Newly translated Korean edition of 'Pachinko' to be published at the end of July

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Mon, October 2, 2023 | 07:30

Books

Newly translated Korean edition of 'Pachinko' to be published at the end of July

Posted : 2022-07-05 16:32

Updated : 2022-07-06 15:37

The newly translated Korean edition of "Pachinko," written by Min Jin Lee, will hit the local bookshelves at the end of this month. Courtesy of Influential Inc.

By Park Han-sol

The newly translated Korean edition of "Pachinko," the internationally acclaimed saga chronicling the lives of four generations of a "Zainichi" (ethnic Koreans in Japan) family, will hit local bookshelves in the coming weeks, three months after it went out of print due to issues with the publishing contract.

Influential Inc., the new local publisher of Korean-American writer Min Jin Lee's historical fiction novel, will release the two-part volume separately ― the first book on July 27 and the second before the end of August.

Back in April, Munhak Sasang, the publishing house that first released the book's Korean edition in 2018, announced that it had failed to renew the contract with the Eric Yang Agency, which represents the author. It eventually pulled the remaining copies off of the shelves in the domestic market despite the title's growing popularity following the release of Apple TV+'s drama of the same title.

"The book's initial edition contained a number of mistranslations," Seo Keum-sun of Influential Inc. told a local news outlet. "There were parts, where liberally translated phrases and literally translated expressions were inconsistently jumbled together. In the revised edition, it was our goal to better preserve the author's intent within the pages."

The upcoming publication, which has been translated by Shin Seung-mi, will also feature the novelist's "letter to Korean readers," according to the publisher.

Meanwhile, Lee's "Pachinko" touches on the harrowing survival of ethnic Koreans during and after the 1910-45 Japanese colonial period, as it follows an immigrant family's struggle to find a sense of belonging and reaffirm their hybrid identities.

Zainichi Koreans, many of whom were first mobilized during the colonial era to toil in coal mines, military construction sites and factories, form one of Japan's biggest ethnic minorities and have long been the subject of hate speech and discrimination in Japanese society.

The book's title comes from the pinball-like slot machine popular in the country. Operating the pachinko parlor was one of only few viable means of earning a livelihood for ethnic Koreans in the mid-20th century.

In 2017, "Pachinko" was listed as one of the 10 best books of the year by The New York Times and became a finalist for National Book Awards.

This March, it was adapted into Apple TV+'s namesake original drama series, starring Oscar-winning Youn Yuh-jung as well as Kim Min-ha and Lee Min-ho. The show's popularity in Korea has led the novel to become a bestselling title in April.

hansolp@koreatimes.co.kr