

Kim Yeonsu was born in Kimcheon, Kyeongsangbuk-do in 1970. He graduated with a degree in English literature from Sungkyunkwan University in Korea. After graduation, Kim was an office worker by day, a translator at night, and spent the remainder of his time writing novels.[3] In 1997, Kim worked as a reporter for a woman's magazine, and this experience was also key to his outlook that daily life is difficult.[4]

Work

Kim made his debut in 1993 with a poem in the journal Jakka Segye (Writer's World) and the next year published a novel Walking While Pointing to the Mask (Gamyeon-eul Gariki-myeo Geotgi). He is one of the most well-received Korean writers since 2000, and also a best-selling author in Korea. For example, his work World’s End Girlfriend, published in 2009, sold 40,000 copies in less than three months of publication.[5]

Kim's literary world is shaped by his study of humanities and at the same time owes much to the Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges, whose influence is paramount in his first collection of short stories, Twenty Years Old.[6]

Kim did not content himself with a place in the shadow of a literary great. His third novel, Goodbye, Yi Sang was met with a critical reception worthy of a masterpiece at the very pinnacle of humanistic imagination. To be sure, Borgesian influence is still unmistakable, but only in the background: the novel, as a whole, is animated by the author's own meticulous and in-depth study of Yi Sang, the Korean existentialist writer of the 1930s who produced some of the most exotic and complex stories in Korean literary history. Goodbye, Yi Sang is concerned with the question of truth and of existence as well as the very definition of literature which, in Kim's view, are not mutually exclusive. “The reason why I write,” the author has said,” is to find out whether the truth does indeed exist in the act of writing."[7] ”

When I Was Still A Child, which first appeared in serial form, is a collection of stories based on his childhood and adolescence. Although it was written with considerable ease and employs much lighter tone of voice than Goodbye, Yi Sang, the stories in this collection provide yet another venue for exploring the nature of truth, which has always remained the focus of Kim's interest.[8]

As a young author, Kim's works are just now being translated. To this date, only one short essay (New York Bakery) and several short stories referenced below have been translated into English. Rather, more of his works are translated into Japanese, French, and Russian. World’s End Girlfriend, Wonder Boy, The Country of the Blind, and other short stories are published in Japanese.[9] So You Love Me, Seonnyeong (Sarang-irani, Seonnyeong-a), If the Waves Belong to the Sea, and I am a Ghost Writer are translated into French. World’s End Girlfriend and Wonder Boy are also published in Russian, I am a Ghost Writer is published in German, and again, World's End Girlfriend in Chinese.[10] [11]

Awards

First Place

Runner-ups

Works in English

Works in Korean (Partial)

Collections
Long Fiction
Essays
Chapters
Translations

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Korean Literature Authors Name Authority Database - LTI Korea Library - LibGuides at Literature Translation Institute of Korea . 2015-01-13 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141006113322/http://klti.libguides.com/author_name . 2014-10-06 .
  2. "김연수 " LTI Korea Datasheet: http://klti.or.kr/ke_04_03_011.do#
  3. Kim Yeon-su, A Novelist Who Aspires to Do Something New, Korea Net, May 03, 2012. http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/People/view?articleId=100242
  4. The Indefinable Boundary of Fact and Fiction, LIST Magazine, Vol.7 Spring 2010
  5. The Indefinable Boundary of Fact and Fiction, LIST Magazine, Vol.7 Spring 2010
  6. "김연수 " LTI Korea Datasheet: https://library.ltikorea.or.kr/node/73
  7. 김연수 " LTI Korea Datasheet: http://klti.or.kr/ke_04_03_011.do#
  8. "김연수 " LTI Korea Datasheet: http://klti.or.kr/ke_04_03_011.do#
  9. https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=%E3%82%AD%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A8%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9
  10. Web site: Kim Yeonsu .
  11. Bonnie Huie. "In Loneliness Begin Responsibilities: World’s End Girlfriend by Kim Yeonsu." Korean Literature Now, September 4, 2019. http://www.kln.or.kr/lines/reviewsView.do?bbsIdx=770

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kim Yeonsu".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.