Seoul Int'l Book Fair to explore vision of better future through 'Gulliver's Travels'
Writer Kim Yeon-su speaks during a press conference, Wednesday, for this year's Seoul International Book Fair, where his rewritten version of Jonathan Swift's 1726 "Gulliver’s Travels" will debut. Yonhap
To get a glimpse of this year’s Seoul International Book Fair (SIBF), the largest annual book and publishing trade show in Korea, one needs to start by picking up a classic: Jonathan Swift’s 1726 satirical novel “Gulliver’s Travels.”
Turning the pages to the book’s lesser-known Part 4 reveals Gulliver’s journey to the Land of Houyhnhnms, a utopian society populated by rational, talking horses and savage humanoids called Yahoos.
A poster for the Seoul International Book Fair 2024, running under the theme of "Houyhnhnm" / Courtesy of Korean Publishers Association
The fair’s upcoming edition, running from June 26 t0 30 at COEX in southern Seoul, embraces the theme of “Houyhnhnm” to explore the vision of a peaceful future free from human-caused suffering.
“Inspired by Swift, who pondered and criticized the corrupt state of 18th-century English society by imagining a fictional land of rational beings, we wanted to share this moment of reflection with readers today,” SIBF Director Joo I-roo said at a press conference, Wednesday.
Book lovers from across the country are expected to flock to the five-day event to attend a string of lectures, talks and exhibitions hosted by 185 guest speakers and 452 publishers from 18 countries.
One intriguing approach the fair is taking to address the theme is through the publication of a rewritten version of "Gulliver’s Travels" by the writer Kim Yeon-su.
Kim’s project takes cues from the first-ever Korean translation of Swift’s novel by Choe Nam-sun (1890-1957), who introduced only the first two parts of the original book to the domestic literary scene in 1909. In Choe’s rendering, many cultural references and terms were loosely localized to better suit the context in Korea.
Kim adopts a similar approach and reimagines the book’s third and fourth parts, even conjuring up the encounter between Gulliver and Korea’s Robin Hood-like hero, Hong Gil-dong, toward the end.
“Therefore, rather than being a faithful translation of Swift’s original work, this rendition is the product of its literary interpretation through the lens of Korea in 2024,” Kim noted.
This year's event features Saudi Arabia as the guest country of honor, with Oman and Norway appearing as spotlight countries.
Among the literary heavyweights and stars attending are Jokha Alharthi, the first Arab author to win the Man Booker International Prize in 2019 for “Celestial Bodies;” Michelle Zauner, the writer behind the best-selling heartfelt memoir “Crying in H Mart;” and Harvey Award-winning graphic novelist Keum Suk Gendry-Kim.
Meanwhile, this is the first edition being held without government funding, following ongoing disputes between the culture ministry and the fair’s organizer, Korean Publishers Association (KPA), concerning apparent financial irregularities from 2018 to 2022.
The government has instructed the association to return the profits generated from the SIBF, and in response, the KPA has initiated an administrative lawsuit against this decision.
“We are operating the 2024 iteration with contributions from our publisher members, as well as donations and fees paid by participating agencies,” KPA President Yoon Chul-ho said.
“I believe this new model of the fair will demonstrate that creators and consumers of culture can thrive in their own strengths, even without relying on state support.”