It was fascinating to learn about your journeys into Korean literature. I've been enjoying the (small) boom in Korean language fiction in translation into English but I never thought of trying Korean books in Japanese. Like you, I've been studying Korean for fun in my free time, but I don't know if I'll be good enough to read for leisure for a long long time (if ever) - even with Japanese, it still takes me a week or two usually to get through a novel. My favourite thing about Korean is the way it sounds, so I do love to watch films and TV shows or listen to people talking. But I think what you said about Korean literature and the political is also reflected in a lot of the best Korean films. Obviously there is a huge number of glossy romcoms and things like that which this doesn't apply to, but even big horror, action or dramas often have a very strong (and often very angry) political point of view that's fascinating to watch. Even something like Squid Game, which is often seen as the Big Breakout Korean Hit here (in the UK), concerns itself hugely with politics and society (and it's not subtle about it - it's not that sort of show).
Sorry for rambling on and on! I really enjoy your writing - I think I wrote you a dorky fan email years ago which you kindly replied to, and then I extremely rudely didn't reply back to (I had entered a tricky period in my personal life and became a bit of a Boo Radley). Really happy to see you writing again, I've discovered some amazing books and authors through your blog over the years.
You're back! I missed your blog.
Thank you so much for saying that! It means a lot to me. I actually just wrote about what I was doing instead of writing here the past two years.
It was fascinating to learn about your journeys into Korean literature. I've been enjoying the (small) boom in Korean language fiction in translation into English but I never thought of trying Korean books in Japanese. Like you, I've been studying Korean for fun in my free time, but I don't know if I'll be good enough to read for leisure for a long long time (if ever) - even with Japanese, it still takes me a week or two usually to get through a novel. My favourite thing about Korean is the way it sounds, so I do love to watch films and TV shows or listen to people talking. But I think what you said about Korean literature and the political is also reflected in a lot of the best Korean films. Obviously there is a huge number of glossy romcoms and things like that which this doesn't apply to, but even big horror, action or dramas often have a very strong (and often very angry) political point of view that's fascinating to watch. Even something like Squid Game, which is often seen as the Big Breakout Korean Hit here (in the UK), concerns itself hugely with politics and society (and it's not subtle about it - it's not that sort of show).
Sorry for rambling on and on! I really enjoy your writing - I think I wrote you a dorky fan email years ago which you kindly replied to, and then I extremely rudely didn't reply back to (I had entered a tricky period in my personal life and became a bit of a Boo Radley). Really happy to see you writing again, I've discovered some amazing books and authors through your blog over the years.