'Universality' holds key to develop K-literature

Professor Jo Yoong-hee of classical Korean literature at the Academy of Korean Studies

Author Shin Kyung-sook and her best-selling novel “Please Look After Mom” translated into English in the United States / Korea Times file

By Jo Yoong-hee

“Hallyu,” or the Korean wave, is a growing social phenomenon. Korean culture has enjoyed increasing levels of popularity well beyond the boundaries of Korea thanks to the dissemination of hallyu. K-pop and K-drama have played leading roles in hallyu, with a burgeoning interest in Korean literature following close behind. Korean literature is the most profound source of Korean identity. Like K-pop and K-drama, K-literature will open the door to spreading the popularity of hallyu to a wider global audience.

The majority of Korean literature translated into foreign languages represents authentic Korean culture in terms of its subject matter, characters, and settings. Over the past few decades, translation funding has given preference to works that accentuate themes uniquely authentic to Korean culture and life experience. Toward the purpose of introducing Korean culture through literature, “Koreanness” has been given priority over other expressions of the human condition in the field of “literature.” This specified focus sometimes functions as an obstacle to enlarging the number of overseas readers, however, as the cultural singularity reflected through Korean literature often fails in achieving universal accessibility.

Universality should be an important criterion in the decision-making process for the kinds of literature being selected to receive funding for translation. Cultural distinctiveness and authenticity may be important criteria to identify certain literature with Korea; however, the more literature is particular to Korean culture, the more foreign readers may experience difficulty in being sympathetic to the characters and broader themes expressed through the literature. Korean literature is not promotional material of Korean culture. Just like K-Pop and K-Drama, it is also a commercial good targeting overseas markets. Therefore, commercial value will be the next criterion in the selection process.

Shin Kyung-sook's “Please Look After Mom” was a best-seller listed in the New York Times Top 20 best selling books of 2011. It is a pioneer of Korean literature in the U.S. market. It is also a signal flare for the potential of the K-Literature in the global marketplace with clear reasons for its success. The quality of the literature was already well-embraced by Korean readers, while the subject of the book was universal.

However, Shin is not the first author that introduced prose to overseas readers with those qualities and the key to her success lies in the stages of planning. From the beginning of the “Please Look After Mom” project, commercial viability was the primary concern. If the major purpose of the project was simply introducing Shin’s book to overseas readers, then presenting a representative translation would have been enough. The simple act of publishing the book in another language would have sufficed in achieving modest ends.

The writer is a professor of classic Korean literature at the Academy of Korean Studies.