Reviews
I found this collection of criticism while browsing the new releases. I read a few pages and bought it immediately. It was a book I knew I wanted to own and read!
It gives you a lot to think about. I plan to find and read the novels discussed here, then read them again.
The book’s deep interest in and insight into literature, along with its sharp analysis of social and historical currents, makes me think about many things. Its crisp, direct prose is refreshing.
Lee Ji-eun: Social Club
Literary critic Ji-eun Lee’s *Social Club* has been published by Munhakdongne. It is her first collection; she began her critical work through the 2015 Kyunghyang Shinmun New Writer’s Contest. Her past nine years began with the reflection, “I will speak what I fear to say, and I will say it fearlessly,” and have been devoted to placing carefully chosen writing in the Korean literary landscape. Lee has written criticism with a core, grounded in profound understanding and empathy for people and texts, keen insight, and firm reasoning. Though her first book, *Social Club* has a strong, distinctive character. It was conceived differently from conventional critical collections: its format is closer to a novel, and it gathers thematic criticism that foregrounds social issues, a warm and daring choice for a first collection. The title expresses the idea of reading fiction together through a social lens. After the Sewol disaster, the resurgence of feminism, and the Candlelight Revolution, the 2010s brought an irreversible turning point for Korean society and literature. Reflecting on feminism, youth, fairness, regional discourse, and historical denialism, the author uses Korean fiction to examine our living conditions and the ideologies that conceal them. Avoiding rigid critical language and rhetorical display, she takes up apt themes and texts to share the uncomfortable but fascinating truths of literature and society.
Korean title: 소셜 클럽
Korean author: 이지은
Korean publisher: 문학동네
ISBN-13: 9788954636230
Reviews
I found this collection of criticism while browsing the new releases. I read a few pages and bought it immediately. It was a book I knew I wanted to own and read!
It gives you a lot to think about. I plan to find and read the novels discussed here, then read them again.
The book’s deep interest in and insight into literature, along with its sharp analysis of social and historical currents, makes me think about many things. Its crisp, direct prose is refreshing.
