Whale: SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2023

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Upon publication of the author’s first story, Frank and I (2003), he received the prestigious Munhakdongne New Writer Award. Cheon’s debut novel, Whale, was published the following year. It won the 10th Munhakdongne Novel Award and has become one of the most loved novels in South Korea, where it is regarded as a modern classic. What was your path to becoming a translator of literary fiction? What would you say to someone who is considering such a career for themselves?

Shakti smart card: Karnataka government proposes fee of ₹14.16, but Transport Minister wants to waive the charge If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. Thanks ever so much to @europaeditionsuk for sharing this title with me on @netgalley! Spotted in @waterstonesreading this morning. When I start a translation I often read books that will get me in the right headspace and mood, which helps me land on the voice. For Whale, I referenced Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, translated by Gregory Rabassa, and She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore for their sweeping scope, mythical flavour, and generation-spanning storytelling.’ The Gospel According to the New World by Maryse Condé, translated by Richard Philcox (World Editions)This is such a bizarre book I encountered this year. It doesn't have macabre theme & probably has sort of folklore stylish. It also has a storytelling written style with such beautiful language. Nothing is happy here, just full of sombre and disturbing tone here. Amulti-generational story detailing the lives of three women—grandmother, mother, and daughter—from Korea’s lowest social class, demonstrating resilience, cleverness, and loyalty in the name of survival in a poor, rural, and heavily patriarchal society that has little but contempt for females . . .Imbued with a sense of the mythical and archetypal . . . the novel’s actors seem as fatally flawed as any lead character in a play by Aeschylus.”— Tom Bowden, The Book Beat

From that day on, the terror of death ruled the girl. Her goal in life became fleeing death. Her mother’s death was the main reason why she left her small mountain village, why she left the harbor city and roamed the country, and why she built an enormous theater that resembled a whale. She wasn’t obsessed with the whale just because of its size. When she saw the blue whale from the beach, she had glimpsed what eternal life looked like, life that had triumphed against death. That was the moment the fearful small-town girl became enraptured by enormous things. She would try to use big things to beat out small things, overcome shabbiness through shiny things, and forget her suffocating hometown by jumping into the vast ocean. And finally, she became a man to hurdle over the limitations of being a woman. Whaleis an astounding epic: part multigenerational epic, part mother-daughter saga, imbued with magical realism and a satirical lens on the post-Korean War years. Using a panoply of characters and fantastical elements, Myeong-Kwan explores love and loss, politics and class, desire and family. This book is big, in so many senses of the word.”— Kelsey F., Powell’s Bookstore Nettel has created rich, flawed, searching characters and allows such access to them – their minds, desires, contradictions. In part, her book is about the very closeness and intimacy it enacts. I did like the novel, and I understand why it might be a bestselling, classic in Korea (published 20 years ago), but it didn't feel contemporary enough for me to be reading in 2023, and had me craving for signs of social justice or improvement or anything that might leave the reader believing in humanity. This same sensation animates Rosalind Harvey’s delicate but enthrallingly tense translation of Guadalupe Nettel’s fourth novel: an exploration of maternity, loss and refusal.Standing Heavy is highly relevant for our times as societies in many parts of the world grapple with the problems of capitalism, inequality, racism and the legacies and open wounds of history. Yet the book has its feet firmly on the ground as we see how power manifests itself in many small, often very ordinary ways. The style of storytelling forces us to see our own everyday realities through different eyes. The wit and inventiveness of the writing, which never overwhelms the compassion the author has not only for his characters, but also for us, the readers.

Vigdis Hjorth’s Norwegian novel about a mother and child Is Mother Dead is translated by Charlotte Barslund. Susie Mesure in the Guardian said the novel was: “an absorbing study of inner turmoil that is unexpectedly gripping”. What was the experience of working with the book’s translator, Chi-Young Kim, like? How closely did you work together on the English edition? Did you offer any specific guidance or advice? Were there any surprising moments during your collaboration, or joyful moments, or challenges? Whilst the writing is often comedic, the tone is a philosophical one, with a twist of nostalgia and melancholy. The book is a classic in Korean literature, and this translation, though making the Booker Longlist, is not the first into English. The book is a history of Korea: from it’s humble beginnings to a land of progress then one divided by political strife. This could be represented by the whale itself but the events which happen in the book also mirror ones which have happened throughout Korea’s history. Due to the grotesque characters and overtly sexual situations, the book is a satire. Think of it as a modern day Candide or Terry Southern’s Candy ,both of which also used sex to point out the failings of the philosophies, government and social circles of their time, Through mother and daughter, Cheon constructs a portrait of an oppressive, ruthless society in which workers are brutally suppressed and torture becomes almost routine; a place of growing social inequality in which the many will suffer but the few will profit through corruption and opportunism. Even Geumbok, who seems to encapsulate what’s needed to thrive, with her tenacity and skill in exploiting emerging trends, from early café culture to post-war construction booms, is vulnerable to failure simply because she’s a woman. Geumbok and Chunhui are also individuals caught between clashing cultures, in an era where the erosion of rural life and growing influence of American culture mingle uneasily with traditional beliefs and superstitions.We wanted to celebrate literary ambition, panache, originality and, of course, through this, the talent of translators who have been able to convey all of this with great skill,” she added.

Actually, not a few of the characters who are offed (almost everybody) return to spout some wisdom, such as: "This world is better than the other, even if you find yourself rolling around in dog shit." Not a few of characters find themselves rolling around in dog shit. I really liked Geumbok, one of the female protagonists, who had a real entrepreneurial gift. Until, that is, she fell in love with a lovely woman, transitioned to a man, and then transitioned to a drunken load. Geumbok was one shitty mother, too, worse than anything Joy Williams has so far thought up. Cheon Myeong-kwan, author of Whale, is a Korean novelist, screenwriter and director whose work has been translated into eight languages. There hasn't been a book that has kept me up reading all night, but I spent some waking hours in finishing this one, leaving me so full of awe and hurt. Ahhh! Which all surprises me given this book was released in 2004 in Korea, which is momentous given how conservative it was then (and still is) during that time.

You may change or cancel your subscription or trial at any time online. Simply log into Settings & Account and select "Cancel" on the right-hand side. Rather than focus explicitly on these episodes – the Korean War, US occupation and military dictatorships, for instance – Whale tells its grand national narrative on a smaller human scale. Whaleis a rollercoaster adventure through Korean history and culture, a magical and grotesque epic . . . The plot twists and turns and hurtles along in a way that makes you pleasantly dizzy; the imagery and language in the book are also so rich, with the innocence and darkness of a fairy-tale combined with a playful sense of irony. The translatorChi-Young Kimhas done an amazing job, the translation is so dynamic and full of life.”— The International Booker Prize 2023 judges