[KS] SOAS CKS Literary Event with Korean Novelist Hwang Sok-yong (14 Dec)

[Grace Koh]

SOAS Centre of Korean Studies
in association with the Arts Council Korea and the Daesan Foundation
 
Literary Event with Korean Novelist
Hwang Sok-yong
 
4.30-7.00pm
Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Khalili Lecture Theatre
SOAS, University of London
 
“Hwang Sok-yong is arguably Korea's most recognized and renowned author. Drawing artistic inspiration from his own experiences as a vagabond day laborer, student activist, Vietnam War veteran, advocate for coal miners and garment workers, and political dissident, he is embraced as a writer and champion of the people. His historical novel, Chang Kilsan, an extensive parable about a bandit that described the contemporary dictatorship, was serialized in a daily paper from 1974 to 1984 and sold an estimated million copies in North and South Korea. In 1993 there was international outcry when Hwang was sentenced to seven years in prison for an unauthorized trip to the North to promote exchange between artists in North and South Korea. In 1998, he was granted special pardon by the new South Korean president. The recipient of Korea's highest literary prizes and shortlisted for the Prix Fémina Étranger, Hwang has seen his novels and shorts stories published in North and South Korea, Japan, China, France, Germany, and the U.S. Hwang was born in 1943 in Xinjing, Manchuria (now Changchun, China).”                
—      ‘About the Author’ in Hwang Sok-yong’s The Guest published by Seven Stories Press (2005)
 
 
The SOAS Centre of Korean Studies has been honoured to host Mr Hwang Sok-yong’s stay in London (as associate member of the Centre) over the past two years. The Centre is pleased to host this event in honour of the celebrated novelist, who was shortlisted for this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature, as he leaves London and SOAS for Paris where he will be affiliated with the University of Paris over the next two years. 
 
Mr Hwang will discuss his works and read from his novel, The Guest (손님), the English translation of which has been recently published by Seven Stories Press.  A book signing and drinks reception will follow.
 
This event is kindly supported by the Arts Council Korea.
 
For further information or queries, please contact Grace Koh (gk5 at soas.ac.uk) 
 
ALL ARE WELCOME
 
 
Praise for Hwang Sok-yong and his novel, The Guest
 
“Hwang Sok-yong is undoubtedly the most powerful ‘voice of the novel’ in East Asia today…. The Guest is simply great.” [Kenzaburo Oe, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature]
 
“A ghost story of striking originality, The Guest is also an extremely relevant journey into the heart-break of collective violence and possible redemption.” [Ariel Dorfman, author of Death and the Maiden and Mascara]



“Writing that refuses to ignore suffering, but at the same time refuses to let itself be destroyed by destruction—which is a great challenge to any author.” [Le Figaro Litteraire]

“Hwang Sok-Yong is the most committed, politically active writer of all those who have translated the Korean in recent years.” [Libération]
 
“More has been expected of Hwang Sok-Yong than almost any other Korean writer of the past quarter century. Ever since the early 1970s, when Hwang began to write stories about the nameless millions on whose backs the Korean 'economic miracle' was realized, he has been regarded as a champion of the people.” [Bruce Fulton in The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature]
 
 
RELATED WEBSITES
 
Seven Stories Press (U.S. publishers for The Guest)
 <http://www.sevenstories.com/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=58322100929170> http://www.sevenstories.com/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=58322100929170
 
Zulma (French publishers for Hwang’s works in French translation)
 <http://www.zulma.fr/AuteursDetail.asp?Id_Personne=228> http://www.zulma.fr/AuteursDetail.asp?Id_Personne=228 (in French)
 
[English translation of the Zulma webpage, via Yahoo:
 <http://216.109.124.98/language/translatedPage?tt=url&text=http%3a//www.zulma.fr/AuteursDetail.asp%3fId_Personne=228&lp=fr_en&.intl=uk&fr=fp-tab-web-t-1> http://216.109.124.98/language/translatedPage?tt=url&text=http%3a//www.zulma.fr/AuteursDetail.asp%3fId_Personne=228&lp=fr_en&.intl=uk&fr=fp-tab-web-t-1]
 
Amnesty International Entry
 <http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/south_korea/document.do?id=ADA72295FC38A184802569A600603979> http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/south_korea/document.do?id=ADA72295FC38A184802569A600603979 
 
Der Spiegel Online (English version) Article about Hwang, 
“FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR SPECIAL: The Master of Survival”
 <http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,380632,00.html> http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,380632,00.html
 
Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley
 <http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/2005.11.02-2.html> http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/2005.11.02-2.html
 
 
-----------------------------
Grace E. Koh
Lecturer in Korean Literature
Languages and Cultures of Japan and Korea
SOAS, University of London
Thornhaugh Street
London WC1H 0XG
United Kingdom
Tel) +44 (0)20 7898 4290
Fax) +44 (0)20 7898 4229
Email) gk5 at soas.ac.uk 
 
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