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| From left: sci-fi authors Jeon Sam-hye and Lee San-hwa pose with a rabbit representing union president Djuna, a pen name, in this photo provided by Science Fiction Writers Union of the Republic of Korea (SFWUK). Djuna Barnes is a postmodern authoresse who wrote "The Rabbit" amongst many other titles. / Courtesy of SFWUK |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Unlike Western countries, Korea does not have a long tradition of discourse on science fiction literature.
It was not until the 2000s when the Korean literary scene began to actively explore fantasy worlds and the future. A new generation of writers started traversing the line between realism and fantasy.
Aliens, zombies, pseudo-humans began appearing in novels, questioning the values of humanism. Then the settings of these works expanded into virtual reality, outer space and post-apocalyptic worlds.
A growing interest in science fiction spawned the launch of the Science Fiction Writers Union of the Republic of Korea (SFWUK) in December 2017 with the aim of supporting the development of the sci-fi industry and related literary endeavors.
There are only about 52 sci-fi writers in the union, compared with nearly 2,000 members in Science Fiction Writers of America.
However, Korean sci-fi writers are gradually gaining more recognition overseas. Novelist Kim Bo-young sold the publication rights of her three novels to major U.S. publisher Harper Collins in 2019, becoming the first Korean sci-fi writer to do so. Another author Bae Myung-hoon is set to release an English-version of the novel "Tower" in the U.K. later this year.
The SFWUK board members ― President Djuna (pen name), Deputy President Jeon Sam-hye and Operations Director Lee San-hwa ― shared their thoughts on the surging interest in sci-fi, themes of social evolution and the future, and the stories they want the world to see.
Surge of interest
Although Korean sci-fi has been continuously supported by a broad range of loyal readers, it has been underappreciated for decades.
Now, writers say they feel the surge of interest in sci-fi just by browsing online bookstores.
"Clearly the number of sci-fi novels written by Korean authors has increased in recent years. A few sci-fi writers gave lectures on the genre at Seoul International Book Fair last year," Lee said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.
"I think the popularization of the genre is attributed to the increase of sci-fi novels, which made them easily accessible to readers. Sci-fi has always been there, waiting to be discovered."
Meanwhile, Djuna said it is quite natural for the genre to become popular in Korea because nowadays readers live in a cultural environment where sci-fi contexts and imagination are taken for granted.
Rise of female-authored, feminist sci-fi
The rise of female-authored and feminist sci-fi has found a wide and enthusiastic audience in literature.
Women writers like Kim Bo-young, who paved the way for Korean sci-fi literature to enter into the English-language market, and Kim Cho-yeop, the grand prize winner of the 2017 Korea Science Fiction Awards in the Short Stories and Novellas category with "Book Missing Inside Library," have built fictional worlds that feel both fresh and inventive.
They have been creating stories about what the future might look like, from ominous dystopias to deep-space epics and explorations of gender and social power.
But more importantly, their stories attempt to shake the foundations of traditional assumptions of anthropocentric thinking and senses.
Author Kim Cho-yeop is interested in writing about the abstract components of life in a specifically scientific language while discovering new questions in the process. She also enjoys converting intangible ideas, such as memory, emotion, minds, and relations into tangible items.
"In general, adult women ― especially those in their 20s and 30s ― read more books than men. That's why women are avid readers of sci-fi novels," Jeon said. "Perhaps it may have something to do with the genre including the voices of feminists and minorities."
Jeon pointed out the unique characteristic of Korean sci-fi literature is the ability of Korean authors to incorporate any subject into the sci-fi genre, offering examples such as "entrance exams, game development and hitchhiking."
Commercial interests are also backing Korean sci-fi, as outstanding novels can be developed into lucrative spin-offs including films.
"I heard there are quite a few space adventure films that are currently in production. As for drama series, it's mostly about including artificial intelligence," Djuna said.
"I think they need to experiment with the conservative tastes of the audience. Expansion or diversification of subject matters is the next step."
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Golden age?
Whether or not we are witnessing a true golden age of Korean sci-fi remains unclear.
The board members said it not determined solely by the number of writers or the number of works produced. Instead, they emphasized the necessity to produce good works that stand the test of time.
"Nowadays, a lot of Korean sci-fi works highlight the interests and aspirations of contemporary Koreans," Lee said. "I think there are already diverse coming-of-age stories with interesting themes. I hope they continue their winning streak in the future."
Regarding the notion that Korean sci-fi literature began to attract international attention, he remained cautious.
"It's true that the number of Korean sci-fi works introduced overseas has increased significantly over the last few years. But we're not at the level of discussing their implication because there is not enough data to analyze," Lee said.
"For now, we can only anticipate that Korean sci-fi will likely increase its influence outside the country in the future."
Many believe sci-fi has something to contribute to discussions on the development of science and technology.
However, writers said predicting the future is not their task.
"I don't think the world I imagine will be the future. What we do is simply create a different world with a little imagination," Djuna said.
Jeon expects that the world will become increasingly digitalized, which can already be seen in literature, with paper books being replaced by e-books.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's latest survey on the reading habits of Koreans, adults read an annual average of 6.1 paper books in 2019, marking a decline of 2.2 books from 8.3 books read in 2017.
By contrast, the average number of e-books read by adults increased to 1.2 per year. The ministry said the survey was conducted on 6,000 adults over the age of 19 from October 2018 to September 2019.
As board members, Jeon, Djuna and Lee expressed their desire to work hard to promote the culture of sci-fi.
"We will continue to provide a platform for sci-fi writers and enthusiasts and support their literary activities," they said.
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