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The Place
Gildam Space
Hi hi!
by Korean Literature Now
The Place
Yi Sang's House
“Have you ever seen a stuffed genius?” - Opening line of Yi Sang’s
“The Wings”(The Wings, 1936/2001, tr. Ahn Jung-Hyo & James B. Lee)
by Korean Literature Now
The Place
Yoon Dong-Ju Literature Museum: A Museum Dedicated to Korea's Most Beloved Poet
Foreword
by Korean Literature Now
The Place
The Chungwoon Literature Library: the First Ever hanok Library in Korea
Hello!I’m Florian Krapf—German on the
outside,
by Korean Literature Now
The Place
Boan Books: A bookstore and Cultural Venue of 80 years
Hello!
I’m Florian. I might look like your average German guy, but inside me beats the heart of a true Korean.
Florian Krapf
Competed in the Netflix reality series Physical: 100
Guest starred in the MBC every1 series Welcome, First Time in Korea?
The Place Seochon Literary Tour: Boan Books
It’s great to meet all the viewers of KLN.
I’m really into Korean literature too.
Right now I’m walking through Seochon.
Located between the east side of Inwangsan Mountain and the west side of Gyeongbokgung Palace, and designated a Hanok Preservation Area alongside the Insa-dong and Bukchon districts.
In addition to being one of Korea’s most popular tourist attractions, also a major Seoul transport hub as well as a focal point of history and culture.
by Korean Literature Now
The Place
Ina Books: A bookstore boasting a collection of over 5,000 books
A eye-catching brick building in the concrete jungle of Gangnam, Seoul A bookstore boasting a collection of over 5,000 books Nice to meet you. I am Jeongmin Baek, the manager of the Seolleung Branch of Ina Books. Choi Ina, the CEO, opened the store with office workers in mind. She wanted to create a space for office workers to easily find books to read. Q. Ina Books arranges books in a unique way. Why? Unlike the typical classification used by libraries, we curate books by special topics. Some examples are, “Twenty-something and feeling lost,” “Thirty-something and flooded with worries,” and “Running out of ideas and needing inspiration.” When the bookstore first opened, our CEO felt that people these days prefer YouTube over paper books. She came up with the unique classification when she realized that people turn to books for solutions. Q. Another name that Ina Books goes by is “A bookstore that sells culture.” What does this mean? For five years, we have been running a program called Classic Bookstore Concert. We hold classical concerts with the pianist Song Youngmin, and offer art history classes taught by the art history scholar Ahn Hyunbae, integrating literature and arts into the space. We are planning many programs that instill the ability to think and gain insights on life. Q. You have a special subscription service that delivers books unknown to readers until they open their packages. How are the books selected? The service is called Ina Books’ Book Club. At the start of each month, we send a book to subscribers along with a letter written by Choi Ina, our CEO. The book remains secret to create a sense of anticipation. The key question we ask ourselves is, “Does the book contain meaningful insights?” We find joy in discovering good books and introducing them to readers. Q. Top 3 books recommended by the manager of Ina Books The first book I’d like to introduce is Kim Choyeop’s If We Can’t Go at the Speed of Light. First of all, I must say I really enjoyed reading it. Described as a writer who is continuing the legacy of Korean SF, Kim Choyeop offers a fresh perspective in the genre. If you read it, you will find delightful surprises and insights at the same time. You will feel your view of the world naturally expanding while reading. The second book is Seven Years of Darkness by Jeong You Jeong. The writer is one of the best in genre fiction. She was invited to our book talk session once, and you could tell she was deeply immersed in her work. You cannot help but immerse yourself in the story, and time will fly by before you know it. I recommend it to those looking to experience the pleasures of reading. The last book is Whale by Cheon Myeong-kwan. The book is still a steadyseller even though it was published in 2004. The solid plot keeps you engrossed throughout, and it’s hard to put the book down. The book explores diverse narratives through the lives of various characters. You will come upon people from all walks of life, which will evoke all kinds of emotions. You will be able to feel the joy of literature. Q. Is there a good place for reading near the store? Across the street is Seonjeongneung, a huge tomb with a forest-like path. Seoul, including Gangnam, is full of concrete jungles. The experience in Seonjeongneung is like being in a forest. It’s the perfect place to read or take a walk, and I highly recommend it. There’s a book called Seolleung Walk by Jeong Yong-jun. Seonjeongneung will be a great place to read it. Q. What are your plans for Ina Books? We believe in the power of offline. There’s a certain energy that is generated when you meet in person. We will think of ways to get people to actually visit the bookstore, and continue working on presenting a diverse selection of books. Thank you. Translated by Park Kyoung-lee
by Korean Literature Now
The Place
The Translator’s Book Store: Specializing in Translated Literature
A bookstore by day and a translator’s study by night, Mapo-gu, Seoul. I am Park Seon Hyeong, a translator and owner of the Translator’s Book Store. The Translator’s Book Store is a bookstore with a collection of translated books curated by a translator. I specialize in the Japanese language, working mostly on essays and books on humanities and philosophy. Q. What made you, as a translator, open a bookstore? I worked as an editor for a publishing company, and collected many Western books as part of being a translator. I wanted to share the books I loved and knew were worth recommending. That’s what led to the opening of The Translator’s Book Store. Q. Who are your major patrons? They range from publishers to translators and writers. We also attract many people living in the neighborhood. I’m proud of the strong bond we have with our patrons, most of whom are genuine book lovers. Q. How do you choose which books to introduce each week? I try to introduce at least 30 titles. I go over press releases to pick the latest books in the market. I always include books by writers or publishers I have been interested in. I also introduce books that might go out of print so that people won’t miss out on the opportunity. I try to strike a balance between new and old books. Q. Are there programs unique to The Translator’s Book Store? I have taught “Learn Japanese by Reading” for five years since the store’s early days. It’s one of the most popular programs. Participants not only read books in the original language, but also learn the skills of translation. “Translated Book Concert,” a program launched this year, is held on the third Thursday of every month. The program introduces novels, and plays LP records to accompany the stories. It’s one of the few programs that combine literature and music. I am very satisfied with the positive reception. Q. Top 3 books recommended by The Translator‘s Book Store Books on art and classics have been quite popular. Among the top three is What Artists Do. It’s a recent book by Leonard Koren, a writer with unique views of art. The book contains his thoughts on being an artist. I recommend it to those interested in the difference between art careers and regular jobs. The second book is Kusamakura. Natsume Sōseki has quite a number of dedicated readers in Korea. One of his more popular books here is Kusamakura. It’s a book that summarizes the writer’s views of art. The book has literary and artistic depth, and reading it is similar to reading a haiku. Lastly, there’s the picture book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. This book is not simply a picture book, but a philosophical book that can be enjoyed by adults. It contains universal truths and heartwarming drawings. I am aware it has been translated into many languages. Since the translated versions come in the same size, it will be interesting to read and compare them. Q. Is there a good place for reading near the store? Mangwon Hangang Park is nearby. Enjoying a picnic over a book will be a much-needed break from life. Q. What are your plans for The Translator’s Book Store? I’d like The Translator’s Book Store to introduce even better books. I’ll have to continue actively reading. I want to maintain this space for as long as I can, I hope everyone visiting the store can read and relax to their heart’s content. Translated by Park Kyoung-lee
by Korean Literature Now
The Place
Wit N Cynical: Bookstore dedicated to poetry
A vibrant, lively street in Hyehwa-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
Dongyang Bookstore has been around since 1953.
The poetry bookstore Wit N Cynical sits atop a spiral staircase.
Hello. My name is You Hee-kyoung, and I’m a poet.
I’m also the owner of this small poetry bookstore.
You may be surprised on your first visit.
You’ll find a bookstore on the ground floor.
And then there’s another bookstore at the top of the spiral staircase.
It’s quite unique to have two bookstores together.
by Korean Literature Now
The Place
Onul Books: A curated bookstore
An ordinary residential area in Yangjae-dong.
Where sunlight pours in through the large windows,
and visitors feel as if they have traveled back in time.
Hello. I’m Kim Sooji, the manager of Onul Books.
Onul Books is a bookstore that opened in September 2018.
Our curated collection covers humanities, literature, arts, and picture books. From a broader perspective, we curate books by author and category. Our curation can also be narrowed down to books under the theme of color or books suitable for the season.
Q. There are sticky notes here and there in the bookstore. What do you write on them?
I write down memorable lines, interviews with authors, and reasons behind book recommendations.
I stick them throughout the bookstore to arouse the curiosity of potential readers.
Q. Please reveal more about your secret book section.
There’s a section called “Bundle of Secret Books” in the middle of the store. You can choose books based on the handwritten introduction, which leaves out typical information like the author. They are usually poetry, essays, and novels. These are the books you’d want to pick as a special gift for yourself or others.
Q. Telephone booths are hard to find these days. Why do you have one in the bookstore?
The “Secret Telephone Booth” is not meant to make phone calls, but allows you to listen to different sounds by pressing the numbers. For example, you can listen to the voice of James Joyce, the voice of Park Wansuh, the sound of waves, or the sound of a typewriter. I hope you will enjoy moments of peace and quiet in the booth.
Q. Top 3 books recommended by the manager of Onul Books
The first book I’d like to recommend is One Hundred Shadows, a novel by Hwang Jungeun.
This novel was a hit from the time it was published. It’s interesting how it can be read as a romance, and also from a social perspective. I often recommend it to those who visit the store to get their first taste of Korean novels.
The second book on my list is Dictionary of the Mind, a collection of essays by the poet Kim So Yeon.
The book can be seen as footnotes explaining words in the poet’s mind. The essays are written based on the poet’s unique interpretation of words such as “darkness” and “scent.” It is highly recommended to those looking for gifts to express their feeling to friends or family.
The third book I recommend is A Dream of Becoming Water, a picture book by Lucid Fall and Suzy Lee.
The bookstore is focused on humanities and literature, but there’s a separate corner for picture books. The book presents the lyrics of Lucid Fall’s song of the same title, together with illustrations by Suzy Lee. Designed like a folding screen, it can be folded out for reading in a large area. As you read the book, put yourself in the shoes of the child, turning into a fish and then a bird.
Q. Is there a good place for reading near the store?
Some nearby spots are the Yangjae Citizen Forest and Yangjaecheon Stream.
Yangjaecheon Stream is especially lovely in April, when it becomes pink with cherry blossoms. Reading outdoors is a worthwhile experience. There’s nothing quite like reading in nature. That’s why I recommend Yangjaecheon Stream and Yangjae Citizen Forest.
Q. What are your plans for Onul Books?
I hope for Onul Books to stay faithful to its role as a neighborhood bookstore. It will try to serve as a bridge between books and people, going a step further than simply buying and selling books. Onul Books plans to grow into a bookstore that actively communicates with diverse groups of people.
by Korean Literature Now
The Place
Spain Bookshop: A Spanish Haven in Seoul
A narrow alley leads to a small bookshop like a Spanish haven in Seoul. Hello, I'm Eva the bookseller who runs Spain Bookshop. I was in indie publishing and used to take my books around to a lot of bookshops. That's when I became interested in bookshops. It seemed like a fun way to get involved with nice people and projects, so I started my own bookshop. I decided I would need a theme if I wanted to keep the place running for a long time. So I thought about what I liked best, and that was Spain. It has a lot going for it, culturally and historically. I figured it would give me enough to fill the space, so I decided on Spain as my theme. Q. How did you become interested in Spain? It all started with Gaudí, the architect. I stumbled upon a book about him when I was in high school and that was the beginning of my interest in Spain. At first it was just wonder. 'I can't believe someone thought of buildings like that.' And so I became interested in Gaudí, who did a lot of his work in Barcelona. That got me interested in Barcelona, and then eventually all of Spain. Q. How do you decide on what books to stock at Spain Bookshop? Keeping to our theme, the first books we stock are related to Spain,and Spanish-speaking countries. They run the whole range of subjects. We stock literature, art, travel books. But it's not like so many books are published about Spain or Central and South America year-round, so we can't fill the shop with just those releases. So for the rest, I stock books that interest me on a case-by-case basis. (Spain Bookshop also stocks Spanish editions of Korean literature such as the Spanish translation of Sohn Won-Pyung’s novel, Almedra.) Q. What are your top three bestsellers at Spain Bookshop? First there's this essay collection, Barcelona, Living in the Now. It's a collection of essays from a two-year stay in Barcelona. Think sketches of everyday life, but set in Barcelona. There's just a whiff of a travel element but more than that, it's really about living in Barcelona. You can easily imagine yourself living there and get a vicarious sense of satisfaction. It's simply written but still manages to touch your heart which is why I'm very fond of it and recommend it to everyone. The next one is a Spanish phrasebook called AMOR365. The subtitle is, "A collection of Spanish phrases for lovers." As you may guess from the 365 in the title, It has one Spanish phrase about love for each day of the year. "No star shines as bright as your eyes." It's very popular with people studying Spanish, or people buy it as a gift for a friend or significant other that's studying Spanish. The third book is one we got fairly recently about the Camino de Santiago. It's about the French Way, the most popular route. The author went on the French Way many times before making this book. It's all done in watercolor. It's an accordion book. The entire Camino is about 800 km, from east to west. So this book is made to unfold from left to right,just like the Camino. Q. Are there any nice spots to read around here? In the spring or fall when the weather is nice, there's Namsangol Hanok Village right nearby. It's quite big, and they have lots of places to sit, so it could be a nice place to go with a book. Q. What are your plans for Spain Bookshop? I'd like to keep this place going as long as I can while still staying true to our theme. Spain really means a lot to me, so I'd like it if we could keep that focus. I think it would be great if it could become a lasting space for His panophiles. To build a community with like-minded people and to keep that interest going, that's the goal. Translated by Yoonna Cho
by Korean Literature Now
The Place
Gwangjang Market: Where History Breathes
There are three famous gwangjang (squares) in South Korea: Choi In-hoon’s monumental novel, The Square; the Seoul Gwangjang in front of City Hall, the place of candlelight protests; and the Gwangjang traditional market that boasts a hundred year history. Originally, Gwangjang Market was a name exclusive to a 3,000 pyeong shopping establishment that was privately owned by the Gwangjang Corporation, and located in the center of the market. It now refers to some 60 commercial buildings that are clustered around the Gwangjang Shopping Center. The market has a 300-year history if one looks at it from a historical perspective, and at least a 108-year history if one considers its establishment from 1905 when the Gwangjang Corporation was founded. In the latter part of the Joseon era, there were three large open markets in Seoul: The I-hyeon Market, open from early dawn to morning located near Dongdaemun; the Chil-pae Market, around what is now Namdaemun; and the Jongno Market, which opened in the evening. Among the three, I-hyeon Market was more renowned for its morning Baeogae Market. Baeogae was a hill that connected the areas of Jongmyo, Dongdaemun, and Cheonggyecheon. There are many stories regarding the genealogy of its name: that there were many pear trees (bae means pear); that it was the last point where a large boat crossing the Han River could reach through to Cheonggye Stream (bae also means boat); and that because of the frequent appearance of tigers, a hundred people had to gather together in order to go up the hill. Baeogae was a morning market that developed around this region. In 1910, the Joseon empire was annexed by Japan. But even before that, Korea had been hopelessly subject to all kinds of invasions by Japan. The circumstances of the markets were also bleak. The merchants, who had a strong sense of nationalism, united and established the Gwangjang Corporation on July 5, 1905. Despite much interference, Dongdaemun Market, Korea’s first privately owned market, came about at last. Before the annexation, the Japanese merchants who had developed the Jingogae (Myeongdong) area into a busy commercial center, opened five department stores after 1920. The Hwashin Department Store was built in Jongno. A very small number of people were able to go to Japan and engage in a luxurious shopping spree or shop at the Hwashin Department Store in Jongno. The market for the majority of the people during the Joseon era was Dongdaemun Market. Just as life would have been impossible for most Joseon people if the five-day market had not been maintained, everyday living would not have been possible had there not been a traditional market such as Dongdaemun during the Japanese colonial period. That is the reason why Dongdaemun Market could neither be expanded nor demolished. Dongdaemun Market was like a fortress. When the sun rose, the four gates on the east, west, south, and north opened and all kinds of items from the entire country started to pour in. Dried fish from the East Coast, coal from mines throughout the peninsula, as well as an assortment of paraphernalia from Japan and the West arrived. But it was agricultural products that were sold in the largest quantity. Fresh vegetables, seasonal fruit, and five grains were transported by horses and cows. Dongdaemun Market was known to have the largest number of agro-fishery products in all of Korea. The shops were categorized into three tiers. Tier one shops were located in tile roof houses and were wealthy enough to be able to place advertisements in newspapers. Tier two shops were all under tin roofs, and offered mostly agro-fishery products. The tier three shops were vendors who sold things on a mat under a somewhat shabby plank roof; they sold mostly miscellaneous household objects. Around 200 merchants owned the tier one and two shops, and the tier three sellers changed constantly. On average, around 2,000 customers visited daily. Dongdaemun Market was completely destroyed during the Korean War. Only the site of the building remained, but after the war the market became more vibrant. Survivors had to continue to live and the market was a necessity in order for people to go on living. The people who arrived in Seoul in great numbers from all parts of the country settled in the Cheonggyecheon area and as a result, the market region became completely packed with people. After the recovery of Seoul, there was a presidential order from Rhee Syngman to reconstruct Dongdaemun Market. President Rhee ordered three international-sized markets to be built in Seoul. The construction of the Gwangjang Shopping Center took place swiftly. From 1957 to 1959 a massive construction project commenced and finally in 1959, it was completed as the building it is today. In other words, the three-story concrete Gwangjang Shopping Center was newly constructed and maintained for 50 years until now in its present form. At that time, most of the buildings around the Cheonggyecheon area were traditional Korean style houses and as these buildings were mostly destroyed during the Korean War, the newly built Gwangjang Shopping Center was the most modern structure between Jongno and Dongdaemun. The Gwangjang Shopping Center was the tallest building around at the time, and the watchtower mounted on the roof must have made people feel as if they were looking down from a mountaintop. Seoul was the most popular overnight school trip destination for students from the provinces. Gwangjang Market was always included on the itinerary. Students climbed to the top of the watchtower of the Gwangjang Shopping Center building and looked out at the Dongdaemun area. They took pride in the fact that there was such a big market in Korea, and bought gifts to bring back for their parents from the Gwangjang Shopping Center. In January 2011 the novelist Park Wansuh passed away. She was an integral part of the history of Gwangjang Market. Her novel His House, published in 2004, records in detail the sights of the Gwangjang Market during the 1950s. It delineates the period from after the Korean War when there were hardly any buildings intact up to the post-War construction of the department store era.One cannot find a more detailed depiction of Dongdaemun Market than in His House. Park’s novel provides a very thorough description of the market as it was then, and the commerce that revolved around it. What is astounding is that things remain pretty much the same to this day. “It was called a department store or a dry-goods store but in actuality, it was simply a long pathway like an alley; and on both sides the merchants were allotted a single pyeong where they put up a stall without a partition or divider. In the back they hung loose fabric and piled up folded or rolls of fabric by the pathway, and the owner did the business, standing on top of the stall. It looked like an enormous dry-goods store when one just walked into the department store but it was a fierce arena of competition for many one-pyeong business proprietors.” Of course, the present day Gwangjang Shopping Center is no longer a “fierce arena of competition.” The stores are at least four to five pyeong in size. There are some that are over 10 pyeong. But the absence of partitions or boundaries remains the same, and fabric still hangs loose on the rear wall with the rolled up fabric piled up in a display case by the pathway. On November 13, 1971 a 22-year-old young man by the name of Chun Tae-il set himself ablaze in the Peace Market across from the Gwangjang Market, shouting “Obey the Labor Law!” “Let my death not be in vain!” The Gwangjang Market has a deep relationship with Chun Tae-il. The prodigious personal records he left behind was compiled by Cho Young-rae, and published into a book, A Single Spark: The Biography of Chun Tae-il. The following is a passage from the book:“The young Tae-il, who had to take on the responsibility of taking care of his family of six, took his younger brother, Tae-sam to the Dongdaemun Market to sell kitchen objects. They got things like trivets, brushes, strainers, brooms, and grills from a consignment store, paid back the price of the items, and then kept the profit. The trivet was relatively easy to make and therefore the two brothers bought the material from Dongdaemun and made them themselves on the rice paddy of Yongdudong where they lived.” Tae-il was only 13-years old then. It wasn’t just Tae-il and his family who were destitute, because in those days there were many children who had to work to support their families.The Biography of Chun Tae-il is filled with heartrending stories of his youth and the young girl factory workers he met in the Peace Market. Chun Tae-il was born in 1948, the year the Republic of Korea was founded. Most of the people from that generation underwent as much hardship as Chun Tae-il. The older merchants of the Gwangjang Shopping Center experienced as difficult a childhood and youth as Chun. What they remember the most are those difficult years—horrific childhoods because of poverty and war, when they were inhumanely treated while working in factories and marketplaces. A Single Spark: The Biography of Chun Tae-il is not only a story of one person but about the entire generation that lived during a very difficult period. “Lament” is a short story by Choi Il-nam that was published in the monthly magazine, Hyundae Munhak, in 1976. The protagonists, a married couple who sell fish in the market, have a dream. “When the couple somehow managed to survive while running a small shop in a market that was on the outskirts of the city, the wife talked about moving to Dongdaemun Market after several years of hard work. The husband yelled at his wife for being a piker, instead of dreaming big and closing down their small store for a much bigger and more reputable business. Then his wife replied that it was her wish to make a fortune in the grandest market with the same business that they began.” Hence, the Dongdaemun Market before 1976 was grand enough to be the subject of one woman’s life’s dream. The elder merchants remember the 1970s as the heyday of Dongdaemun Market. “There were so many customers that we didn’t have enough time to count our money. In those days, we could provide for our children until after college from our one to two-pyeong store. There was such a stream of customers from dawn to late night that our doorsteps got worn out. We were so busy that we sometimes forgot to eat.” The comedian, Kang Ho-dong, came to Gwangjang Market only once, but it gained the place new renown. The Mayor of Seoul, National Assemblymen, Cabinet Ministers, and the presidents of banks and companies have all paid visits to Gwangjang Market as well. Yet even if the president came wearing a hanbok along with the first lady at the bequest of merchants on festive occasions, these visits didn’t have nearly the effect of Kang’s visit. When Kang Ho-dong carried out his assignment of “Eat 10 Different Kinds of Food and Show 10 Different Reactions” for a TV program, Gwangjang Market instantly became known as the mecca of food. The attitude of the media’s coverage of the Gwangjang Market has changed according to the times. During the Japanese colonial period, it was known as the “greatest agro-fishery market in Joseon.” From 1960 to 1980, it became the largest fabric market in Korea, and then during the 1990s, silk, satin, linen, and cotton were popular items. Since the Asian financial crisis in 1998 to the early 2000s, secondhand stores and custom-tailored clothes were common. Recently, it has become known as a place to stop off for inexpensive food after taking a walk around nearby Cheonggye Stream. The majority of the stores in the Gwangjang Market still do business in fabrics and dry goods. However, fabric sales have plummeted in the poor economy and the silk and satin stores that now specialize mostly in hanbok are not doing very well. Even though the hanbok shops are empty most of the time, the secondhand stores are always crowded. There have always been many stalls and eateries in the small alleys that surround the market, but after the restoration of Cheonggye Stream, the dining business in the surrounding area suddenly revived. This is a rather unwelcome phenomenon from the perspective of Gwangjang Market. In the first half of the 1960s when the construction of the Gwangjang Shopping Center was completed, it was the most modern market in Korea. But now, it has become the biggest and the most famous traditional market. Embracing the most energetic and passion-filled years of millions of humble people, the place has aged along with the people. While everyone is caught up in the most cutting-edge, massive-scale, and luxurious styles available, renovating their shops to make them bigger, trendier, and more distinctive, Gwangjang Market is a place that tries to change with the times even as it is known as an embodiment of the past. 1. His HousePark Wansuh, Segyesa Publishing Co., Ltd.2012, 308p, ISBN 9788933801956 2. A Single Spark: The Biography of Chun Tae-ilCho Young-rae, Chun Tae-il Memorial Foundation2009, 340p, ISBN 9788996187424
by Kim Chong-khwang
The Place
Forest of Wisdom
Just a few kilometers from the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea, Paju is a somewhat surprising location for what has become the center of publishing and book culture in Korea. Paju Book City is a city dedicated to books—their printing, publication, and promotion. It aims to become the “book-hub of Asia.” In this book city nestled among publishing offices, online bookstore warehouses, and printing presses sits the “Forest of Wisdom,” a huge concrete building with three massive sections. Forest of Wisdom is currently home to over 200,000 books and before too long it will accommodate another 100,000. The books are mostly donations from publishing companies and some of them gave copies of every book they had ever published. Organizations and notable individuals have contributed as well. Traditionally, buildings that house such a large number of books have either been libraries or bookshops, but Forest of Wisdom is neither. The books there are not for sale, they cannot be loaned out, and they are not catalogued. Forest of Wisdom is something else entirely. In the last few years there has been a book café craze throughout Korea, where the walls of a coffee shop are filled with bookshelves laden with interesting books. Some book cafés are operated by well-known publishing companies like Munhakdongne or Changbi Publishers, Inc., who use them as a space to display and sell their books. Others are simply decorated with books that create an atmosphere where customers can sit with their coffee, relax, and spend some time with a book that catches their eye. With a coffee shop in its central hall, on first impression Forest of Wisdom seems like it must be the biggest book café in Korea, perhaps even the world—but in fact it is more akin to a vast interactive artwork. Explaining the rationale behind this forest of books, Kim Eounho, the chairman of Bookcity Culture Foundation, begins by talking about the beauty of books as artifacts, and how that beauty has a cumulative power, so that when books are displayed together they create the harmony of a choir, and an indescribable fragrance that transforms a space. Thus when lectures are held in these halls the content sounds more inspiring, and when musicians perform among the books the melodies are more beautiful. Over 100 events have already been held in Forest of Wisdom this year alone, including a performance by the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra as well as evening classes and programs as part of the Book City’s Open University. The Paju Book Sori Festival, a meeting point for publishers, editors, and authors from all over Asia, is also held among the books in the Forest of Wisdom, creating the perfect hub for learning and exchange. Kim Eounho says that rather than being a mere library, Forest of Wisdom is a book utopia, creating a new way of approaching and enjoying books. We go to libraries to track down specific books, looking them up in a database and hunting them down in the stacks, ignoring all the books around them. In Forest of Wisdom you cannot help but explore, browse the spines of books from shelf to shelf—reading titles, experiencing colors and textures, and taking out and opening up the ones that pull at your imagination. In this book utopia all books are equal before the reader, and on every shelf a myriad of worlds sit ready to inspire, just waiting to be opened. In all three halls books line the walls from floor to lofty ceiling. Even on a weekday there are plenty of people around, some browsing books, some studying or working at one of the many desks while others chat with friends over a cup of tea. On weekends the place is filled with families, as children and their parents line the stairs to the second floor, reading books and sharing new stories. The first hall is filled with books donated by different scholars. The idea is that visitors can find out more about these great minds by browsing through their book collections, thus they are kept together and each section is labeled with the name of the person who donated them along with their area of study. Looking through these personal collections, amassed over the course of the donor’s career, it is easy to see that successful scholars do not stick to just one kind of book. Among the volumes donated by a professor of English literature you can find books on philosophy, geography, music, and translation. As Kim Eounho says, children who read books are our hope for the future. This does not mean children who just “study hard” as the Korean saying goes, but for children who read widely and enthusiastically; because while school textbooks teach us that everything relating to a subject can be found in one place, the book collections of talented scholars demonstrate that those who have a wide understanding and interest in many fields are the ones who create new wisdom and advance the knowledge of humanity. Books, things themselves that have been created, are the start of other forms of creation. They are the greatest inheritance left to humankind. In Forest of Wisdom they have been brought together to be read, to be enjoyed, and to make their presence felt in a space which creates a new way of interacting with books and is sure to inspire generations of readers, writers, and thinkers. Kim Eounho: Kim founded Hangilsa Publishing in 1976 and Hangil Art Publishing in 1998. He is also head organizer of Paju Booksori, director of Hangil Book Museum, and chairman of Bookcity Culture Foundation.
by Kim Eounho