Kim Yeonsu (born 1970) is a South Korean writer.
1. Life
Kim Yeonsu was born in Gimcheon, North Kyeongsang Province. He studied English literature at Sungkyunkwan University. Kim made his literary debut first as a poet while still at university, when four of his poems including "Ganghwae daehayeo" (강화에 대하여 On Ganghwa) appeared in the summer 1993 issue of Writer’s World. The following year, he made his debut as a fiction writer when his novel Gamyeoneul garikimyeo geotgi (가면을 가리키며 걷기 Walking While Pointing to the Mask) won the Writer's World Award.
Kim's breakthrough came in 2001 with the novel Kkutppai isang (꾿빠이 이상 Goodbye, Yi Sang), for which he received the Dongsuh Literary Award. In fact, Kim went on to win all the major Korean literary prizes in the first decade of the 21st century: the Dongin Literary Award for his autobiographical collection, Naega ajik aiyeosseul ttae (내가 아직 아이였을 때 When Still a Child); the Daesan Literary Award for the collection Naneun yuryeongjakgaimnida (나는 유령작가입니다 I Am a Ghostwriter), which has come to characterize Kim’s writing style; the Hwang Sun-won Literary Award for "Dallo gan komidieon" (달로 간 코미디언 The Comedian Who Went to the Moon), and the Yi Sang Literary Award for his short story "Sanchaekaneun ideurui daseot gaji jeulgeoum" (산책하는 이들의 다섯 가지 즐거움 Five Pleasure of Those Who Take Walks).
A prolific writer, Kim has published ten novels, five short story collections, and over a dozen essay collections. He has also translated the works of Raymond Carver and Roald Dahl, among others.
2. Writing
Kim Yeonsu has the distinction of being one of the most critically acclaimed Korean writers since 2000 as well as being a bestselling author. His Segyeui ggeut yeojachingu (세계의 끝 여자친구 World’s End Girlfriend), published in 2009, sold 40,000 copies in less than three months of publication. 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, Seulmu sal (스무 살 Twenty Years Old).
Kim's third novel, Kkutppai isang 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. Kkutppai isang 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.
Naega ajik aiyeosseul ttae (내가 아직 아이였을 때 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 a much lighter tone of voice than Kkutppai isang, 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.
His next collection, Naneun yuryeongjakgaimnida, brings together nine stories that illuminate the many facets of human and literary truth that lie beyond official records. The eponymous ghostwriter narrator reflects the author’s perception of himself as a writer. While the protagonist may be a creator of fiction, that space does not belong to him alone. He is a ghost-like figure who is compelled to write the stories of relationships in society that have yet to be turned into fiction. The author explores the stories untold in the accepted canon, reading between the lines of history and official records in search of figures hidden in the dark. Notwithstanding his many endearing attributions as an author associated with humanism, a deep understanding of generational angst, and an unmistakably romantic bent, what makes Kim Yeonsu a key figure in modern Korean literature is his piercing grasp of the self and writing as evinced in the title story of this collection. [1]
Reference
[1] Korean Literature Now. Special Edition, 2011. https://kln.or.kr/strings/tklView.do?bbsIdx=1517
