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Bae Myung-hoon

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In this Korean name, the family name is Bae.

Bae Myung-hoon[1] (Korean: 배명훈; born 1978) is a South Korean science fiction writer. He has written ten novels, over fifty short stories and novellas, and numerous essays. He is best known for his composite novel Taweo (타워 Tower) and short story collection Anyeong, ingongjonjae (안녕, 인공존재 Hello, The Artificial Being!).[2] He was named one of the “ten best science fiction writers in South Korea” by The Science Times in 2012.[3]

Life

Bae Myung-hoon was born in Busan, South Korea in 1978. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in international relations at Seoul National University. He made his literary debut in 2005 when his short story “Seumateu D” (스마트D Smart D) won the SF Creative Writing Contest for best short story.[4]

Writing

Bae Myung-hoon, who started writing science fiction from 2005, blurs the line between genre fiction and literary fiction. South Korean literary circles tend to make a clear distinction between the two; critics and writers who associate themselves with literary fiction rarely show interest in genre fiction. Yet Bae is a notable exception, attracting the attention of literary critics and publishers since the publication of his first full-length book Taweo (타워 Tower) in 2009. A social science fiction novel with strong satirical undertones, Taweo is considered to be his breakthrough work.[5]

That same year, his short story “Anyeong, ingongjonjae” (안녕, 인공존재 Hello, The Artificial Being!) appeared in the literary journal Munhakdongne, which was unusual considering that science fiction in South Korea is often published in online communities instead of more traditional outlets such as literary journals or publishers.[6] The short story won the 2010 Munhakdongne Young Writers’ Award, receiving the following comment from a judge: “Based on his impressive knowledge of space science, Bae Myung-hoon successfully portrays the pent-up frustrations of human existence erupting in the vast universe.”[7] Bae expanded “Anyoung, ingongjonjae” into a collection of short stories and published it in 2010. In the afterword to the book, literary critic Shin Hyeong-cheol writes: “his works have a stylistic variety that cannot be defined by a single genre, but that variety is only a means to an end . . . his ultimate goal is to explore serious anthropological questions."[8]

While imaginative science fiction elements help differentiate Bae’s works from mainstream South Korean fiction, some critics see them as a creative limitation. In the same afterword quoted above, Shin Hyeong-cheol notes that “Bae’s stories are delightfully clear, but that clarity seems to come at an inevitable price. His characters are too clear . . . rather than having a palpable presence, they are there to serve a function; once you finish reading, the story leaves a vivid impression but the people fade away.”[8]

Works

  • 고고심령학자 (2017) { Spiritual Archaeologist (2017) }
  • 푸른파 피망 (2017) { Paprika on Planet Pureunpa (2017) }
  • 예술과 중력가속도 (2016) { Art and the Acceleration of Gravity (2016) }
  • 첫숨 (2015) { First Breath (2015) }
  • 맛집 폭격 (2014) { The Bombing of Great Restaurants (2014) }
  • 가마틀 스타일 (2014) { Gamateul Style (2014) }
  • 청혼 (2013) { The Proposal (2013) }
  • 총통 각하 (2012) { Sir Chancellor (2012) }
  • 은닉 (2012) { Decoy (2012) }
  • 신의 궤도 (2011) { Divine Orbit (2011) }
  • 끼익끼익의 아주 중대한 임무 (2011) { The Very Important Mission of Creaky (2011) }
  • 안녕, 인공존재! (2010) { Hello, The Artificial Being! (2010) }
  • 타워 (2009) { Tower (2009) }

Works in translation

  • "Art and the Acceleration of Gravity" in Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature & Culture Volume 6, 2013[9] (English)

Awards

  • 2010: Munhakdongne Young Writers’ Award
  • 2005: SF Creative Writing Contest for best short story
  • 2004: SNU Press Literary Award

Further reading

References

  1. ^ "배명훈 | Digital Library of Korean Literature (LTI Korea)". library.ltikorea.or.kr. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
  2. ^ "[책과 길] "성장해야 할 건 자아가 아닌 세계죠"". news.kmib.co.kr. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  3. ^ "한국 BEST SF작가 10인, 배명훈(1) – Sciencetimes". www.sciencetimes.co.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  4. ^ "배명훈 소개 & 대표작 | YES24 작가파일". www.yes24.com. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  5. ^ "문단 바깥에서 쏜 장르문학의 '자기 증명'" (in Korean). 2010-06-11. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  6. ^ "대세는 중간문학" (in Korean). Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  7. ^ Wansuh Park, “심사평,” in 2010 제1회 젊은작가상 수상작품집 (Munhakdongne, 2010).
  8. ^ a b Hyeong-cheol Shin, “그는 상상력이다,” in Afterword to 안녕, 인공존재 (Munhakdongne, 2010).
  9. ^ "Project MUSE - Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature & Culture-Volume 6, 2013". muse.jhu.edu. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
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