Sci-fi pioneer Bae Myung-hoon wants Korea to embrace the space opera
Published: 10 Dec. 2024, 07:00
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- LEE JIAN
- [email protected]
[Page-turners]
As translated fiction enters a more global limelight, Korean books are being discovered by a wider audience beyond its borders. With the help of the massive inventory retained by dbBooks, Korea’s oldest independent book dealer, the Korea JoongAng Daily sought out hidden gems on their shelves. In this interview series, we find them for you and talk to the creatives behind them.
![Author Bae Myung-hoon speaks to the Korea JoongAng Daily for an interview at Tongbang Books' office in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul. [PARK SANG-MOON]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/10/f3dfd369-2e4b-4877-8591-269996ee6bb0.jpg)
Writing was originally a hobby for author Bae Myung-hoon.
He began in politics, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees in political science from Seoul National University in the early 2000s. He wasn't interested in popular science fiction, a genre in which Korean characters were few and far between at the time.
It wasn't until he won a university fiction contest with a short story titled “Terrorist” (2004), followed by a science fiction competition hosted by the Korea Foundation for Science and Creativity at the Dong-A Ilbo, that he realized he might have a knack for the activity — and, more importantly, that the traditionally western genre could have a place in Korean society.
“In the beginning, I had no prior knowledge of the genre,” Bae told the Korea JoongAng Daily. “I just wrote about things that I knew.”
The 46-year-old, now the author of more than 20 books and short stories, is considered a pioneer of Korea's modern science fiction market. His writing is known to blur the line between genre and literary fiction, touching on universal themes such as nationalism, war and resilience. Many of his works are set in Korea and feature Korean characters, a trend that was less common before he entered the scene.
Still, when writing “The Proposal,” his newly translated book, Bae wasn't exactly sure how it, or he, would fit into the writing world.
The book was published 11 years ago to a reaction the author describes as “lukewarm."
“People, including myself, weren’t very aware of the sci-fi genre, and some even considered it a kind of low-rate,” the author said.
Based in space ahead of an imminent war, “The Proposal” is a series of letters from a space-born protagonist to his lover in Seoul. The work reflects “on the distances that separate us—both physically and emotionally—and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit, ever striving to overcome these divides,” according to Honford Star. The space-born protagonist questions, often wittingly, humanity's tendencies, like its inherent nationalism, that draw lines in the face of a lesser-understood existence.
“The most primal ethic that makes humans humans is not the taboos against cannibalism or incest but the ability to tell up from down," Bae writes in the book.
Such themes tap into Korean experiences, Bae believes, in a way that sci-fi historically hasn't.
“SF books require a bit of nationalistic confidence,” he said, “and Korean writers in the past didn’t have that. For example, if someone were to go to the moon, it would be odd to make that character a Korean. It would make more sense for the protagonist to be an American.”
![Cover of ″The Proposal″ by Bae Myung-hoon [HONFORD STAR]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/10/72d781fc-4239-4582-9b52-64d7bde76b37.jpg)
Much of sci-fi, consequently, used to be narrated by American characters, which Bae says “didn’t quite click with the readers."
“It would seem obvious today that a Korean author would write in a Korean voice, but that wasn’t the case in science fiction 20 years ago.”
Bae was one of the authors who paved the path for sci-fi stories with Korean protagonists, best known for “Tower” (2009) and “Launch Something!” (2022), both of which have been translated into English. “The Proposal,” translated by Stella Kim and released this fall by Honford Star, was the third of his books to be published in the language.
One thing those works have in common, Bae says, is that their characters identify conflict not within themselves but rather with their surroundings. Solutions, if they exist, are also found in the environment. “There isn’t a big internal realization that happens and then changes the protagonist,” he said. “It is about how the characters interact with the world around them.”
For instance, in "The Proposal," the protagonist's main dilemma with his army's corruption is a completely external problem. As he works through his conflicts, no significant mind shift or growth ensues that he comes out at the end of the novel a changed person. His love for space - his home - is left unchanged and because of that, and his sense of loyalty to his job, he is unable to travel back to his lover on Earth.
They also, as is the case with some sci-fi works, don't bog readers with scientific facts and measurements. He makes heavy use of the phenomenon sci-fi critics refer to as “cognizant estrangement,” whereby a fictional setting helps the reader to better understand their empirical reality.
“I’m not so interested in science and technology but how a society functions,” Bae said. “Sci-fi is how I understand the world.”
He hopes that such genre-bending stories like “The Proposal” will continue to resonate in Korea's market, where he feels that, despite decades of progress, sci-fi is still considered inferior to more “traditional” works. It's a genre, after all, that chose him.
“There wasn’t a specific moment that I told myself, ‘I want to be a science fiction writer,’” said Bae. “What I liked writing, it turned out, was science fiction. It was very organic in coming.”
He's spent a considerable amount of time thinking about space and studying it, but it isn't a place where he would rather be.
“Space is a great place for my mind to travel to limitlessly, but I like Earth,” he said, and more jokingly added, “I wouldn't be able to handle space's zero-gravity.”
BY LEE JIAN [[email protected]]
As translated fiction enters a more global limelight, Korean books are being discovered by a wider audience beyond its borders. With the help of the massive inventory retained by dbBooks, Korea’s oldest independent book dealer, the Korea JoongAng Daily sought out hidden gems on their shelves. In this interview series, we find them for you and talk to the creatives behind them.
Author Bae Myung-hoon speaks to the Korea JoongAng Daily for an interview at Tongbang Books' office in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul. [PARK SANG-MOON]
Writing was originally a hobby for author Bae Myung-hoon.
He began in politics, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees in political science from Seoul National University in the early 2000s. He wasn't interested in popular science fiction, a genre in which Korean characters were few and far between at the time.
It wasn't until he won a university fiction contest with a short story titled “Terrorist” (2004), followed by a science fiction competition hosted by the Korea Foundation for Science and Creativity at the Dong-A Ilbo, that he realized he might have a knack for the activity — and, more importantly, that the traditionally western genre could have a place in Korean society.
“In the beginning, I had no prior knowledge of the genre,” Bae told the Korea JoongAng Daily. “I just wrote about things that I knew.”
The 46-year-old, now the author of more than 20 books and short stories, is considered a pioneer of Korea's modern science fiction market. His writing is known to blur the line between genre and literary fiction, touching on universal themes such as nationalism, war and resilience. Many of his works are set in Korea and feature Korean characters, a trend that was less common before he entered the scene.
Still, when writing “The Proposal,” his newly translated book, Bae wasn't exactly sure how it, or he, would fit into the writing world.
The book was published 11 years ago to a reaction the author describes as “lukewarm."
“People, including myself, weren’t very aware of the sci-fi genre, and some even considered it a kind of low-rate,” the author said.
Based in space ahead of an imminent war, “The Proposal” is a series of letters from a space-born protagonist to his lover in Seoul. The work reflects “on the distances that separate us—both physically and emotionally—and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit, ever striving to overcome these divides,” according to Honford Star. The space-born protagonist questions, often wittingly, humanity's tendencies, like its inherent nationalism, that draw lines in the face of a lesser-understood existence.
“The most primal ethic that makes humans humans is not the taboos against cannibalism or incest but the ability to tell up from down," Bae writes in the book.
Such themes tap into Korean experiences, Bae believes, in a way that sci-fi historically hasn't.
“SF books require a bit of nationalistic confidence,” he said, “and Korean writers in the past didn’t have that. For example, if someone were to go to the moon, it would be odd to make that character a Korean. It would make more sense for the protagonist to be an American.”
Cover of ″The Proposal″ by Bae Myung-hoon [HONFORD STAR]
Much of sci-fi, consequently, used to be narrated by American characters, which Bae says “didn’t quite click with the readers."
“It would seem obvious today that a Korean author would write in a Korean voice, but that wasn’t the case in science fiction 20 years ago.”
Bae was one of the authors who paved the path for sci-fi stories with Korean protagonists, best known for “Tower” (2009) and “Launch Something!” (2022), both of which have been translated into English. “The Proposal,” translated by Stella Kim and released this fall by Honford Star, was the third of his books to be published in the language.
One thing those works have in common, Bae says, is that their characters identify conflict not within themselves but rather with their surroundings. Solutions, if they exist, are also found in the environment. “There isn’t a big internal realization that happens and then changes the protagonist,” he said. “It is about how the characters interact with the world around them.”
For instance, in "The Proposal," the protagonist's main dilemma with his army's corruption is a completely external problem. As he works through his conflicts, no significant mind shift or growth ensues that he comes out at the end of the novel a changed person. His love for space - his home - is left unchanged and because of that, and his sense of loyalty to his job, he is unable to travel back to his lover on Earth.
They also, as is the case with some sci-fi works, don't bog readers with scientific facts and measurements. He makes heavy use of the phenomenon sci-fi critics refer to as “cognizant estrangement,” whereby a fictional setting helps the reader to better understand their empirical reality.
“I’m not so interested in science and technology but how a society functions,” Bae said. “Sci-fi is how I understand the world.”
He hopes that such genre-bending stories like “The Proposal” will continue to resonate in Korea's market, where he feels that, despite decades of progress, sci-fi is still considered inferior to more “traditional” works. It's a genre, after all, that chose him.
“There wasn’t a specific moment that I told myself, ‘I want to be a science fiction writer,’” said Bae. “What I liked writing, it turned out, was science fiction. It was very organic in coming.”
He's spent a considerable amount of time thinking about space and studying it, but it isn't a place where he would rather be.
“Space is a great place for my mind to travel to limitlessly, but I like Earth,” he said, and more jokingly added, “I wouldn't be able to handle space's zero-gravity.”
BY LEE JIAN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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