A Beginner’s Guide To South Korean Literature

It’s been a few weeks since Han Kang, the South Korean writer behind The Vegetarian, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for her “intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” 

She is not only the first South Korean writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature but also the first Asian woman to do so since its inception in 1901. 

Her win is truly a moment of history. 

I have collected a few recommendations to commemorate Han Kang’s success and encourage all you book lovers to appreciate South Korean literature. I have done my very best to pull from what I have learned as a student of Korean literature, and my personal favorites to compile a comprehensive list. From history to horror, yet “up to date,” this list is the perfect place to start for K-Lit newbies.

The Vegetarian – Han Kang 

(Content warning: violence, graphic imagery, sexual assault) 

Han Kang is the woman of the hour, so it’s only natural to start with her. The Vegetarian is her most notable work—anyone who knows anything about Korean literature will have heard of it and might even ask your opinion on some of the controversies regarding its content and English translation.

Initially published in 2007 and translated into English by Deborah Smith in 2015, The Vegetarian is a three-part novel about Yeong-hye, a middle-aged woman who stops eating meat after having a series of violent nightmares. Her decision to do so has negative consequences on her relationships with the people around her and eventually leads to her descent into madness.

This recommendation is great for people who enjoy horror, alternating narrators, and literary explorations of the female psyche.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 – Cho Namjoo

This one is kind of a modern classic. Released in 2016, it preceded the South Korean Me Too movement by a year but still became an essential piece of work for women during the movement. Ultimately, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 sold 300,000 copies in ten languages. 

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is about an average South Korean woman. Cho wrote the book to depict the subtle and often disregarded ways women deal with sexism daily. Even the name in the title, the most common female baby name in 1982, was meant to reflect the unexceptional nature of the protagonist’s experience. The writing is straightforward, the content is grounded in real cited sources, and the characters offer readers a lot to think about. It is a body of work that truly blurs the line between fiction and reality. 

This recommendation is great for people who enjoy female perspectives, fast-paced reading, and culture-specific stories. 

Love in the Big City – Park Sang Young

Okay, time for some romance. Love in the Big City was published in 2019, and a movie adaptation was released at the beginning of this month. It was translated into English by Anton Hur, one of the most prolific Korean translators in the business, in 2021 and is perfect for readers who love unique literary voices.  

Love in the Big City is about a gay, unnamed protagonist who navigates the city of Seoul with his friend and roommate, Jaehee. As the protagonist stumbles through bars late into the night, smokes frozen cigarettes, and drinks away his troubles, he offers a hilariously cynical perspective while simultaneously trying to find love. Goodreads describes the book as “an energetic, joyful, and moving novel that depicts both the glittering nighttime world of Seoul and the bleary-eyed morning after.”

This recommendation is great for people who enjoy LGBTQ+ perspectives, imperfect protagonists, and unique dialogue.

Cursed Bunny – Chung Bora

(Content warning: some stories contain blood, gore, and other graphic imagery)

If you’re not big on novels, no worries. Cursed Bunny is the perfect place to go if you’re looking for something short yet striking. Published in 2017 and translated by Anton Hur, Cursed Bunny is a genuinely horrific speculation on society that lies somewhere between science fiction, horror, and surrealism. 

Similar to the shock that washes over you after encountering a Grimm fairy tale for the first time, Chung’s stories blend horror and fantasy in a way that is deliciously addicting and impossible to forget.

This recommendation is great for people who like strange stories, a little gore, and creative social commentary.

Readymade Bodhisattva: The Kaya Anthology of South Korean Science Fiction

You may have noticed this book doesn’t have an author. That is because it is actually a collection of thirteen short stories, classic and contemporary, written from the 1960s to the 2010s. Readymade Bodhisattva is the first book-length compilation of English-translated Korean science fiction. Its range, not just in content but in time, perspective, speculation, and question, provides readers with a look into the evolution of science fiction in South Korea. With over ten contributing authors, the stories in Readymade Bodhisattva allow readers to look into the variety and creativity that Korean fiction offers.

This recommendation is great for people who like robots, scientific exploration, and pop-culture commentary.

Yi Sang: Selected Works – Yi Sang

That last one was my segway into the more “historical” literature I want to introduce. Up first: Yi Sang. His pen name, which can mean “strangeness” in Korean (though that was not his intention), speaks to the nature of his work. Yi Sang has frequently been compared to Franz Kafka, the other modernist writer known for his “strangeness,” as well as the internationally recognized and highly controversial contemporary Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. 

Yi Sang was a writer and poet who lived his entire life under Japanese colonial rule. He often pulled from his experience to create dizzying stories and poems in Korean and Japanese, although certain poems also include shapes and numbers. I have recommended a compilation of his work, but if you are looking for a more concrete suggestion, I recommend the short story “Nalgae” (“Wings”). This was the first story of his that I read, and I trust my professor’s judgment on this one. 

This recommendation is great for people who like modernist fiction, strange, and unreliable narrators. 

The Cloud Dream of the Nine (Kuunmong) – Kim Manjung

This is a recommendation for all you history buffs. The Cloud Dream of the Nine is known as the first Korean novel, a pillar of the South Korean literary canon, and the first literary work from Korea to be translated into English. 

It is a little niche, but if you are interested in 17th-century literature, Buddhism, or where it all began, look no further. Of course, this is not the very beginning of Korean literature, but it is a good (and not too intimidating) place to start. The Cloud Dream of the Nine is a frame narrative story about a Buddhist monk, Song-jin, sent to the human realm after stumbling into desire following his encounter with eight Daoist fairies on a bridge. The text covers his journey as a human, Yang Soyoo, from birth to old age, as he attempts to collect the eight fairies and learn his lesson about the plight of worldly desires. 

This book is great for people who are interested in adventure tales, Buddhism, and historical literature.

This is only the tiniest bit of what South Korean literature has to offer. If you are interested in learning more, I highly recommend looking at the Literature Translation Institute (LTI) of Korea’s YouTube channel for more information. There, you can find more recommendations, book challenges, author and translator interviews, poetry recitals, and more. Otherwise, the BU Libraries collection at the Howard Thurman Center has a few great Korean books that you can check out for free. 

Happy reading!

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