To celebrate Women in Translation Month, we will be posting excerpts, readings, summaries from the Translation Database, former Two Month Review seasons, and various special offers糖心传媒攕o stay tuned!

Today’s excerpt is from听听by Hwang Jungeun, translated by Janet Hong as part of her . ( All three titles for $30!!!)听

You might recognize Hwang Jungeun from her two Tilted Axis titles: (translated by Jung Yewon) and听 (translated by Emily Yae Won). (Also, Open Letter will be publishing Hwang’s 听in the near future.)

And here’s the current copy for听Year After Year:

Three women糖心传媒攖he old mother and her two daughters糖心传媒攃ontemplate their family life and their bottled-up feelings through the novel糖心传媒檚 placating yet oddly unnerving prose.听

Year After Year听is divided into four large chapters; the first unravels from the perspective of Sejin, younger daughter, the second from that of Youngjin, older daughter, the third from the mother糖心传媒檚, and the fourth, back to Sejin糖心传媒檚. Throughout the course of the novel, a number of themes are developed, including its discussion of interracial marriage, different forms of family, and sexual minorities. Circumstances and history forced the mother to the life of obedience, familial obligations and financial hardship forced Youngjin to give up her dream and support the family, and the reality of her culture forced Sejin to be in the closet. And all the while, these three women, while empathizing with each other, seem entrapped in the cycle of forcing each other to further succumb.

Year After Year is available for purchase from better bookstores everywhere, , , or you get your books.听

Gravedig

After the Chuseok holiday, before the ground freezes.

So Yi Sunil had said numerous times, and now the time had come. It was the second week of November. At six o糖心传媒檆lock in the morning, Han Sejin got in her car and sped along the mostly empty Olympic Highway and arrived at Sunil糖心传媒檚 apartment. She pulled up to the shuttered garage and turned off the engine. Her seat chilled almost immediately. The day was bitter cold. It would get a little warmer when the sun rose fully, but they were heading toward the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), where the temperature, even at midday, was lower than during nights in the city. It was the same every year.

Sejin peered down at the cracked, uneven surface of the parking lot and retied her hair. She went up to the fourth floor. Sunil was waiting, everything already packed. Containers of mung bean pancakes, stuffed chili peppers, and stir-fried beef were stacked inside a paper shopping bag, along with some apples and pears, and a bottle of liquor. Next to the bag sat a smaller backpack. She糖心传媒檇 said she wanted to use plates this time. Not Styrofoam or aluminum foil trays, but real plates, since this visit was to be their last. As soon as Sejin picked up the backpack, it sagged under the weight of the dishes, and there was a clatter.

They糖心传媒檙e going to break. You don糖心传媒檛 care?

Why would they break? They won糖心传媒檛, as long as you糖心传媒檙e careful, Sunil said, adding, I糖心传媒檓 bringing them back.

Sejin said no more and carried the bags down.

*

She loaded the bags in the trunk and spread out a blanket in the backseat. She started the car and turned on the heat. When Sunil finally appeared from the entrance of the mid-rise, Sejin was crouched in front of the car, examining the ground. Two rusted screws, dull and as fat as a thumb, protruded from the surface. They were all that remained of the parking barrier. Her brother-in-law had installed it to prevent people from parking illegally in their lot, but it must have been a hassle for him and the tenants to get in and out, because it was removed one day, leaving behind these two screws anchored deep into the ground. They weren糖心传媒檛 too sharp, but sharp enough to puncture a tire if a car drove over them at a certain angle. On her last visit, Sejin had mentioned they could be dangerous, and Sunil had said she糖心传媒檇 relay the message.

They糖心传媒檙e still here, Sejin said, standing up.

Sunil frowned, shaking her head.

Did that mean she糖心传媒檇 told her son-in-law, but he糖心传媒檇 done nothing? Or that she hadn糖心传媒檛 mentioned it yet, because she hadn糖心传媒檛 found the right time to bring it up? Without asking any of these things, Sejin helped Sunil into the backseat, taking the duralumin cane from her and stowing it in the trunk. She then removed Sunil糖心传媒檚 right shoe, helping her prop her leg onto the center console and covering her swollen knee with a blanket. Sunil was wearing a wool cap with a small brim, a pair of thick quilted trousers, a red-and-brown cardigan in a dizzying pattern, and a skinny knit scarf wrapped around her neck.

You won糖心传媒檛 get cold dressed like that?

Sunil said she had on many layers underneath and patted her belly. She糖心传媒檇 also packed hiking boots, which she糖心传媒檇 found stored neatly in a box. They belonged to Sejin糖心传媒檚 older sister, Yeongjin, who hadn糖心传媒檛 touched them after using them once. Though they were a little big, as long as Sunil put on an extra pair of socks before setting out, they should fit just fine. At last, they left.

*

Hwang Jungeur

They headed northeast. If they traveled 100 kilometers an hour, they would arrive at their destination in two and a half hours. Grandfather糖心传媒檚 grave was in Jigyeong-ri village, in the town of Galmal of Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province. Both women called him Grandfather, but he was actually Sunil糖心传媒檚 grandfather, which made him Sejin糖心传媒檚 great-grandfather. He was buried deep in the mountain where a frontline military unit was stationed. The graves of other Jigyeong-ri residents lay scattered over the mountain as well. They needed to pass through the military base in order to access the graves. And so, every year around Chuseok, villagers gathered in front of the base, carrying sickles and bundles of food. After leaving their IDs at the checkpoint, they hiked up the mountain to hold memorial ceremonies in honor of their ancestors, each family escorted by one or two armed soldiers. From the mid-eighties, Sunil visited her grandfather糖心传媒檚 grave every year without fail, but once Sejin got her driver糖心传媒檚 license and a car of her own, Sunil went with her daughter. When Chuseok drew near, Sunil would give an old neighbor from the village a call and ask when everyone was planning to head up the mountain. Then she糖心传媒檇 call Sejin and update her on that year糖心传媒檚 visit.

Hey, let糖心传媒檚 have some gotgam.

Sunil pulled off the end and tore the dried persimmon in two. She held it out toward Sejin, who accepted it without taking her eyes off the road. The car continued to glide forward. The sun was rising, and to their right, the mountain fog was creeping down toward the rice paddies spread below. Sejin said they weren糖心传媒檛 going to be late after all, since there was no traffic on the roads, but Sunil was worried the workers had headed up the mountain already, and said they should have set out earlier.

We need to make the last offering before they start digging.

Sunil was born in Galgol, north of Jigyeong-ri, but after she lost her parents, she went to live with her grandfather in Jigyeong-ri. Some of her relatives had disappeared without a trace in the border clashes that took place along the 38^th parallel during the Korean War, and her grandfather, her only remaining next of kin, took the five-year-old Sunil in, raising her and getting her to run errands for him. When she was fifteen, she was sent to live with a distant relative in Gimpo, and there she helped at a market until she married Han Jungeon, in a match arranged by one of the merchants. Sunil liked to tell Sejin how she糖心传媒檇 never in her wildest dreams expected her grandfather to make the long, inconvenient journey to see her get married, but he糖心传媒檇 come after all, dressed in his worn traditional coat. He糖心传媒檇 sat in the wedding hall for a bit, eaten some noodles, and then left.

Grandfather passed away in Jigyeong-ri in 1978. At the crack of dawn, three or four men from the village had shouldered his coffin and buried him halfway up the mountain. Sejin had never met him, but she knew what he looked like. A framed photo of him hung on the wall of Sunil糖心传媒檚 apartment, along with their family pictures. In the shot taken head-on, he had a scruffy beard and wore a fabric skullcap over coarse, white hair. Just from his face and expression alone, one could tell he was very short, and that his forehead, eyebrows, eyes, and nose were round, like Sunil糖心传媒檚. He seemed like someone Sejin had met many times, perhaps because she糖心传媒檇 grown up staring at his picture her entire life. So she visited his grave every year, feeling as if she were looking in on him. But before this, Sunil had made the trip on her own, changing buses several times. Neither Jungeon nor her older daughter Yeongjin had any desire to accompany her, and Mansu, her only son and the youngest of her children, had been too young or hadn糖心传媒檛 known the way to the gravesite to go with her.

Why go through all that trouble every year?

Janet Hong

Yeongjin and Jungeon couldn糖心传媒檛 understand why Sunil went to such lengths to visit her grandfather糖心传媒檚 grave. How could they possibly know about the dried-up burrows or the shrubs draped occasionally with snakes, and how, in just a year, the weeds would have grown as tall as a person that they糖心传媒檇 have to hack them down with a sickle in order to pass through? Or about the moss and the trees twisted from lack of sunlight, the burial mound crushed and trampled by wild boars, the chestnut trees surrounding the grave, or the silence of pine trees? Sejin alone knew the reason why Sunil went up the mountain every year, cutting a path through the forest. It was her home. For her mom, that grave was her childhood home.

Grandfather, I糖心传媒檓 a granny now. I don糖心传媒檛 know if I糖心传媒檒l be able to come next year.

For the past few years, this is what Sunil has been saying at the graveside, but this visit was truly her last. She was seventy-two years old and planned to have knee replacement surgeries in both knees next year. Once a child of the mountains, she糖心传媒檇 been surefooted on steep terrain, harvesting fiddleheads and young shoots off angelica trees, but now she needed a cane even on flat land, and she walked slowly, grimacing from the pain. She糖心传媒檇 held out for several years, saying each time it was her last, but she couldn糖心传媒檛 manage the wild rugged terrain anymore and had finally accepted the truth earlier this year. After worrying about Grandfather糖心传媒檚 resting place that would lie deserted deep in the mountains, she resolved to dig up his remains and get rid of the grave altogether. After all, no one would visit him once she was gone.

Year After Year is available for purchase from better bookstores everywhere, , , or you get your books.听

The large image associated with this post is copyrighted by .

That said, I am extremely familiar with comic books and graphic novels (total nerd! and yes, of course I saw Avengers: Endgame听and听Captain Marvel听on opening night), but I糖心传媒檝e never tried to write about them听in the ways in which I糖心传媒檝e written about translated fiction. Or even poetry. Although I feel like this post is pretty much in parallel with any of my posts on poetry in the sense that I know from the start that I don糖心传媒檛 have the proper set of terms and concepts to clearly elucidate what makes a poetry collection 糖心传媒済ood糖心传媒� or 糖心传媒済reat糖心传媒� or 糖心传媒渇ine糖心传媒� or 糖心传媒済arbage,糖心传媒� but I have some undefined, general understanding of what I like. 听

Since I haven糖心传媒檛 even had time this week to steal a听fun framework from Sam Miller, I think I糖心传媒檓 going to simply write听something听about each of the four books听I read, namely one aspect of听what makes reading graphic novels interesting.听听

First though, a couple digressions. (Would this even听be听a Three Percent post if I went straight at that听topic?)听听

Over the years, a number of people have asked me听why we don糖心传媒檛 track graphic novels in the Translation Database. The answer is so much more mundane and dumb than hoped for, but also has some odd corollaries. Basically, I can糖心传媒檛 figure out how to get accurate, reliable numbers on manga published here in the U.S.听

When booksellers or translators ask about graphic novels in translation, they usually are thinking of books from Drawn & Quarterly or听Fantagraphics听or First Second or NYRB Comics. They糖心传媒檙e not necessarily thinking about Dragon Ball or Naruto or听Fruits Basket听or听Death Note. All of which have tons of volumes available in English, mostly from presses I don糖心传媒檛 regularly come in contact with.听听听

This is unfortunate, especially since it results in Japanese works in translation being听grossly听under represented in the Translation Database. I have done a lot of research lately to try and capture all the Japanese 糖心传媒渓ight novels糖心传媒� that have come out (again, thank you Rachel听Cordasco), but manga is something I don糖心传媒檛 currently have a hold on.听

And so we end up with a weird situation in which, if I were to add the translated graphic novels that I听do听know about, it糖心传媒檒l ignore far too many Japanese works. OR, I could figure out all the manga, and all the D&Q/Fantagraphics/NYRB Comics books would听be a pretty tiny percentage of all the graphic novels in translation that are available.听Which听actually makes me wonder what the language distribution really听would听be. Like 90% Japanese, 10% French, 10% everything else? I feel like Spanish graphic novels are a bit of a rarity, much less a book from the Balkans or听Baltics.听听

Someday. Someday . . .听听

by Aisha Franz, translated from the German by Nicholas Houde (Germany)

After an unexpected breakup, a young woman named Selma experiences a series of reveries and emotional setbacks. Struggling to relate to her friends and accomplish even the simplest tasks like using a modern laundromat, she sinks deeper into depression. After witnessing another couple break-up and chancing upon the jilted male of the couple, Anders, at his pet store job, Selma realizes that her mysterious neighbor is the woman of that same couple. Her growing despair distances her from from her eager and sympathetic friend. One day, as the mysterious glamorous neighbor is leaving for a business trip, Selma discovers the woman has dropped her key card to her apartment. Selma initially resists but eventually she presses the key to her neighbors lock and enters.

Aisha Franz is a master of portraying feminine loneliness and confusion while keeping her characters tough and real. Her artwork shifts from sparseness to detailed futurist with ease. Her characters fidget and twirl as they zip through a world both foreign and familiar. Base human desires and functions alternate with dreamlike symbolism to create a tension-filled tale of the nightmare that is modern life.

A book with a swear in the title糖心传媒攊s听this听not听the most 糖心传媒渙n brand糖心传媒� graphic novel for me to start with?听听

For this book, which I didn糖心传媒檛 love as much as the others, but did totally enjoy, I want to highlight the idea that听graphic novels are, for me, the Netflix of reading.听Not just in terms of comic books as monthly 糖心传媒渆pisodes糖心传媒� in a particular series, but in the way that you can generally finish a graphic novel in a few sittings, a few hours. In less time than it takes to watch听Avengers: Endgame.听

And as I糖心传媒檝e been reading these books, I糖心传媒檝e gotten so much gratification about being able to听finish things. Contrast this with the糖心传媒攑robably never–别苍诲颈苍驳糖心传媒攑谤辞箩别肠迟s听of reading听Anniversaries听or Marie-Claire Blais. Not that one is 糖心传媒渂etter糖心传媒� than the other, but the process of reading听Against the Day听by Thomas Pynchon over 55 audiobook hours and that of reading听Shit Is Real听over two beers on a Friday night is wildly different.听听听

For me, personally, the main benefits are two-fold: 1) being able to actually听finish听something really triggers that lizard听part of the brain that gives you an adrenaline boost for things like this, and 2) it糖心传媒檚 much easier to think about a narrative糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒渟tructure糖心传媒� if you can digest it in one or two sittings. Trying to keep the shape of听Against the Day听in my mind糖心传媒攐ver the FIVE months I糖心传媒檝e been reading it糖心传媒攊s impossible. I have to keep rereading the synopses of each section, and reading other overviews. And will have to read a lot more after I糖心传媒檝e finished to try and hold all the pieces, all the storylines, all the ideas in mind at once to see how these things fit together.听听

A graphic novel can be like a good TV episode or miniseries in that you actually听can听hold the various parts in mind simultaneously and examine how things fit together or don糖心传媒檛. What the progression is, and听how various scenes mirror or play off of one another.听Narrative structures are fascinating, and it can be hard to pick them out when it takes a month/twenty hours to read a novel.听听

I don糖心传媒檛 have a lot to say about听Shit Is Real听other than it was a bit heartbreaking and surreal and I liked that. And it had a lot of pages like these, which allowed me to be able to read it in one sitting:听

听

And听here糖心传媒檚 a short review from听听that will give you a bit more context:听

We take for granted that visions of tomorrow糖心传媒檚 technology will be drawn with sleek lines and popping sheen, but Aisha Franz糖心传媒檚 Shit Is Real听tacks in the opposite direction, rendering a听Black Mirror糖心传媒�esque world with chalky pencils and deliberately childish figure-work. The result is hypnotically surreal. It provides a backdrop for the achingly relatable tale of Selma, a woman who糖心传媒檚 just been booted by her boyfriend and is trying to sort out her life while navigating a complicated friendship, recurring nightmares, and an awkward romance born in a pet shop. Sexual frustration and crippling loneliness abound, yet the book is curiously buoyant and consistently engaging

听

听by Anneli听Frumark, translated from the听Swedish by Hanna Str枚mberg (Sweden)听

One thing that糖心传媒檚 easy to dismiss糖心传媒攆or non-comics readers糖心传媒攊s the depth and weight of the stories told in graphic novels.听Red Winter听has all the makings of a novella, and was as much of a gut punch as anything else I糖心传媒檝e read this year.听

听The story opens听in media res听and slowly unveils the situation of听Siv听(a married mother of three who lives a not-so-amazing home life with her labor-centric husband) and Ulrik (a young communist she糖心传媒檚 having an affair with, who is trapped by his communist ideals and his age).听It unfolds through a variety of perspectives, each section presenting the viewpoint of one of the characters impacted by this affair:听Siv听and Ulrik, obviously; but also听厂颈惫糖心传媒檚听children, her husband, etc.听听

听Granted, I糖心传媒檓 a sucker for books in which various perspectives clash and bounce off one another, in which you can see the emotional motivations and rights and wrongs of each of the characters. But this affair, the听doomed听(1970s Sweden) aspect of it, the issues with the communist party at that time糖心传媒攖hey all hit home.听听

Although none of them are as impactful as when听厂颈惫糖心传媒檚听daughter is left alone for the night.听This section (54-?) is听a testament to the sort of storytelling you can find in graphic novels that you can糖心传媒檛 exactly replicate in a normal prose book.听There糖心传媒檚 a latent anxiety in the drawings, and in her actions exploring the house, answering the phone (and accidentally covering for her mom), her fears of waking up and finding that her mom听still听isn糖心传媒檛 home . . .听

Again, I don糖心传媒檛 have the right critical vocabulary at hand, but听there糖心传媒檚 something intriguing about how your mind fills in narratives in graphic novels based on existing tropes, subtle artistic elements, and听unadorned dialogue. (By which, I mean, it糖心传媒檚 perfect that graphic novels NEVER have 糖心传媒渉e yelled糖心传媒� or 糖心传媒渉e whimpered糖心传媒� or any other dialogue tag糖心传媒攖he reader听sees听those tags听and听knows听how the lines are being spoken.)听听

That same principle can be extended much more broadly though, to more complicated emotions and reactions.听听

And there is something compelling about听allowing the reader to fill things in . . . I糖心传媒檝e always been a fan of the Cortazar/Calvino reader-interaction theories, but听that糖心传媒檚 a bit more limited听with prose than it is in relation to听graphic novels.听听

This was my favorite of the four books in this post. I糖心传媒檓 not 100% sure I know why, but I听really听got into this. Read it in a sitting. Felt things.听And enjoyed the cartooning and color palate:听

听

听

by J茅r么me Ruillier, translated from the French by Helge Dascher (Madagascar)听

Speaking of the art, let糖心传媒檚 talk about听The Strange, a graphic novel that糖心传媒檚听likely going to get the majority of its attention because of its status as an allegory about immigration (and on that level, it听is听horrifying and unnerving), but for which the art does so much heavy lifting.听听听

I hate talking animals in fiction. Drives me absolutely insane, since the rules about what the animal knows/doesn糖心传媒檛 know (aka how much its simply a human in polar bear form), is usually inconsistent and logically troubling. Which then leads to a lot of questions about听why you chose to use an animal to speak in the first place?听And then shit goes sideways and I can糖心传媒檛 focus on the narrative because I糖心传媒檓 nitpicking over how a dog would or wouldn糖心传媒檛 think and gah. Fuck books with animal narrators.听听

But then we have this.听听

All characters are 糖心传媒渁nimals糖心传媒� in this book, emphasizing how 糖心传媒渢he听stranges糖心传媒� stand out in this society. And for me, for that reason, it works. It糖心传媒檚 not forcing some sort of bullshit logic, or over-explaining an animalistic perspective糖心传媒攊t糖心传媒檚 simply illustrating how society quickly identifies others as听other.听There糖心传媒檚 a lot going on in presenting the protagonist of this graphic novel as a hulking dog, much larger than the duck/cat/mouse people who surround him. Is that realistic, or some sort of prejudice of the mind? 听听

It糖心传媒檚 also worth noting that this book (#19 on Paste Magazine’s ““) is clearly French糖心传媒攁nd loaded with shitty quotes from Marine Le Pen糖心传媒攂ut could so easily apply to parts of 2019 America. Remember when the future was all flying cars and home robots, and not a burning trash fire, no water, and insane amounts of xenophobic hatred? Remember when 糖心传媒渢he future糖心传媒� meant something space age and glorious and not imminent doom? I know this is a digression, but things have gone off-the-rails, and I want to spend some time with some books/movies that present almost idealistic amounts of hope about the future, instead of seeing the next thirty years as the end of everything.听

I mean, not to get too political糖心传媒攁nd this is a Chad W. Post statement, not anything from Open Letter or the University of Rochester糖心传媒攂ut it糖心传媒檚 2019 and we糖心传媒檙e having states ban abortion. We are living in a backward world in which the wrong side is fucking up. Constantly.听

Again: Not to get too political, but instead of wasting your time on this bullshit, why don糖心传媒檛 you try and pass legislation so that my one-year-old son has even a 50% chance of living to the age of 80. Instead of being the worst combination of moralistic, misogynist, xenophobic, pro-Uber-capitalist, and just overall disconnected from people.听听

听/end rant.听

by Ancco, translated from the Korean by Janet Hong (South Korea)

I have听yet to talk about translation at all in this post. (Although, apologies again for a minor political interlude. @ me all you want. I kind of don糖心传媒檛 care anymore.) But given that I talked to Janet already about this book糖心传媒攚hich is great! And violent! And quite complicated in its structure!糖心传媒攖his seems like a good time to highlight a few issues in translating/publishing graphic novels versus doing the same for more conventional novels.听听

One of the big things糖心传媒攆or both translators and publishers糖心传媒攊s lettering. From a very pragmatic perspective, if you already have a book available in Korean, drawn with word bubbles of a particular size,听you would prefer to change as little as possible and just replace the text in the original word bubble with words in a new language.听听

Obviously.听听

But if you糖心传媒檙e going from Korean to English? How easy is that, really? There are a number of languages that require 20% fewer糖心传媒攐r more糖心传媒攚ords when going into English, which is an insane percentage to think about when you糖心传媒檙e talking about fitting these words into a specifically sized bubble.听听

That糖心传媒檚 a logistical issue. One that translators don糖心传媒檛 necessarily have to consider when they糖心传媒檙e translating a novel.听听

Another thing: For the most part, graphic novels are told through dialogue. Which is one of the hardest things for translators to translate. Novels in translation that fail糖心传媒攐r receive 糖心传媒渢oxic糖心传媒� reviews糖心传媒攁re generally those in which the dialogue sounds flat or off or dumb or not native. Sure, every example cited here has some sort of first- or third-person narration, but dialogue still drives the majority of graphic novels. (I think.) And that makes it a trick thing! Get the tone right糖心传媒攊n a predetermined amount of space/words . . .听听

Bad Friends听is phenomenal, by the way. Maybe one day there will be a major听U.S.-based graphic novel award in translation for this book to win. Because it deserves it.听

But up first is the following conversation with Janet Hong, winner of the TA First Translation Prize, translator of Ha Seong-nan’s听听(which is selling really well for us!), and of听by Ancco, about which I’ll have more to say on Monday.

Even if you haven’t read听Bad Friends, or know just a little about it, I think you’ll find this interview really interesting. And I want to publicly thank Janet for taking time out between her vacations to answer all these questions so thoroughly.

by Ancco, translated from the Korean by Janet Hong (Drawn & Quarterly)

Chad W. Post: Before we get into talking about Ancco糖心传媒檚 Bad Friends, I wanted to ask you about your career in translation in general. Recently on Twitter you mentioned that听Flowers of Mold听by Ha Seong-nan (which we just published at Open Letter) was the first book you translated糖心传媒�18 years before it was published in English! Yet, within the last couple years, you糖心传媒檝e had听Impossible Fairy Tale听by Han Yujoo come out糖心传媒攚hich earned you the TA First Translation Prize糖心传媒攁nd now听Bad Friends.听What has this journey as a translator been like for you? Has anything changed糖心传媒攃ulturally, or with publishing糖心传媒攖hat led to getting so many books picked up in such a short period of time?

Janet Hong: You said it糖心传媒攊t糖心传媒檚 been a journey in every sense of the word. As I mentioned before, a story from Flowers of Mold糖心传媒斕切拇綔The Woman Next Door糖心传媒澨切拇綌is the first translation I糖心传媒檇 ever attempted, as an end-of-term project for a Korean language course in my undergrad. My professor urged me to submit it to the 2001 Korea Times translation contest, and I ended up receiving the grand prize, and then a grant soon after to translate the rest of the collection. In my ignorance, I assumed everything would happen fairly easily and quickly, so I糖心传媒檝e wondered many times myself why it糖心传媒檚 taken ridiculously long to have a book-length translation come out, and then have several follow right on the heels of one another. Maybe I糖心传媒檇 needed to begin on a high note to sustain me for the long road ahead?

Just to clarify, Korea has always enjoyed a strong literary tradition, with authors producing intellectually and aesthetically diverse work that is constantly evolving, so it isn糖心传媒檛 that Korean literature went through a major change. However, it is true that there was very little interest in translated Korean literature when I was starting out, so timing played a huge role in Korean literature gaining a global appeal. Even ten years ago, Korea糖心传媒攄espite its long, rich literary history糖心传媒攔emained a largely untapped literary mine, yet there were several crucial elements already in place: the Korean Wave, or the mass popularity of South Korean culture, which had been building since the nineties; the success of Kyung-sook Shin糖心传媒檚 , which was published in the U.S. in 2011; and Korea being the Market Focus of the 2014 London Book Fair. The publication of Han Kang糖心传媒檚 and its 2016 Booker win were like putting a lit match to dry tinder.

I think my own approach as a translator has also changed quite a bit from when I first started. I find most literary translators focus their energies on translating novels, rather than short story collections, because it糖心传媒檚 already notoriously difficult getting publishers to take on translations, but it糖心传媒檚 even more difficult to get them to take on short stories in translation. Translators will sometimes work on a few short stories by their authors and place them strategically in journals to whet readers糖心传媒� appetites, but the novels are always the main course. Still, that never stopped me from going after short stories, because I personally love them and my favorite authors to this day are masters of the form, like Alice Munro. Maybe if I糖心传媒檇 pursued more novels earlier on, I wouldn糖心传媒檛 have had such a long wait?

Besides translating mostly short stories, I also wasn糖心传媒檛 very picky in the beginning and said yes to every translation job that came my way糖心传媒攎ovie subtitles, picture books, plays, book blurbs and proposals, samples of fiction/self-help/biographies/memoir/children糖心传媒檚, I did it all. Sure, I was getting lots of practice, but I could have been wiser with my time, focusing on projects I was truly passionate about, instead of trying simply to make money.

When my first full-length translation糖心传媒擧an Yujoo糖心传媒檚 novel The Impossible Fairy Tale糖心传媒攚as published in 2017, it was sort of a wake-up call for me. At that point I糖心传媒檇 been working as a literary translator for nearly 16 years, but I felt I had hardly anything to show for it. I realized I had at least two collections by Ha Seong-nan that I糖心传媒檇 already translated sitting in my computer糖心传媒攖hat糖心传媒檚 when I queried you about Flowers of Mold.

Which leads to a realization I had: As a literary translator in today糖心传媒檚 world, it糖心传媒檚 not enough to just translate. Unless the authors you translate have literary agents (and even when they do!), you have to take on a more proactive role, actively connecting with agents/editors/publishers to hustle the work yourself. So these days, especially for my authors who don糖心传媒檛 have agents, I糖心传媒檓 the one pitching to editors and publishers. I also try to connect my authors with agents. And I don糖心传媒檛 make any commission. It糖心传媒檚 because I believe the work I have the privilege of translating is so good it needs to be shared and read.

CWP: It糖心传媒檚 interesting to me that the three tiles mentioned above cover three different forms: a novel, short stories, a graphic novel. Do you feel more comfortable translating one type of writing versus the others? Which糖心传媒攊f any糖心传媒攑oses the most challenges to you as a translator? I can imagine a novel being tricky because of all the interlocking aspects, or resonances that connect across dozens of pages; short stories being hard because of their brevity and concise prose; and graphic novels because of the space restrictions . . .听

JH: Since I糖心传媒檝e worked on many short stories, I糖心传媒檓 probably most comfortable with this form, but I find translating novels isn糖心传媒檛 all that much different. What poses the most challenges to me, honestly, is Han Yujoo糖心传媒檚 writing. Ha ha. Her work relies heavily on wordplay to build suspense, as well as to move the narrative forward. In fact, she糖心传媒檚 all about dismantling the traditional narrative to demonstrate that fiction isn糖心传媒檛 just a story糖心传媒攖hat it doesn糖心传媒檛 have to be糖心传媒攁nd she does this by playing on the Korean language. As the translator attempting to replicate this in another language, I sometimes wonder if I糖心传媒檓 fighting a losing battle, but when I manage to find a solution of some sort, I feel an immense satisfaction that糖心传媒檚 hard to describe.

I also find translating sound effects in graphic novels to be extremely difficult. Because so many Korean words are based on onomatopoeia, I spend way too much time trying to find the perfect word that describes, say, the sound of metal hooks sliding along a curtain track. Maybe I糖心传媒檇 have an easier time if I糖心传媒檇 been immersed in the comic universe, but I guess it糖心传媒檚 getting a little easier!

CWP: How did you come to work on Bad Friends? Were you part of the process in bringing this to Drawn & Quarterly糖心传媒檚 attention? 听

JH: No, not at all. Except for a few like Art Spiegelman糖心传媒檚 landmark Maus, Marjane Satrapi糖心传媒檚 Persepolis, and Guy Delisle糖心传媒檚 books about his travels, I hardly read graphic novels before, let alone Korean graphic novels.

It was D&Q who got in touch with me糖心传媒攖hey糖心传媒檇 gotten my contact from a representative at LTI Korea. They were looking for a translator to work on several Korean graphic novels they were planning to bring out, which they糖心传媒檇 only read in French translations. They asked if I could provide a few translation samples, including one of Bad Friends糖心传媒攊n other words, I had to audition for the job. I wasn糖心传媒檛 entirely sure if I wanted to get into translating graphic novels, since the work seemed quite painstaking and I was pretty certain it wouldn糖心传媒檛 be financially lucrative (not that translating fiction means the big bucks!), but as soon as I read Bad Friends, I became practically possessed. I knew I had to translate it.

Since it was my first graphic novel and I wanted to do it justice, I spent a ludicrous amount of time on the translation and revision. Though they were gracious beyond belief, I probably drove the editors crazy with my incessant tweaking. It got to the point where my husband would joke I was losing money each time I opened the Bad Friends file on my computer to fuss some more. That糖心传媒檚 how much I love that book. I would have translated it for free.

CWP: I don糖心传媒檛 know much . . . well, anything . . . about the South Korean comic book/graphic novel scene, so these questions might be really naive or silly, but here goes: Was this originally published as a graphic novel, or was is serialized in some way (either in shorter volumes or online)? Is Ancco糖心传媒檚 work representative of the Korean scene? If so, are the books always this dark and violent? (There are so many bleak parts of this book!)听

JH: Bad Friends was never serialized; it was originally published as a graphic novel. It won the Korean Comic Today prize in 2012, and the French translation was the first Korean graphic novel to win the prestigious Prix R茅v茅lation at Angoul锚me in 2016, making Ancco the second Asia-born cartoonist to be awarded the honor. Until Bad Friends, I knew nothing about the South Korean comic/graphic novel scene, but I糖心传媒檓 seeing in the few Korean comics I糖心传媒檝e read or translated recently an extremely wide range in style, subject, tone, and treatment. For example, the incredibly evocative, tender, and heart-wrenching comic I worked on recently糖心传媒�Umma糖心传媒檚 Table by Yeon-sik Hong糖心传媒攍eft me in tears, just as Bad Friends had, but I糖心传媒檇 say the two books sit on opposite poles of the Korean comic world.

CWP: As someone more familiar with structures and literary techniques in traditional prose narrative, I糖心传媒檓 struggling trying to figure out how best to describe the ways in which this narrative come together糖心传媒攖he uniqueness of how it糖心传媒檚 told. Do you have a good way of explaining this book? And/or do you have any suggestions for readers new to graphic novels about how best to approach and read them?

JH: You know, I hardly even noticed the structure at first. I think the brutal aspects shocked me into just going with the story; I couldn糖心传媒檛 tear myself away. R.O. Kwon, who wrote a blurb for the book, said a similar thing, about how she糖心传媒檇 meant to read just a few pages before getting up for a glass of water, but ended up reading the whole thing glued to her chair, while completely parched.

In short, I think the flashbacks and sections broken up into different periods of Pearl糖心传媒檚 life suit the narrative extremely well. One reviewer said the approach is reassuring, because it tells the reader that Pearl survived the extreme violence of her past. The sections in the present also offer the reader some much-needed relief from the bleak chaos of the earlier years.

For me, the back-and-forth between past and present almost mirrors the way we process trauma and memories. Sometimes you can only look back at grief or nightmarish events in bits and pieces from a distance, either after much time has passed or if you糖心传媒檝e ended up in a completely different (better) place.

The book begins with Pearl, a kind of stand-in for Ancco, who is now a well-adjusted, mostly happy cartoonist, working into the late hours of the night, as many artists do, when a certain smell brings back her turbulent youth. (By the way, Ancco has said that smells are everything to her work. She doesn糖心传媒檛 mean the actual smell of something, but a smell that conjures a certain time or feeling. I also want to interject here that Bad Friends is a work of fiction, though many elements are based on Ancco糖心传媒檚 life.) As Pearl reflects on her adolescence, she feels a mixture of emotions: grief over the loss of a pivotal friendship with her old friend Jeong-ae, who has a more troubled domestic life than Pearl; relief that she has managed to escape the physical abuse and sexual harassment of her past; and guilt over the fact that Jeong-ae hasn糖心传媒檛 been so lucky. These emotions are obviously difficult to articulate and even seem to be at odds with one another, so I think the structure serves the narrative well, as Pearl tries to make sense of a time in her life that was intense, hellish, yet electrifying,听and wrestles with what it means to be a good friend, or in this case, a bad friend.

CWP: Are there other Ancco books in the works? Or any other projects that you糖心传媒檙e working on that you糖心传媒檇 like to pitch?

Yes, there is! I糖心传媒檓 scheduled to translate Ancco糖心传媒檚 Nineteen, an earlier short story collection that Drawn & Quarterly will be bringing out in 2020, which was published in French as Aujourd糖心传媒檋ui n糖心传媒檈xiste pas. It糖心传媒檚 different from Bad Friends糖心传媒攏ot as violent, but just as bleak and powerful. In one story, you can see the beginnings of what eventually became Bad Friends.

At the moment, I糖心传媒檓 working on some really dark, transgressive stories by Kim Yi-seol, as well as the work of extraordinary feminist author Kang Young-sook, whom I met on my most recent trip to Korea through none other than Ha Seong-nan. Kang writes about the female grotesque, delving into varying genres as urban noir, fantasy, and climate fiction, and she also happens to be one of Ha糖心传媒檚 closest friends. I糖心传媒檓 beyond excited to share Kang糖心传媒檚 award-winning story, which will be published in the next issue of The White Review.