Novelists Susan Choi and Young-ha Kim will come to Bowdoin next Monday for a panel discussion on Korean literature, moderated by Bruce Fulton '70, an associate professor of Asian studies at the University of British Columbia.
A Guggenheim fellow and the author of three novels, Choi's second work, "American Woman," was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize. To date, Kim has published five novels and four collections of short stories. His debut novel, "I Have the Right to Destroy Myself," won Korea's Munhakdongne Prize in 1996.
Fulton has translated dozens of Korean novels into English.
This panel is a reprise of a talk entitled "Word from Asia: Contemporary Writing from Korea," that the trio gave at the PEN World Voices Festival in New York City last April.
Assistant Professor of Asian Studies and English Belinda Kong helped organize the panel's visit to campus.
She said she believes the talk will speak to both international literature and current affairs.
"This event is very timely, given the recent death of Kim Jong-il and the global media's attention on North Korea's uncertain transition in power," she said. "Oftentimes, however, North Korea is portrayed simply as a threat, a complication for U.S. international policies. In this context, Susan Choi and Young-ha Kim play a key cultural role in facilitating our understanding of Korea, how its contemporary situation can be understood within its modern history, how the country split between the North and the South, and also the U.S.'s part in this political division."
"At the same time, their fictions allow us to think through this history on a more human level, as a legacy that endures not just on the level of nations and states but also in the lives of individuals," she added.
The panel will take place Monday at 6 p.m. in the Faculty Room of Massachusetts Hall.
-Compiled by Sarah Wood.