The best books of the year 2020 in Korea

 What are the criteria for choosing a book? Book cover? Favorite author? There are a lot of criteria, but if it's still hard to choose a book to read, why don't you read an award-winning book? In this article, I will introduce the best books of the year in Korea. Among them, I chose the ‘Hyundae Literature Award’.

 Hyundae Literature Award was launched in January 1955 and is the oldest monthly pure literary magazine in Korea. They have two founding spirits. First, we will understand and recognize the concept of ‘modern’ through the time and space in history. Which is strictly separating from the momentary current and the minor high-tech consciousness. Second, we will seek the legitimate succession of the classic and its modern rejection.

 Each year, the award was given in the fields of poetry, novel, and critique. And plays were played until 1988. In addition, they are working on another series. This year, the 66th Hyundae Literature Award had a winner only in the poetry and the novel categories. Hwang In-chan won the prize for poetry and Choi Eun-mi for the novel.

▲ 66th Hyundae Munhak - Novel / Source : Hyundae Munhak

 According to the commentary, poet Hwang tells a story of ordinary daily life. However, it is said that the omitted space between the line and the line, such as the power to read margins or gaps, and the power to use unwritten words is noticeable. And, he said that we can read the eyes of a child who concentrates on small things.

▲ 66th Hyundae Munhak - Poem / Source : Hyundae Munhak

 And author Choi has awarded by ‘Here, we, face to face’. In this novel, we can see the story of a woman and the time of COVID-19. She raised the question about whether ‘loss, injury, and conflict from discriminating and isolating’ are too familiar to all of us. According to the commentary, “It may be because the exclusion under the guise of goodwill was working stubbornly. The surprising thing of her novel is that the exclusion is not divided into a dichotomy, but persistently visualized the origin of exclusion and hatred.”

 On the ‘Hyundae Literature’ website, the book is introduced by the item which is overlapping with two-sided elements. The book contains the left page and the right page, in and out, the beginning and the end, the white paper and the black ink, revealed and hidden, the author and the reader. If you read the award-winning book while thinking about these factors, you will be able to read the book much deeper.