#korean authors

[ijustkindalikebooks]

Currently reading.

#books #baek sahee #i want to die but i want to eat tteokbokki #booklr #bookblr #non fiction #self help #book #self healing #self worth #self growth #self improvement #self esteem #book cover #book covers #korean writers #koreanlit #korean #korean authors

[isobelleposts]

Frances Cha's Depiction of Korean Society in ‘If I Had Your Face’

Cover of 'If I Had Your Face' by Frances Cha

I have recently taken up exploring Asian authors and women empowering books such as the works of Mieko Kawakami and Min Jin Lee, in hopes that I can dive more into the contemporary conflicts that directly affect women daily. And as a young woman myself, still figuring out who I am or am to become, Frances Cha’s debut novel has made me ponder on several points in women’s shared experiences in society.

I’m okay. I have survived the day, again. All I need now is for these stupid fucking pills to work.

Page 192 of ‘If I Had Your Face’

This book follows the story of four young women living in Seoul, struggling to float above the drowning waters of Korea’s social norms and beauty standards, without having its readers wrestle with keeping track of each individual story that is all somehow tied down to each other.

Photography by Julia and Nic of SHSandler

STEREOTYPES

Kyuri may just be my favorite out of the four women because of the brazen truths that her character is able to state in the lines of the book, which most I have always known but never taken time to acknowledge as an actual problem—which is exactly why I love Cha’s writing.

They pinpoint where you are on the national scale of status, then spit you out in a heartbeat.

Page 68 of ‘If I Had Your Face���

Her character, working a job as a room salon girl which is one that is closely followed by stereotypes and rumors, gives way to breaking off clichés from these women who are just the same as any other, working to survive in this cruel world where the way you look and whether you pay rent monthly or annually greatly affects the course of your life.

Handmade Collage by Ewa Look

PERSPECTIVES

Another aspect of the book which I greatly enjoyed was being able to go through the different perspectives of each character and see how they view each other individually. It is with Miho and Wonna that I begin to notice that the whole book is full of thoughts that would normally be kept to oneself and is something that makes me feel closer to these women.

It hollows me out, the way that they would rather kill themselves than be born to me.

Page 117 of ‘If I Had Your Face’

‘If I Had Your Face’ consists of stories that shed light on several topics that needed to be raised awareness like social constructs, privilege, beauty, and inequality, among others. 

I will be glad when we are almost home and the scenery will turn into rice fields and farm plots, and I will be reminded of how far I have come instead of what I cannot reach.

Page 151 of 'If I Had Your Face'

Rather than being completely fictional, Frances Cha succeeds in making these stories feel so real as if they had been truly lived by people before, and also allowed me to see myself through these women in different and unique ways.

The ending, I found completely satisfying, as the author was able to introduce her characters so well that I had a vivid imagination of what their lives could go on to be like once I reached the last remaining pages.

(Click HERE for Writing Commissions)

by Isobelle Cruz, 20/07/2022

#frances cha #if i had your face #korean book #booklr #asian author #asian book #book review #feminism #feminist books #miho #wonna #ara #bookworm #women empowerment #korean society #asian literature #korean authors

[kpopbookshelf]

Coming soon on the podcast!

#i want to die but i want to eat tteokbokki #baek sehee #Korean books #Korean authors

[absurdumsid]

slowly getting sick of the horror.... speaks.. like this.... dialogue im shoving that onto dust now

#fanfic authors ily but i will now put ur hc onto a different character teehee #sid rambles #i just i think a lot ok #as a HUGE believer of the dust is korean hc #it just fits #it just fits.... #<- like he would struggle to remember words so he needs to pause a little #or. if u are not a korean dust hc believer (i WILL convert u somehow) #<- because he generally does not care for anything other than. his ultimate goal of killing the player he doesnt talk much with others #+ so it results in this sort of. derailed (insane/jumbled u can choose) speech because he has to REMEMBER how to speak (he has been alone #+ for so long)

[autixel]

Made this venn diagram of the ships I think about most often and realized some trends. Spoilers for tged and orv. Yes one of these ships is not like the others I'm well aware

#this message was brought to you by autixel #I SPENT 49 MINUTES ON THIS SHITPOST WHY DID I DO THIS #jinjae #llojavi #joongdok #wizardbaron #tged spoilers #orv spoilers #ah yes let's see we got korean novel... korean novel... korean novel and ig sequel... AMERICAN BOOK SERIES 🦅🦅 #seventeen goddamned books and only two pieces of accurate characterization. release me. #one scene. AND ONE SHORT STORY IN ANOTHER SEPARATE BOOK. #Marcone. dear sweet Marcone. please be in Twelve Months. i fear I'm just now knowing you as a character. #for the other three it's like their authors got hands on gay concentrate and dumped 3 metric tons of the stuff into their respective stories

[hussyknee]

Seeing characters in romance stories just jetting between countries at a moment's notice with no thought for visa; seeing airports as sites of triumphant climaxes and romantic denouements instead of places of fear and danger where a sword hangs above your head— it all breaks off little pieces of my heart. They're constant reminders that my people will never be human enough in the colonial world order to be allowed to move freely around it. No matter what your race, those non-refugees living in the Global North will never understand what it's like to be part of a global ghetto where your passport is nothing but a trembling supplication and humiliation.

#race #racism #westerners will never know the dehumanization of the visa office #the ability to afford a plane ticket and the ability to get your visa stamped goes hand in hand #bc you're not allowed to leave the country unless you can show that you can afford to stay there and come back #you have to swear in blood that you won't overstay a minute longer than you're permitted to and sign your firstborn as collateral #a western airport is the closest i can come to the muslim experience bc the authorities will only care about my skin tone #that season 2 finale of Sense8 where the Mexican‚ and Kenyan and Indian characters of the cluster were able to flee to the US within hours #at the same time as the south korean and westerners #had Lankan fans falling down laughing #we're willing to suspend our disbelief of the science fiction telepathy shenanigans but THAT is a bridge too far #sadly not even the worst of the Wakowskis racefails #I love that show but its Caucasity was aggressive #global south #global north #immigration #refugees #islamophobia #no fly list #white supremacy #coloniality #western imperialism #colonial capitalism #knee of huss

[stuffnonsenseandotherthings]

LOVE IN THE BIG CITY IS GOING TO BE A DRAMA???

This is like one of THE works of queer Korean literature OMG I can't believe this is going to be made into a drama.

The book, written by Park Sangyoung and translated to English by Antor Hur (both of whom are vocal members of the queer community in Korea) is a semi-autobiographical account of being a gay 20-something in modern day Seoul. It touches on a lot of important topics (including HIV and the current attitude towards it in the Korean medical community) and as well as containing a very frank (sometimes joyful, sometimes lonely) account of gay dating culture in Seoul.

IT WAS ALSO A HUGE HIT IN KOREA. Like bestseller popular, like nine printings popular, like major bookshops top 5 list popular, like a queer for queers book went MAINSTREAM popular.

If this is well made (and I really hope it is) then it could very well be a game changer for k-bls. As I said before, it tackles a lot of difficult and important topics (some of which are almost taboo in Korean culture) and is unashamedly and almost confrontationally queer. Not only that but it's a BIG project, one that people who don't normally watch BLs or queer media might tune in for and pay attention to, one that might complete the journey (or at least bring us even closer to the finish line) that shows like Where Your Eyes Linger and Semantic Error started and break the queer media/mainstream media barrier once and for all. I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS OMG!!!!!

Article Here

Goodreads Summary Here

[Adding these tags because you might be interested in this news, if this gets made it'll probably be very different but also there'll be so much to dig into and it just feels like a BIG thing to be happening. Also I'm just excited and want to share: @waitmyturtles @rocketturtle4 @respectthepetty @lurkingshan]

#kbl #kdrama #love in the big city #queer media #I'm screaming into my pillow right now #I need this to be masterpiece #please do the story and the visions and aims of the author justice #kbl news #also if anyone wants korean queer literature recs let me know I have a list

[haveyoureadthispoll]

PSYCHIATRIST: So how can I help you? ME: I don't know, I'm – what's the word – depressed? Do I have to go into detail? Baek Sehee is a successful young social media director at a publishing house when she begins seeing a psychiatrist about her - what to call it? - depression? She feels persistently low, anxious, endlessly self-doubting, but also highly judgmental of others. She hides her feelings well at work and with friends, performing the calmness her lifestyle demands. The effort is exhausting, overwhelming, and keeps her from forming deep relationships. This can't be normal. But if she's so hopeless, why can she always summon a yen for her favorite street food: the hot, spicy rice cake, tteokbokki? Is this just what life is like? Recording her dialogues with her psychiatrist over a twelve-week period, and expanding on each session with her own reflective micro-essays, Baek begins to disentangle the feedback loops, knee-jerk reactions, and harmful behaviors that keep her locked in a cycle of self-abuse. Part memoir, part self-help book, I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki is a book to keep close and to reach for in times of darkness. It will appeal to anyone who has ever felt alone or unjustified in their everyday despair.

#book: i want to die but i want to eat tteokbokki #author: baek se-hee #genre: korean literature #genre: mental health #genre: non fiction #genre: memoir #year: 2010s

[apolline-lucy]

today’s writing spot in Seoul ft. a chocolate financier, an oat latte, & my little free book deal 🙈 for the sapphic lovers out there, get it while it’s hot!!!!

THE ANATOMY OF DYING

#the anatomy of dying #taod #indie books #indie author #book deal #free books #free book deals #books #writers #writeblr #writerscommunity #life in Seoul #korean langblr #sapphic books #wlw books #queer books #book recs #booklr #Seoul Life #living in Korea #korean #writers supporting writers #authors supporting authors #studyblr #authors of tumblr #writings #study motivation #studyspo #study space #student

[ultramarine-spirit]

In the novel, Athy's debut dress is described as white with long sleeves and the skirts made it look like a rose (? I think she was also wearing rubies but I don't remember very well anymore

Don't you have reference photos of what the dress was like? The translation I read is very strange lol

Athy's debutante dress is described to be pretty different in the novel! It was a pure white dress, that seemed to bloom like a flower at the bottom. It also had embedded jewelry and a tulle ribbon tied around the waist, and it had sleeves, it wasn’t sleeveless like the manhwa's. So the translation you read looks accurate. Here is @lithi 's complete translation of how the dress looked like!

I don't have any reference pictures of that dress specifically, sorry. And as far as I know, there's no novel-accurate fanart of the debutante. We'll have to use our imagination.

The thing about debutante balls that... no manhwa seems to get right is that, they weren't just fancy balls to introduce noble girls to high society. They were that in part, yes, but most importantly, they had the purpose of serve as the occasion for young girls of marriageable age (for the time period) to find a husband.

So the balls had a pretty strict dress-code. All debutantes had to wear white (though shades of ivory and pink were acceptable), the dresses were strictly floor-length and with a long train, though the sleeves were short. Long white gloves were also very common. The hair had to be done in an up-do with a veil attached to it, decorated with three ostrich feathers. As for jewelry, pearls were the more common option.

Some details could change depending on the time period, but those were the basics. So no colorful gowns, loose hair, short dresses or stuff like that.

Totally different vibes, even though that debutante dress is pretty modern. But it looks... like a wedding dress.

I was surprised to see that the novel's debutante was actually pretty historically accurate. My guess is that Spoon felt the novel's dress was too bridal, so she changed it to the iconic dress we all know (I've seen people say it feels too "homecoming", teenager ball, but debutantes were kind of just that lol). The part about the dress resembling a blooming rose was kept, but Spoon added the pink details, flowers and patterns, shortened the length and made the dress sleeveless (and gave Athy a tiara! Apparently only married women could wore those at debutantes in real life).

I quite like it. I think the choice was also to better reflect Athy's fashion sense and make her stand out compared to the other debutantes. Athy's dresses are always lovely and elegant, but she uses way more colors, patterns, short sleeves and hems compared to the rest of the girls. I think it suits her free spirit!

And yeah, it would have been kind of weird to see all the girls dressed as brides in the debutante lmfao...

#this is a very interesting topic tbh #im fascinated by how korean writers take elements from western high society but just kinda... change them a lot LMAO #same with emperors/kings having concubines. That was very much not a thing in the west. But it was in some eastern societies #super off-topic but a thing some western readers don't think about is that. despite the western setting of most otome isekai manhwas #they very much reflect korean values and ideas (duh the authors are korean). So i.e. you have readers not understanding FLs #that put a lot of importance on family. i think its important to be aware of the bias one may have as a reader regarding such things #anywaaaays lets tag this #who made me a princess #i suddenly became a princess #suddenly became a princess one day #wmmap #sbapod #sbap #athanasia de alger obelia #athanasia #athy #wmmap fashion #wmmap novel

[chaos0pikachu]

BL fandom got a major james somerton-esque problem and yes I will explain in detail- [gets thrown in a van]

#chaos pikachu speaks #thai bl #bl drama #i saw a post that gave major xenophobic vibes but came from someone “with authority” in fandom #and was like #oh we're just...gonna keep it moving then kk #or another post talking so confidently about film making whilst clearly not knowing much about film making and spreading misinformation #it's the misinformation combined with the xenophobia for me that's irksome #korea knows what sex and kissing is i fucking promise jfc #stop desexualizing korean men maybe???? #anyways

[ijustkindalikebooks]

Next Namjoon book club read!

#booklr #books #bookblr #fiction #book #book cover #book covers #korean literature #korean authors #park wan suh #the naked tree

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Bruh TT0TT

#asjfdkljaf;l this korean comic #i love amy #i believe it is korean (even tho it's set in america) #silly reads #poor girl is surrounded by idiots #i hope it gets an official translation soon so I can re-read it. TT0TT #and I hope the author does more work too cause they are funny #if you love silly yandere chars this is def the webtoon for you skljdf;jfa #(note the silly yandere char is NOT the one in the pic that's just an extra/side char)

[cardboard-aliens]

Suchong's role in the story is to be a foil to Tenenbaum. He's a representation of her bad end, what would've happened if she didn't decide to put life above her pursuit of science. While Suchong doesn't ever make that jump, and dies because he abused a child.

He's showing that change is what saved Tenenbaum, that if she had continued to sacrifice humanity for knowledge her work would've killed her too. And that expands to Rapture as a whole, as the only people who survive the city are the people who put other lives above their own desires.

#bioshock #yi suchong #cardboard cutouts #as per all of jack's authority figures they represent types of people he could become #him and tenenbaum have so much in common when looking at their backstories #with their defining difference being how they treated the little sisters #also don't get me wrong #him being the only named asian character in rapture and the only korean character is 🧍‍♂️ #and the way BaS makes his accent cartoonish while at least in bs1 he spoke predominately in complete sentences is. hm.

[always-a-joyful-note]

Shoutout to ORV for letting the fictional and real world merge and keeping it that way and taking it a step further by reuiniting all the characters regardless of what worldline or reality they come from. Yes, your sacrifices matter and they change things and the people you came to love in either reality are so important enough to die for yet partings are a part of life BUT the webnovel really said that while they matter, your sacrifice doesn't have to end with death. You CAN be brought back. Maybe you don't "deserve" to live but maybe you're loved enough that it doesn't matter. And maybe you can be part of two worlds, one that you loved already and another that you came to see still had good in it

#just read the webtoon rewrite the villainess #which was an EXCELLENT story (and completed and free to read on webtoons) #and a really light but more meaningful exploration of the villainess isekai genre #but that ending left me in tatters #and made me so happy for orv #i am forever grateful to the rtv author to have given us what if scenarios #even though that ending did make most sense #but tatters #i love you orv. youre still the no. 1 korean webnovel in my heart #orv #fandom spamdom #omniscient reader's viewpoint #orv spoilers #btw ive not been very active lately and im okay! #lifes just been busy (in a good way) and ill probably be sporadic or disappear from time to time #stuff i say

[metanarrates]

Attack on Titan fan jumpscare... it's so fascinating to analyze its fandom and cultural impact because it has left its creative mark on the seinen genre permanently for better or worse. I think it's a work created with good intentions, but Isayama lacked a holistic understanding of the historical context and rhetoric around the issue he wanted to address. From what I've seen and heard, it ends more or less on a sobering political note, utilizing tragedy to illustrate how fascist regimes fester and establish themselves to go on to abuse and oppress generations of innocent people. How well that commentary was executed, how much tact important subject matter was handled with, and the amount of self-interrogation the writer did of his own unconscious political leanings is a different story, which is where I suppose all the potential for misreadings took root. I'm skeptical of it having *explicit* pro-fascist subtext, though

i'm not generally inclined to take it in good faith, considering what i've seen jewish people say about its usage of holocaust imagery and what I've also heard about the author's views on japan's colonization of korea

#narrates #iirc the author has claimed to admire one of the worst war generals of imperial japan who played a big part in korean subjugation #maybe it was created with good intentions. idk. ive never engaged with it and I don't want to #but at the end of the day it's attracted a massive rightwing fanbase who view it as legitimizing their beliefs #and as far as I can tell the author has never dissuaded that. so I'm always going to view it with suspicion