Thanks for the name-drop ;) I got into this completely randomly - an intern(?) at the Dublin Dalkey office got in touch in 2014 and offered to send me some of the books. I got fifteen before somebody found out and turned off the tap! I did read a few digitally, which I don't care for, and I borrowed a couple from my uni library (still hoping to get to the others at some point).
Other than the five you mentioned, Park Min-gyu's 'Pavane for a Dead Princess' is great fun, the most (H) Murakami of these books, and Haïlji's 'The Republic of Užupis' is a clever, Kafkaesque story. And, of course, anything by Jung Young Moon is great fun.
As for the poor translation/editing, the one I still recall with a cringe is Hyun Ki-young's 'One Spoon on This Earth'. It's an interesting book, a sort of memoir that takes in the time of the Jeju massacre (the topic of Han Kang's latest book), but it's as if the translator had a few blind spots in English (to put it charitably) and the editor was busy playing online poker or something instead of, well, you know, editing the book...
Thank you for this great post! I have been trying to find a copy of "Stories of Yi Sang" from this series and it doesn't seem to be available anywhere, even second-hand. Is there any chance that Dalkey will bring this back into print any time soon? Any leads greatly appreciated!
You know what? It just occurred to me that when John died, he had two Korean books under contract, but no translators for them. The contracts were pulled, and I put them out of mind, but I’ll bet you this was one!
A good series. I've read Kim Joo-young's Stingray, Jang Jung-il's When Adam Opens His Eyes, Lee Ki-ho's At Least We Can Apologize, and Jang Eun-jin's No One Writes Back, but own the other titles, too. The series' book design never bothered me because, in the case of certain publishers, such as Dalkey and NYRB, I buy whatever they publish, regardless of topic or author.
Totally agree! Although I’m never sure if we’re the rule or the exception . . . I’m really curious about THE SOIL and some of the later titles. Maybe I’ll do this experiment again sometime.
'The Soil' is interesting, but rather didactic and heavy going at times. Another historical novel that just came to mind is Kim Namcheon's 'Scenes from the Enlightenment', which reminded me a bit of Thomas Hardy!
Thanks for the name-drop ;) I got into this completely randomly - an intern(?) at the Dublin Dalkey office got in touch in 2014 and offered to send me some of the books. I got fifteen before somebody found out and turned off the tap! I did read a few digitally, which I don't care for, and I borrowed a couple from my uni library (still hoping to get to the others at some point).
Other than the five you mentioned, Park Min-gyu's 'Pavane for a Dead Princess' is great fun, the most (H) Murakami of these books, and Haïlji's 'The Republic of Užupis' is a clever, Kafkaesque story. And, of course, anything by Jung Young Moon is great fun.
As for the poor translation/editing, the one I still recall with a cringe is Hyun Ki-young's 'One Spoon on This Earth'. It's an interesting book, a sort of memoir that takes in the time of the Jeju massacre (the topic of Han Kang's latest book), but it's as if the translator had a few blind spots in English (to put it charitably) and the editor was busy playing online poker or something instead of, well, you know, editing the book...
Inspired by this post, I just read and reviewed another one ;)
Pavane for a Dead Princess made my favorite book list!
The science fiction imprint DAW used to number its paperbacks in the 1970s and ‘80s, and I got into building up little runs…
Thank you for this great post! I have been trying to find a copy of "Stories of Yi Sang" from this series and it doesn't seem to be available anywhere, even second-hand. Is there any chance that Dalkey will bring this back into print any time soon? Any leads greatly appreciated!
I don't think that ever came out! Here's the complete list of Korean books from Dalkey: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KDoffi7A8MorLIHmwepi157XojtXkLxy6rSpsrIXEeM/edit?usp=sharing. (Which I'm adding to the post along with a Bookshop link to the full set of those that are available.)
Well, at least that explains why no one has a copy. I've been chasing phantom amazon.co.uk product listings this whole time! (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stories-Yi-Sang-Korean-Literature/dp/1628971509?crid=3THHBMOFSOI5D&keywords=Stories+of+Yi+Sang&qid=1691325551&sprefix=stories) Thanks for enlightening me.
You know what? It just occurred to me that when John died, he had two Korean books under contract, but no translators for them. The contracts were pulled, and I put them out of mind, but I’ll bet you this was one!
A good series. I've read Kim Joo-young's Stingray, Jang Jung-il's When Adam Opens His Eyes, Lee Ki-ho's At Least We Can Apologize, and Jang Eun-jin's No One Writes Back, but own the other titles, too. The series' book design never bothered me because, in the case of certain publishers, such as Dalkey and NYRB, I buy whatever they publish, regardless of topic or author.
Totally agree! Although I’m never sure if we’re the rule or the exception . . . I’m really curious about THE SOIL and some of the later titles. Maybe I’ll do this experiment again sometime.
'The Soil' is interesting, but rather didactic and heavy going at times. Another historical novel that just came to mind is Kim Namcheon's 'Scenes from the Enlightenment', which reminded me a bit of Thomas Hardy!