Jo Gang-seok: Tlön's Column

A new collection of literary criticism by Cho Kang-seok, who steadfastly pushes forward the pillars of literature while exploring the essential role of criticism, has been published. *The Pillars of Tlön* (Moonji Publishing, 2021) is a new collection of criticism by literary critic Cho Kang-seok (Professor of Korean Language and Literature at Yonsei University). The author began his critical career in 2005 through the *Dong-A Ilbo* New Year's Literary Contest and has demonstrated consistent activity by raising issues relevant to the "here and now," based on fundamental questions about what literature is. The included essay, "On the Effectiveness of Literature Again," is the winner of the 65th Hyundai Literature Award. As is well known, "Tlön" is the name given to a fictional world appearing in a novel by Borges. It refers to an "independent and coherent world" that is "constructed based on the physical and moral laws of the actual real world, yet possesses an independent operating system distinct from them." Furthermore, ‘Tlön’ is not a collection of metaphysical concepts, but “another reality standing obliquely to reality.” When it is said that literature is a form of tautology, isn’t the author fulfilling a critical role by steadfastly pushing forward the pillar of literature as a form of illusion—that is, Tlön? Centering on the key keywords of Jo Kang-seok’s critical world, which can be summarized as ‘the effectiveness of literature,’ ‘image thinking,’ and ‘motiphology,’ the author once again grasps literature and constructs his critical world.

Korean title: 틀뢴의 기둥

Korean author: 조강석

Korean publisher: 문학과지성사

ISBN-13: 9788932038216