.jpeg)
Friend by Paek Nom-Nyang, translated by Immanuel Kim, published by Columbia University Press in 2020. The first North Korean novel to be translated in to English and widely available from a US publisher, this story was originally published in North Korea in 1988. The afterword is quite clear that "Friend is unique in the Anglophone publishing landscape in that it is a state- sanctioned novel, written in Korea for North Koreans, by an author in good standing with the regime." In that sense Friend was my only option when selecting a North Korean translation because as I read novels from each country my aim is to take in the literature read by people who live there. This book gave me insight in to the relationship between the state, the individual and the family in North Korea without providing a political analysis from a Western perspective and that was invaluable and fascinating.
コメント