Interview with author Park Hye-su on the globalization of K-literature

K-문학, K-소설, 현재 어디까지 왔는가? 한류에 포함되는가?

Welcome to Dialogue This Week.
In this corner we invite guests from in and out of Korea to talk about a wide variety of issues ranging from culture and sports, to the latest trends around the world.

Hallyu is the phenomenon of Korean pop culture spreading across borders...in other words, the globalization of Korean cultural products.
From our previous episodes, we've largely touched upon various aspects of Hallyu, ranging from K-pop, K-dramas and even K-food.
Today, we would like to touch upon a more calming sector, which is K-literature.
Compared to other areas It seems like K-literature has been rather quiet when it comes to gaining awareness amongst a global audience, but when we look closer, there were notable achievements.

In fact, last year alone, the Literature Translation Institute said that with its help, a total of 180 literary works were translated into 29 different languages, the largest number of works translated in a year since LTI Korea was established in 1996.
The developments came as several Korean writers like Yun Ko-eun and Ma Yeong-shin won international awards.
And not to mention, the rise in demand for translated editions of books by South Korean novelist Han Kang, who won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016, also played a big role.

For a more in-depth discussion on this, we have Hyesu PARK, Author of "Understanding Hallyu: The Korean Wave Through Literature, Webtoon, and Mukbang" who is also an Associate Professor of English at Bellevue College.

Good morning Professor Park, thank you so much for joining us.

1. So Professor, in your book, Understaning Hallyu, you explore the less mainstream parts of Hallyu... literature, webtoons and "mukbang".
First, I must ask, how did you become interested in Korean literature, and as a professor of English, how is it different from English literature?

2. The concept of a Korean Wave first emerged around the late 1990s when, perhaps with the financial crisis, South Korean media content started spreading to China and Japan, later to Southeast Asian countries... to the current global "craze" for a wide range of K-products.
Where on this timeline is Korean literature? And when did it start being translated to other languages, presumably English first?

3. Popular K-pop songs first showed us, and most recently, the success of Squid Games has confirmed the international audience's readiness to overcome the "1-inch tall barrier of subtitles".
Translation across languages goes beyond translating a word or phrase; it's a delivery of culture.
What would you say is the most important element of translating pop culture... and what do you see as being the most difficult for literary works?

4. Like I mentioned in our opening, South Korean author YUN Ko-eun's novel "The Disaster Tourist" was the first in Korea to win a CWA Dagger award out of the UK, and MA Yeong-shin's graphic novel "Moms" won the Harvey Award for the Best International Book of the year...
And also, a team of translators was recognized by the US-based Modern Literature Association as they awarded the team for "Yi Sang: Selected Works"... the first time the award was given for a work of Korean literature.
Seeing all these achievements, how is Korean literature being accepted abroad? What works with the readers?

5. What is your favorite Korean literature piece - do the Korean language and translated versions speak differently to you?

6. Literature has a rather particular audience, perhaps, a narrower following than music, films, or sports.
Would you say Korean literary work "qualifies" to be a part of Hallyu?

7. Now, webtoons are perhaps slightly different in the sense that they are more visual, and have more exposure as they've been adapted to K-dramas.... for example 'Itaewon Class', which was one of the most talked-about K-dramas of 2020,... As well as Netflix's 'Sweet Home', and most recently 'Hellbound' which was another huge hit to the global audience.
Again, on the Hallyu popularity spectrum, where do you see webtoons?

8. But what about "mukbang", for starters this is sort of an eating show, in which a host consumes various quantities of food while interacting with the audience. So lately I've been seeing a lot of English comments on Korean "mukbang" videos on YouTube. So where does "mukbang" fit into the impact of the Korean Wave? Food is indeed a big element of culture, but the idea of "mukbang" is quite a unique approach. How do you see it?

9. Now going back to K-literature, I'm curious, is Korean literature just taking longer to become as popular as K-pop, K-dramas or K-beauty? Or should we be looking at it differently?

#Literature #Culture #Hallyu

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2021-01-14, 08:00 (KST)