[This Week's Books] 'Korean Literature Standing Before History' and More

Korean Literature Facing History

This is a new collection of literary criticism commemorating the 60 years of critical activity by literary critic Yeom Mu-woong. He began his criticism in 1964 and published a new collection after nine years. The book is composed of three parts. Parts 1 and 2 deal with literary evaluations of writers who began their work from the liberation period in 1945 through the 1960s and 1970s, including Kim Su-young, Kang Min, Min Young, Shin Kyung-rim, Lee Seong-seon, and Kim Nam-ju. Part 3 discusses national literature. In the wave of globalization, the concepts of nation and nationalism are effectively undergoing conceptual deconstruction and, on the other hand, becoming tools of exclusion and hatred. However, the author argues that for us, with the division unresolved, there is still something to be preserved. He emphasizes that writers active during the formation of modern literature should not be simply divided into collaborators and resistors with a single stroke, but that the literary heritage to be genuinely inherited should be delicately discerned. (Written by Yeom Mu-woong / Changbi)

Related Cities

This introduces the housing architecture and urbanism of Denmark, which ranked second in the world happiness index in the UN 2024 World Happiness Report. It examines the characteristics and differences between Danish and Korean societies through the lens of cities and architecture, and considers how Danish urban housing affects the quality of life of Danes. The author is an architect active mainly in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. He explains that while Seoul’s forest of super-tall buildings and large apartment complexes vividly demonstrate the Korean society’s pursuit of money and competition and the anonymity of a large city, Copenhagen’s courtyard-style apartment buildings of about five stories represent the coexistence and communalism that Danish society pursues. The representative Danish housing types, 'social housing' and 'cooperative housing,' are also introduced. Social housing is supported by the government and developed by non-profit private companies to ensure housing stability for vulnerable groups. Social housing rents are much cheaper than private rental housing and have no time limits on residence. Anyone can apply and live there regardless of class or income, so more than half of Danes have experienced living in social housing, which eliminates prejudice or discomfort toward it. Cooperative housing is a system where the cooperative owns the housing and the members own shares. Members can rent out their share of the housing but cannot sell it. (Written by Park Hee-chan / Dolbegae)

Landscapes with Absent Figures

This is a collection of poetic prose by Philippe Jaccottet, a 20th-century French poet and translator. Jaccottet is one of the most studied and widely read French poets of the 20th century. His works prominently address the theme of nature. For Jaccottet, nature was not a refuge to escape reality but something as real as human suffering and misery, a fundamental condition of human life. For him, nature was more than just a beautiful space; it was a space to restore humanity. Jaccottet was born in Switzerland in 1925, studied literature at the University of Lausanne, and became a French citizen in 1950. He published his first poetry collection, L'Effraie (The Owl), in 1953 and wrote numerous poems, prose, and critiques. He translated works by Rilke, Thomas Mann, and others. (Written by Philippe Jaccottet / Translated by Ryu Jae-hwa / Nanda)