One of the most common questions I get from friends and family who are interested in learning more about Korean art and literature is "where do I begin?" In order to answer this question, I've decided to make a few lists of my personal favorites. This post is centered around books and poetry collections available in English that I think are worth reading.
*Please keep in mind that I am no expert! These are just a few my personal favorites, and this list is based on my own biases and areas of interest. I will continue to update it as I learn more myself.*
The Vegetarian, Han Kang
Told in three parts and from the perspectives of three different characters, The Vegetarian is the story of a Seoul housewife who is in every way average until she makes the decision to stop eating meat. The book has become a hallmark of not only South Korean, but also global feminism, as delves into issues of agency surrounding women's bodies.
https://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Han-Kang/dp/1101906111/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+vegetarian&qid=1605439639&s=books&sr=1-1
Human Acts, Han Kang
Human Acts is one of those books that you are never the same after reading. It tells the harrowing story of South Korea's Gwangju Uprising (May 18, 1980) from the unique and disorienting perspective of the soul of a deceased boy searching for his body and the people connected to him during the bloody May uprising. Through her exploration of one of the most horrific events in contemporary South Korean history, Han Kang dives deeply into the horrors universal to humanity.
https://www.amazon.com/Human-Acts-Novel-Han-Kang/dp/1101906723
White, Han Kang
I'm sure at this point, you can tell that I am a big fan of Han Kang. However, of all of Han Kang's works that are available in English, White, is my favorite. It is a gorgeous poetic exploration of the color, white, and its various meanings.
https://www.amazon.com/White-Book-Han-Kang/dp/0525573062/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=white+han+kang&qid=1605438108&sr=8-1
Princess Bari, Hwang Sok-yong
Princess Bari tells the story of a young girl who flees North Korea in the 1990s and makes a new life for herself in London. Drawing heavily from Korean Shamanism, Buddhism, and folklore, the tale explores suffering and survival by retelling a classical Korean myth against a contemporary backdrop.
https://www.amazon.com/Princess-So-ra-translator-Sog-yong-Hwang/dp/1859641741
East Goes West, Younghill Kang
This comes from the Penguin Classics website because they can sum it up better than I can: "Having fled Japanese-occupied Korea for the gleaming promise of the United States with nothing but four dollars and a suitcase full of Shakespeare to his name, the young, idealistic Chungpa Han arrives in a New York teeming with expatriates, businessmen, students, scholars, and indigents. Struggling to support his studies, he travels throughout the United States and Canada, becoming by turns a traveling salesman, a domestic worker, and a farmer, and observing along the way the idealism, greed, and shifting values of the industrializing twentieth century. Part picaresque adventure, part shrewd social commentary, East Goes West casts a sharply satirical eye on the demands and perils of assimilation."
https://www.amazon.com/East-Goes-West-Younghill-Kang/dp/0143134302
Kim Ji-young Born 1982, Cho Nam-ju
Kim Ji-young Born 1982 has quickly become a best-seller and rallying point for South Korean feminists and South Korea's #metoo movement. Centered around the life of a South Korean 'everywoman', Kim Ji-young, the work chronicles the everyday struggles women face at the hand of South Korean misogyny and it has been said that "Kim Ji-young can be seen as a sacrifice: a protagonist who is broken to open up a channel for collective rage." If you haven't read Kim Ji-young yet, I would highly, highly recommend it!
https://www.amazon.com/Kim-Jiyoung-Born-1982-Novel/dp/1631496700
Please Look After Mom, Shin Kyung-sook
Another important work of South Korean feminist literature is Shin Kyung-sook's Please Look After Mom, which delves into the self-sacrificing role forced upon Korean wives and mothers. Equal parts beautiful and devastating, everyone should read this at least once in their lifetime!
https://www.amazon.com/Please-Look-After-Vintage-Contemporaries/dp/0307739511/ref=sr_1_1?crid=31XNU1WCLFDZH&dchild=1&keywords=please+look+after+mother&qid=1605439027&s=books&sprefix=please+look+aft%2Cstripbooks%2C356&sr=1-1
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly, Hwang Sun-mi
This one also comes from Penguin because I couldn't put it better: "An anthem for freedom, individuality and motherhood featuring a plucky, spirited heroine who rebels against the tradition-bound world of the barnyard, The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly is a novel of universal resonance that also opens a window on Korea, where it has captivated millions of readers. And with its array of animal characters—the hen, the duck, the rooster, the dog, the weasel—it calls to mind such classics in English as Animal Farm and Charlotte’s Web.
Featuring specially-commissioned illustrations, this first English-language edition of Sun-mi Hwang’s fable for our times beautifully captures the journey of an unforgettable character in world literature."
https://www.amazon.com/Hen-Who-Dreamed-She-Could/dp/0143123203
The Tale of Hong Kiltong, Anonymous (although, it is often attributed to Heo Gyun)
Arguably the most significant work of classical Korean fiction, The Tale of Hong Kiltong is often referred to as 'the Korean Robin Hood', and tells the story of the adventures of a nobleman's illegitimate son as he struggles to make a name and place for himself within then-contemporary Korea's Neo-Confucian society, which disparaged illegitimate children regardless of their talent or intellect.
https://www.amazon.com/Story-Hong-Gildong-Penguin-Classics/dp/0143107690
Anxiety of Words: Contemporary Poetry by Korean Women, Don Mee Choi (translator)
Oof. Anxiety of Words...I love this poetry collection, but it also rips me apart inside. This poetry collection presents the work of three contemporary feminist poets (Choi Seung-ja, Kim Hyesoon, Yi Yon-ju) from South Korea. One of my favorite parts about this poetry edition is that it is bilingual, so the original Korean and the English translation can be examined side-by-side (can everything be like this please?!).
https://www.amazon.com/Anxiety-Words-Contemporary-Poetry-Korean/dp/0939010879
Autobiography of Death, Kim Hyesoon
Autobiography of Death is comprised of 49 poems: one for each day that the spirit roams after death and before it enters the cycle of reincarnation. Kim Hyesoon is not only the first woman poet to win the prestigious Kim Su-yong and Midang awards, but she has also been called "Korea's most important living poet."
https://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Death-Kim-Hyesoon/dp/0811227340
Drifting House, Kris Lee
This collection of short stories by Korean-American author, Krys Lee, tells the stories of several contemporary Koreans grappling with their traumatic Korean collective past and where they fit into the present. Drifting House is full of stories that will haunt you, and will force readers to face the struggles that Koreans in diaspora have endured.
https://www.amazon.com/Drifting-House-Krys-Lee/dp/0143122932/ref=sr_1_1?crid=31XZ7J5YIPY1U&dchild=1&keywords=drifting+house+krys+lee&qid=1605440096&s=books&sprefix=drifting+house%2Cstripbooks%2C459&sr=1-1
Still Life With Rice: A Young American Woman Discovers the Life and Legacy of her Grandmother, Helie Lee
Still Life With Rice was one of the first Korean stories I ever read, so it holds a special place in my heart. The book's author, Helie Lee, takes on the voice of her Korean grandmother as she recounts the stories she has been told about her grandmother's extraordinary life of strife, struggle, and triumph.
https://www.amazon.com/STILL-LIFE-RICE-Helie-Lee/dp/0684827115
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