This exemplary piece of fiction has been acclaimed and lauded throughout the world—in the United States, numerous couples have been saved from divorce through its wisdom, which is in turn the wisdom of the North Korean state.
This was a real find - the idea of a North Korean writer actually managing to write a good novel under an authoritarian regime feels like the ultimate achievement as a writer.
Did you find any similar surprises when you explored Soviet literature? Have you written any posts on those?
Thanks for sharing this. "Friend" has been on my list to read for a while. I learned about it from substacker Felix Purat, who also recommends it. Also thanks for sharing about Soviet writers, a special interest I have... "In the USSR writing was one of the most highly-paid professions" because as you probably know writers are "Engineers of the human soul." [Stalin] I met a Soviet poet once in a fancy house by a lake. She was on an anti-nuclear tour in the USA with another Soviet poet. I had memorized "It's a weary world, gentlemen" in Russian (Gogol quote) to catch their attention. I asked her openly 1) how young writers [like me] achieved publication, and privately [obnoxiously] 2) with glastnost beginning, did the USSR publish Zamyatin (etc) openly now. (Answer 2) She came quite close in the smallest voice that was still discernible, "Little bit." Afterward I felt quite bad for asking and possibly putting her in danger. (Answer 1) Some kind of breezy, open committee discussion process.
Both answers are so interesting! Yes, I think what's fascinating in reading about public and private institutions is that the ways they make decisions, on a micro level, are pretty similar. Like, yeah, the state publishing company reads submissions, has an editorial meeting, and probably even discusses if these are the kinds of things people want to read or not! It's only at the larger, societal level that you see the differences--in a capitalist system it's very, very hard for good writers to get published and achieve success, whereas in a socialist system it's even harder! On the other hand, in socialist countries, especially after the Khrushchev thaw, officially-endorsed writers could make fortunes, while dissident writers became international celebrities, so many having that kind of halfway repression (i.e. the kind where you get suppressed but not shot) is the best of all possible worlds. But...probably not.
Surprising to hear about a novel from North Korea that manages to be both entertaining and insightful, especially given the restrictive environment and everything that one has heard about the place through media. Hope to read the book some day. Thanks for the fascinating write up.
Yes the translator (an American academic who studies North Korean literature) mentioned in another article that he's read thousands of North Korean novels, and I think this was the only one he found that seemed worthy of being translated!
This looks like a really interesting novel. It's a real problem that the contemporary literature that gets translated is the stuff written with an eye to the West--whether in the form of dissident literature or postcolonial critique--whereas I want most want to read the novels that are indifferent to the West, or at least written primarily for a national audience.
Yes, it's so fascinating, in India there's a flourishing English-language popular literature: lots of stuff written for a domestic audience, which never gets brought out in America. Very trippy to go into a bookstore in Delhi and see, say, an Indian chick-lit novel that starts with an arranged marriage on the first chapter. I wish more books that didn't center the Western gaze made it over here, but I think the problem is they just don't feel "foreign" enough. Like, this novel, Friend, doesn't feel like North Korea at all. It could be set in Germany, Egypt, India--anywhere with a strong public sector and a lot of paternalistic government officials. Similarly, the Indian chicklit novel has an arranged marriage at its center, but that's only because almost all marriages in India are arranged--it's so unexceptional that it never even becomes a topic of discussion in the plot. All the conflicts you're expecting never materialize, and instead the conflicts are different ones entirely (mostly, as I recall, having to do with her not getting along with her mother in law).
Hahaha this is a good outsider view of the chick-lit scene in India. I realized after reading this comment that I have a contempt for these stories because of their prose and hacky writing, but some of these books are real page turners. The plot is tight, even with titles like "Two fates: The story of my divorce."
Well, somebody's got to read all them posts :p Ended up here following some links in other posts of yours... I'm in awe of how long you've been writing about books consistently and the range of subjects you've covered. (Posted another comment here with a question, asking about Soviet literature - did you find any surprises similar to the North Korean novel there?)
This was a real find - the idea of a North Korean writer actually managing to write a good novel under an authoritarian regime feels like the ultimate achievement as a writer.
Did you find any similar surprises when you explored Soviet literature? Have you written any posts on those?
Thanks for sharing this. "Friend" has been on my list to read for a while. I learned about it from substacker Felix Purat, who also recommends it. Also thanks for sharing about Soviet writers, a special interest I have... "In the USSR writing was one of the most highly-paid professions" because as you probably know writers are "Engineers of the human soul." [Stalin] I met a Soviet poet once in a fancy house by a lake. She was on an anti-nuclear tour in the USA with another Soviet poet. I had memorized "It's a weary world, gentlemen" in Russian (Gogol quote) to catch their attention. I asked her openly 1) how young writers [like me] achieved publication, and privately [obnoxiously] 2) with glastnost beginning, did the USSR publish Zamyatin (etc) openly now. (Answer 2) She came quite close in the smallest voice that was still discernible, "Little bit." Afterward I felt quite bad for asking and possibly putting her in danger. (Answer 1) Some kind of breezy, open committee discussion process.
Both answers are so interesting! Yes, I think what's fascinating in reading about public and private institutions is that the ways they make decisions, on a micro level, are pretty similar. Like, yeah, the state publishing company reads submissions, has an editorial meeting, and probably even discusses if these are the kinds of things people want to read or not! It's only at the larger, societal level that you see the differences--in a capitalist system it's very, very hard for good writers to get published and achieve success, whereas in a socialist system it's even harder! On the other hand, in socialist countries, especially after the Khrushchev thaw, officially-endorsed writers could make fortunes, while dissident writers became international celebrities, so many having that kind of halfway repression (i.e. the kind where you get suppressed but not shot) is the best of all possible worlds. But...probably not.
Why were you in the USSR???? Jealous!
Surprising to hear about a novel from North Korea that manages to be both entertaining and insightful, especially given the restrictive environment and everything that one has heard about the place through media. Hope to read the book some day. Thanks for the fascinating write up.
Yes the translator (an American academic who studies North Korean literature) mentioned in another article that he's read thousands of North Korean novels, and I think this was the only one he found that seemed worthy of being translated!
This looks like a really interesting novel. It's a real problem that the contemporary literature that gets translated is the stuff written with an eye to the West--whether in the form of dissident literature or postcolonial critique--whereas I want most want to read the novels that are indifferent to the West, or at least written primarily for a national audience.
Yes, it's so fascinating, in India there's a flourishing English-language popular literature: lots of stuff written for a domestic audience, which never gets brought out in America. Very trippy to go into a bookstore in Delhi and see, say, an Indian chick-lit novel that starts with an arranged marriage on the first chapter. I wish more books that didn't center the Western gaze made it over here, but I think the problem is they just don't feel "foreign" enough. Like, this novel, Friend, doesn't feel like North Korea at all. It could be set in Germany, Egypt, India--anywhere with a strong public sector and a lot of paternalistic government officials. Similarly, the Indian chicklit novel has an arranged marriage at its center, but that's only because almost all marriages in India are arranged--it's so unexceptional that it never even becomes a topic of discussion in the plot. All the conflicts you're expecting never materialize, and instead the conflicts are different ones entirely (mostly, as I recall, having to do with her not getting along with her mother in law).
Hahaha this is a good outsider view of the chick-lit scene in India. I realized after reading this comment that I have a contempt for these stories because of their prose and hacky writing, but some of these books are real page turners. The plot is tight, even with titles like "Two fates: The story of my divorce."
Omg you’re doing a really deep cut here Adhithya. This is an ooooold post.
Well, somebody's got to read all them posts :p Ended up here following some links in other posts of yours... I'm in awe of how long you've been writing about books consistently and the range of subjects you've covered. (Posted another comment here with a question, asking about Soviet literature - did you find any surprises similar to the North Korean novel there?)