Kim Young-ha
Encyclopedia
Kim Young-ha is a South Korea
n writer.
in Seoul
, majoring business administration, but he didn't show much interest in it. Instead he focused on writing stories. Kim, after graduating from Yonsei University
in 1993, began his military service as an assistant detective at the military police 51st Infantry Division near Suwon
. His career as a professional writer started in 1995 right after discharge.
in 2004, tells the story of the first generation of the Korean diaspora forced into slave labor in a Mexican plantation and later involved in a Pancho Villa-led military uprising in a style. Sources of inspiration for this novel came from classical Bildungsroman, stories of sea trips as illustrated by the popular film Titanic, ethnography of religion, as well as Korean histories of exile and immigration. Another instance of Kim’s fabulously mixed style is found in Empire of Light, his fourth novel, in which he raises the question of human identity in a democratic and consumerist Korean society by presenting a North Korean spy and his family in Seoul in the manner of a crime fiction combined with a truncated family saga and naturalist depiction of everyday life. It has been translated seven languages including English(US title: Your Republic Is Calling You).
As a young Korean master of storytelling, Kim is especially popular with Korean film directors, who have found in his works to be a repository of plots and characters that make for superb film-making. Two films have already been based on his fiction, and the cinematic adaptation of Empire of Light is currently in progress. His latest novel, The Quiz Show, was also made into a musical.
Kim previously worked as a professor in the Drama School at Korean National University of Arts and on a regular basis hosted a book-themed radio program. In autumn 2008, he resigned all his jobs to devote himself exclusively to writing. Currently a visiting scholar at Columbia University in the City of New York, he lives in New York City, USA.
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n writer.
Early years
Kim was born in Hwacheon. He moved from place to place as a child, since his father was in the military. As a child, he suffered from gas poisoning from coal gas and lost memory before ten. He was educated at Yonsei UniversityYonsei University
Yonsei University is a Christian private research university, located in Seoul, South Korea. Established in 1885, it is one of the oldest universities in South Korea, the top private comprehensive universities in South Korea, and is widely regarded as one of the top three comprehensive...
in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, majoring business administration, but he didn't show much interest in it. Instead he focused on writing stories. Kim, after graduating from Yonsei University
Yonsei University
Yonsei University is a Christian private research university, located in Seoul, South Korea. Established in 1885, it is one of the oldest universities in South Korea, the top private comprehensive universities in South Korea, and is widely regarded as one of the top three comprehensive...
in 1993, began his military service as an assistant detective at the military police 51st Infantry Division near Suwon
Suwon
Suwon is the provincial capital of Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. A major city of over a million inhabitants, Suwon lies approximately south of Seoul. It is traditionally known as "The City of Filial Piety"....
. His career as a professional writer started in 1995 right after discharge.
Work
His first novel, published in Korean in 1996, was I Have the Right to Destroy Myself. It has been translated into English, French, German, Dutch, Polish, Turkish, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Kim’s novels and stories focus on articulating a new mode of sensitivity to life’s thrills and horrors as experienced by Koreans in the ever-changing context of a modern, globalized culture. In his search for a literary style, as is often the case with internationally renowned post-modern novelists, Kim attempts to embark on exhilarating and provoking crossing of the boundaries of high and low genres of narratives. His historical novel Black Flower, which won the Dong-in Literary AwardDong-in Literary Award
The Dong-in Literary Award is a South Korean literary award named after novelist Kim Dong-in, established in order to praise the literary achievement of The Republic of Korea...
in 2004, tells the story of the first generation of the Korean diaspora forced into slave labor in a Mexican plantation and later involved in a Pancho Villa-led military uprising in a style. Sources of inspiration for this novel came from classical Bildungsroman, stories of sea trips as illustrated by the popular film Titanic, ethnography of religion, as well as Korean histories of exile and immigration. Another instance of Kim’s fabulously mixed style is found in Empire of Light, his fourth novel, in which he raises the question of human identity in a democratic and consumerist Korean society by presenting a North Korean spy and his family in Seoul in the manner of a crime fiction combined with a truncated family saga and naturalist depiction of everyday life. It has been translated seven languages including English(US title: Your Republic Is Calling You).
As a young Korean master of storytelling, Kim is especially popular with Korean film directors, who have found in his works to be a repository of plots and characters that make for superb film-making. Two films have already been based on his fiction, and the cinematic adaptation of Empire of Light is currently in progress. His latest novel, The Quiz Show, was also made into a musical.
Kim previously worked as a professor in the Drama School at Korean National University of Arts and on a regular basis hosted a book-themed radio program. In autumn 2008, he resigned all his jobs to devote himself exclusively to writing. Currently a visiting scholar at Columbia University in the City of New York, he lives in New York City, USA.
Partial list of publications
- 퀴즈쇼, "Quiz Show" (2007)
- 빛의 제국 "Empire of Light" a.k.a. "Your Republic Is Calling You" (2006), winner in 2007 of the Manhae Literary Award
- 검은 꽃 Black Flower (2003), winner in 2004 of the Dongin Literary Award
- 오빠가 돌아왔다 "Brother has returned", (collection of short stories) winner in 2004 of the Isan Literary Award.
- Photo Shop Murder (English translation 2003)
- I Have the Right to Destroy Myself (1996; English translation 2007)
- Your Republic Is Calling You(2006: English translation 2010)
Further reading
- Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature & Culture (2007), vol. 1 has three translated short stories by Kim as well as an interview with him.
- Lee, Kwang Ho (2007) "Cultural Hybridity in Contemporary Korean Literature," Korean Journal Spring 2007: 28-49; see pp. 35–36.
- Lee, Hye Ryoung (2007) "The Transnational Imagination and Historical Geography of 21st Century Korean literature," Korean Journal Spring 2007: 50-78; see pp. 50–51, 58-60 and 63-69.
External links
- http://kimyoungha.com
- http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=83043
- http://mingo.info-science.uiowa.edu/~iwp/Global_Express/Kim.html