skip-navigation

한국문학번역원 로고

TOP

Original Works

Quiet Reading

Quiet Reading scrap

고요한 읽기

  • ISBN

    9791141601164

  • Author

    Lee Seung-U이승우

  • Publisher

    Munhakdongne Publishing Corp.문학동네

  • Year Published

    2024-08

  • Category

    Essay 에세이

  • Target User

    Adult 성인

  • Period

    Contemporary 현대

If you want to meet this book in your language, please vote!

View the voting results
  • No results.

Voting

Message 닫기

Send a message to the rights holder.

Info table is about Title, Authors, Year of Publication, and Translators
Right Type*
Language*
Select
Country*
Select
Contact Person*
Affiliation
Email*
Content*

Cancel Send

Sample Request 닫기

Send a request to the rights holder.

Info table is about Title, Authors, Year of Publication, and Translators
Sample Type*
Select
Language*
Select
Contact Person*
Affiliation
Email*
Content*

Cancel Send

Description 작품 소개

"I am furthest from myself. I am the 'end of the world' to myself."

Believing Amidst Doubt. Writing Amidst Shame.

Everything for him began with quiet reading.


As a reader, it is delightful to savor the fundamental questions that captivate author Lee Seung-woo in this book— the driving forces behind his writing. The titles of the included pieces—nostalgia and pursuit, ignorance and the unknown, things belonging to eternity and those that do not, dreams, things that cannot and should not be spoken of the temptation of the extraordinary—give a glimpse of what lies within. To add to the mix, Lee’s long-standing thoughts on love and faith, life and death, and the relationship between the work and the reader are explored. His dense and profound reflections are woven into sentences like: "Nostalgia longs for what once existed but is no longer, while pursuit longs for what has never been." "Death is lazy and impulsive at the same time; in short, it is unpredictable. Death does not come until it does." "Absence is not due to a failure to obtain, but to the loss of what once was." "Blind faith is not the highest form of belief, but the very opposite." "What a reader can do is not to change an existing story, but to rewrite it. To awaken a sleeping story and revive a finished one."


These sentences, steeped in Lee Seung-woo's characteristic deep contemplation, are interspersed lovingly among his books. They offer readers the layered experience of reading the works of an author who ponders deeply about the act of reading.


The question of "How much more chaotic would life have been if at critical moments, one had not encountered a certain person, event, opportunity, book, or sentence?" is not unique to the author. As finite beings walking the tight rope of time on the fickle passage of time, the act of "quiet reading"—now increasingly rare—becomes something we yearn for, a desperate need.

Reference

Support from Munhakdongne Publishing Corp.

Author Bio 작가 소개

이승우

Lee Seung-U이승우

Lee Seung-U, a former student of theology, made his literary debut in 1981 with the novella A Portrait of Erysichthon. Throughout his career, Lee has maintained an interest in theological and metaphysical issues, which is reflected in his writing style that meticulously depicts the inner workings of the human soul. His works deal with questions about morals arising in quotidian life as well as more universal issues concerning God, salvation, and guilt. In particular, Lee’s novels since 2000 have inquired into the meaning of reality and the everyday, thereby bringing together the sacred and the secular, and the mind and the body. Published translations of his books include The Reverse Side of Life (Peter Owen, 2005), La vie rêvée des plantes (Gallimard, 2009), Ici comme ailleurs (Gallimard, 2013), and The Private Life of Plants (Dalkey Archive, 2015).

Translator’s Expectations 기대평

There are no expectations.

Write an expectation

Related Content 관련 콘텐츠