Looking for next Shin Kyung-sook

The cover of Korean novelist Kim Ae-ran’s “Ma vie Palpitante,” which is a French translation of “My Palpitating Life” / Courtesy of Editions Phlippe Picquier

Novelist Kim Ae-ran

By Kwon Mee-yoo

A new generation of Korean writers is dazzling the international literary market as more Korean works are translated into foreign languages.

Kim Ae-ran, the author of the story that inspired the film “My Brilliant Life,” is enjoying popularity in France.

Kim’s 2005 short story collection “Run, Papa, run” was translated into French and published by Decrescenzo Editeurs as two books: “Cours papa, cours!” in 2012 and “Ma vie dans la superette” (“I Go to the Convenience Store”) in 2013.

The latter won the Prix de l’Inapercu in June, which honors literary works that the public has overlooked. Nils C. Ahl, a literary critic for Le Monde newspaper, said, “Even if the background of this novel is Korea, this work does not make readers feel isolated by foreign culture.” The review states that the writer has succeeded in combining Eastern and Western literature, and that she has done so in an excellent manner.

Kim’s first full-length novel, “My Palpitating Life” (2011), a story of a 17-year-old boy suffering from a disease that causes rapid aging, was a big hit in Korea, selling more than 140,000 copies and was adapted into a movie starring top actors Kang Dong-won and Song Hye-kyo. It was published in France earlier this year under the title “Ma vie palpitante.”

The luminosity of Korean authors was praised by literary giants as well. French novelist Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, the 2008 Nobel laureate in literature, wrote a two-page review of “Nocturne d’un chauffeur de taxi” in the French newspaper Le Figaro in May.

In the review of the collection of 10 short stories by Korean authors including Kim Ae-ran, Kim Yeon-su and Han Kang from 2000 to 2013, Le Clezio wrote, “You will be amazed by the talent, sincerity and humor of these cruel and wacky tales full of unexpected tenseness. ... The authors demonstrate the vitality of contemporary Korean literature.”

Cover of the Japanese translation of Park Min-kyu’s “Castella.”

Kim Young-ha’s “Der Sterbehelfer,” a German translation of “I Have the Right to Destroy Myself”

Kim’s works are also making their way into the English-speaking world. According to the Literature Translation Institute (LTI), Kim Chi-young, the translator of Shin Kyung-sook’s best-seller “Please Look After Mom,” has translated part of “My Palpitating Life” into English and is sounding publishers out.

The LTI said that in addition to Kim, Park Min-kyu and Kim Young-ha were also drawing attention from translators interested in Korean literature.

The institute explained that this young generation of Korean writers produces more universal themes in lively style, compared to earlier Korean writers, such as Yi Mun-yol and Hwang Sok-yong, whose works were based on specific political or social situation of Korea.

Works by Park, known for his whimsical sense of humor, have been translated into several languages including English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, German and Russian.

His first short story collection, “Castella,” was first published overseas in Japan in 2012 and his feature-length work “The Sammi Superstars’ Last Fan Club” has been translated into German and Spanish, while his “Pavane for a Dead Princess” has been translated into English and Chinese.

Kim Young-ha, a novelist and opinion writer for The International New York Times, has an international reputation in some 16 language groups. More than 40 of his works have been translated and published overseas.

Among them, “I Have the Right to Destroy Myself” was translated into Urdu as well as Turkish, Italian and Portuguese.