Kim Yeonsu (The romanization preferred by the author according to LTI Korea;[1]Korean: 김연수; born 1970) is a South Korean writer.[2]
Life
Kim Yeonsu was born in Kimcheon, Kyeongsangbuk-do in 1970. He graduated with a degree in English literature from Sungkyunkwan University in Korea. After graduation, Kim was an office worker by day, a translator at night, and spent the remainder of his time writing novels.[3] In 1997, Kim worked as a reporter for a woman's magazine, and this experience was also key to his outlook that daily life is difficult.[4]
Work
Kim made his debut in 1993 with a poem in the journal Jakka Segye (Writer's World) and the next year published a novel Walking While Pointing to the Mask (Gamyeon-eul Gariki-myeo Geotgi). He is one of the most well-received Korean writers since 2000, and also a best-selling author in Korea. For example, his work World’s End Girlfriend, published in 2009, sold 40,000 copies in less than three months of publication.[5]
Kim's literary world is shaped by his study of humanities and at the same time owes much to the Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges, whose influence is paramount in his first collection of short stories, Twenty Years Old.[6]
Kim did not content himself with a place in the shadow of a literary great. His third novel, Goodbye, Yi Sang was met with a critical reception worthy of a masterpiece at the very pinnacle of humanistic imagination. To be sure, Borgesian influence is still unmistakable, but only in the background: the novel, as a whole, is animated by the author's own meticulous and in-depth study of Yi Sang, the Korean existentialist writer of the 1930s who produced some of the most exotic and complex stories in Korean literary history. Goodbye, Yi Sang is concerned with the question of truth and of existence as well as the very definition of literature which, in Kim's view, are not mutually exclusive. “The reason why I write,” the author has said,” is to find out whether the truth does indeed exist in the act of writing."[7]”
When I Was Still A Child, which first appeared in serial form, is a collection of stories based on his childhood and adolescence. Although it was written with considerable ease and employs much lighter tone of voice than Goodbye, Yi Sang, the stories in this collection provide yet another venue for exploring the nature of truth, which has always remained the focus of Kim's interest.[8]
As a young author, Kim's works are just now being translated. To this date, only one short essay (New York Bakery) and several short stories referenced below have been translated into English. Rather, more of his works are translated into Japanese, French, and Russian. World’s End Girlfriend,Wonder Boy,The Country of the Blind, and other short stories are published in Japanese.[9]So You Love Me, Seonnyeong (Sarang-irani, Seonnyeong-a), If the Waves Belong to the Sea, and I am a Ghost Writer are translated into French. World’s End Girlfriend and Wonder Boy are also published in Russian, I am a Ghost Writer is published in German, and again, World's End Girlfriend in Chinese.[10][11]
Awards
First Place
Dong-seo Literary Award (2001) Goodbye, Yi Sang (꾿빠이, 이상)
"행복해지거든," "나무들 사이로 바다를 보다," "희망봉에 서서," "나도 웃으니까," "반가워. 내가 네 아빠야!," "시간이 사라진다면," "한바탕 웃을 때마다," "내가 바라는 것," 《사람은 사람을 부른다》 (Daughters of St. Paul, 2013)
"The River of Love Flows Only Downward (내리 내리 아래로만 흐르는 물인가, 사랑은)," 《Slowly, I started Crying (나는 천천히 울기 시작했다)》 (Bomnal-eu-chaek, 2013)
"Buddhism is about Thinking with Heart (불교란, 마음을 담아서 보는 것이다)," 《I am Ordained in Literature (나는 문학으로 출가했다)》 (Jogye Book, 2013)
"So Tell Me Again, Tiresias (그러니 다시 한번 말해보시오, 테이레시아스여)," 《The Country of the Blind (눈먼 자들의 국가)》 (Munhakdongne, 2014)
"Finding Traces of Exchanges Among Civilizations from Silk Road (실크로드에 남은 문명 교류의 흔적들을 찾아서)," 《Silk Road, Finding a Road on the Road (실크로드, 길 위에서 길을 보다)》 (Human and Books, 2014)
"A Spring Day that Returns after Meeting the Things that Pass Us by (우리에게 다녀가는 것들을 만나고 돌아온 봄날)," 《The Person Who We Cherished: About Park Wan-suh (우리가 참 아끼던 사람: 소설가 박완서 대담집)》 (Dal, 2016)
김연수, 노승영 (with Seung-young Roh), "A Puzzle Called Yeonsu Kim (김연수라는 퍼즐)," 《This is my Axt (이것이 나의 도끼다)》 (EunHaengNaMu, 2017)
"The 15 Pages that No One in the World Writes For You (이 세상 그 누구도 대신 써주지 않는 15매)," 《Autobiographical Essays of the Yi Sang Literary Prize Winners (이상문학상 대상 작가의 자전적 에세이)》 (Munhaksasang, 2019)
