It is not just films from Korea that are gathering fans in France.
The French are paying more attention to Korean literature as well.
A big-scale project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Korean poet Yi Sang’s birth will take place in Paris this month, co-hosted by La Generale, a cultural complex supported by the city of Paris and Lab201, an art project organizer based in Korea.
“The idea of the exhibition came from Emmanuel Ferrand, a sound artist and mathematician who is deeply interested in Yi Sang’s poems. In this international exchange project, we will not simply consider the important literary aspects of Yi Sang’s works , but try to go further, to reinterpret them in the fields of sciences, architecture, and visual and performing arts,” said Kim Jo-eun, curator of the project.
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| Korean writer Hwang Sok-yong speaks at the Korean-French Literature Forum in Paris earlier this month. Korea Literature Translation Institute | Titled “Yi Sang in Paris,” the project includes exhibitions, performances, concerts, lectures, workshops and publications on Yi Sang and his works.
An exhibition titled “2010 Paris/Seoul, Did the Line Assassinate the Circle?” will feature various genres of art including videos, performances and sound art. About 20 French and Korean artists who are interested in Yi Sang’s works will participate in the show.
Gu Min-ja, a Korean video installation artist, filmed Paris streets pretending it is Yi Sang who is traveling in the city. Luna Yoon Kyung, a Korean-French artist, will throw a performance inspired from Yi Sang’s poetry.
After the Paris show which runs through July 4, the exhibition will arrive at Space Hamilton in Seoul in Aug. 5 and run through Aug. 21.
This “Korean wave” in France, especially in the literature arena, was actually detected several years ago.
“Boosted by Korean movies and the 2002 World Cup, Korean literature is becoming more and more recognized in France and its sales are increasing every year as well,” said Serge Safran, chief editor at Zulma Publishing Company which publishes French translations of Korean literature in France, at the Korean-French Literature Forum held in Paris earlier this month.
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| Poster of the exhibition “2010 Paris/Seoul, Did the Line Assasinate the Circle?” which is part of the “Yi Sang in Paris” project. Yi Sang in Paris | The two-day forum was hosted by the Korea Literature Translation Institute. Korean authors who are well-known in France, including Hwang Sok-yong, Lee Seung-woo, Shin Kyung-suk and Kim Young-ha participated at the forum along with French writers Camille Laurens, Cecile Wajsbrot, Benoit Duteurtre and many French editors and journalists, and discussed the status of Korean literature in France and the universality and particularity of literature in general.
Hwang, whose latest work “Shim Cheong” was released in France, is already an established author there. Over 7,000 copies of “Shim Cheong” were sold in its first six months. Le Monde, a daily newspaper in France, highlighted the unique way Hwang had written the book, by posting the parts he wrote on his blog first to better interact with his readers, last April.
“Because Hwang Sok-yong had first published the separate pages of his book on his blog between February and July in 2008, it was read by and commented upon by about 2 million readers. When his work was published in the form of a book at the end of the summer, more than 500,000 copies were sold. This success has stimulated other famous writers to do the same,” reported Le Monde.
Hwang’s other novels, such as “The Old Garden,” “The Guest,” “The Road to Sampo,” “Chronology of Mr. Han,” “The Strange Land” and “The Shadow of Arms,” are published in France in French versions as well.
Lee, Shin and Kim are also under the limelight in France. Lee’s “The Other Side of Life” was nominated for the foreign literature section of the Prix du Femina, one of the biggest literature awards in France, a few years ago.
Shin was awarded the Prix de l’Inapercu with “An Isolated Room” last year. The prize is established by literary critics and literature journalists in France to honor extraordinary works that are unjustly overlooked by major literature awards such as the Prix du Femina.
In the case of Kim, the top three French daily newspapers, including Le Figaro, all praised his novels for their originality.
“The forum was packed with people, which proved the recent interest in Korean literature in France. After the forum, the Culture department of the French Foreign Ministry even suggested that we should hold cultural exchange events regularly,” said Jeong Jin-gwon, a Korea Literature Translation Institute official.
“Korea Literature Translation Institute has been hosting forums in five cities -- Berlin, Paris, New York, Tokyo and Beijing -- since last year to increase the cities‘ interest in Korean literature and to help establish a solid base for publishing and distributing Korean authors. This is the first time we held a forum in Paris, but it will be held every year from now on,” Jeong added.
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