Kim Hoon

Kim Hoon (born May 5, 1948) is a South Korean novelist, journalist and critic.

Life
Kim was born on May 5, 1948, in Seoul, Korea. After graduating from Whimoon High School, Kim Hoon was admitted to Korea University in 1966. He joined Hankook Ilbo as a journalist in 1973. He made his debut as a novelist at the age of forty-seven with the publication of Memories of Earthenware with Comb Teeth Pattern. His second novel. Song of the Sword (칼의 노래), which was awarded the prestigious Dong-in Literature Prize, was a literary sensation and made him one of the most recognized names in Korean literature. Two years later in 2003, Kim's reputation as a writer of exceptional talent was confirmed when his first published short-story “Cremation” was chosen as the winner of Lee Sang Literature Prize. Kim worked as a journalist for 20 years before becoming a writer and is well known for refusing to use anything but a pencil when he writes. He is also an avid cyclist who does not have a driver's license and has written a series of essays on his bicycle travels across the south of the Korean peninsula.

Works
Though he became a fiction writer at a relatively late age, Kim writes with flair and the dexterity of a seasoned novelist. Grounded in his journalistic background, his writing style is polished and unsentimental, and Kim crafts his sentences masterfully to infuse lyrical rhythm to his work without sacrificing clarity and poise. His job as a journalist, which required him to rush to the scenes of disaster, has also given him an insight into the psyches of people in stressful situations. Kim's ability to identify pertinent details and moments of significance in the chaos of life-or-death situations, which he perfected in his line of work as a reporter, can be seen in his first novel, "Memories of Earthenware with Comb Teeth Pattern". Written in the form of a detective story involving the mysterious death of a firefighter, the novel presents a palpably real portrait of the battle with raging fire, and investigates the intensity of human emotions in dire circumstances with acuity, subtlety and insight. In his second novel, "Song of the Sword", Kim gives us a powerful picture of General Yi Sun-sin, not as a mere war-hero, but as an ordinary man facing extraordinary circumstances and struggling with the complexity of his own interior landscape. His next novel Song of Strings focuses on the life of the renowned musician Ureug who lived more than fifteen hundred years ago during the Shilla period.

Namhansanseong (남한산성) is his latest work and has sold almost 1 million copies in South Korea. It is based on the incident known as Byeongjahoran, during the Second Manchu invasion of Korea in 1636, when King Injo of Joseon Dynasty took refuge in the Namhan Mountain Fortress in Gyeonggi-do, in an ill-fated attempt to defy the rule of the Manchu Qing Empire Hong Taiji, following the First Manchu invasion of Korea in 1627. It was adapted into a film, entitled The Fortress, in 2017.

In 2009 a musical also titled, Namhansanseong was based on the novel, but focuses on the lives of common people and their spirit of survival during harsh situations. It stars Yesung of boy band Super Junior as villain "Jung Myung-soo", a servant-turned-interpreter. It was shown from 14 to 31 October at Seongnam Arts Center Opera House.

In 2011 Kim's work “Schwertgesang” (translated by Heidi Kang and Ahn So-hyun) won the Daesan Award for Translated Literature.

Translated works
Language; German

Title: Schwertgesang

Original title: 칼의 노래

Genre: Modern/ Fiction

Publisher: Edition Delta

Translated by: Heidi Kang

Language: French

Title: Le Chant Du Sabre

Original title: 칼의 노래

Genre: Modern/ Fiction

Publisher: Gallimard

Translated by : Yang Young-Nan, François Théron

Language: English

Title: From Powder to Powder

Genre: Modern/ Fiction

In: Land of Exile

Awards

 * Dong-in Prize 2001, for his novel, Song of the Sword
 * Saturation coverage prize from 18th Seoul Journalist Club Award, 2002
 * 2004 Yi Sang Literary Award, 〈화장〉 "Cremation" (Called "From Powder to Powder" in translation)
 * The 4th Hwang Sunwon Prize, 2005, for The menopause of my older sister
 * The 15th Daesan Literary Award, 2007
 * Daesan Award for Translated literature, 2011 for "Schwertgesang"