Mermaid's First Steps
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Description
Book Introduction
“It is true that ‘Baby Step’ created a new world,
That world does not exist above 'sleep'.
“It’s not here.”
Lee Jong-san × Lee Yu-ri × Jeon Sam-hye × Lee Seo-young
Four science fiction novels that explore the boundaries of disability.
The Seohaemunjip Youth Literature Series presents its fifteenth book, “The Mermaid’s First Steps.”
This book, consisting of four science fiction novels, started from one question.
As taboo topics in schools and traditional youth literature are increasingly being incorporated into books, why are people with physical or mental disabilities invisible or unseen? Even if they are, they often appear as figures burdened by the pain of their disability, offering lessons to readers.
However, when disability is defined broadly as an individual's physical or mental suffering and the social and cultural issues surrounding that suffering, “what do we call 'disability'?
What becomes 'disability' and what becomes 'normal'?
This inevitably leads to the question, “Where is that faint boundary line located?” (Lee Seo-young, author’s note).
So these novels don't go into space (which is what we usually think of when we think of science fiction).
However, even if we travel to the near or distant future, we remain in a world not significantly different from Earth in the 2020s. The science fiction worldview is realized through questions, not through a spatiotemporal backdrop.
What will disability be like in the future? If our understanding of disability were to change, what would it be? "The Mermaid's Steps" is the four authors' answer to this question.
That world does not exist above 'sleep'.
“It’s not here.”
Lee Jong-san × Lee Yu-ri × Jeon Sam-hye × Lee Seo-young
Four science fiction novels that explore the boundaries of disability.
The Seohaemunjip Youth Literature Series presents its fifteenth book, “The Mermaid’s First Steps.”
This book, consisting of four science fiction novels, started from one question.
As taboo topics in schools and traditional youth literature are increasingly being incorporated into books, why are people with physical or mental disabilities invisible or unseen? Even if they are, they often appear as figures burdened by the pain of their disability, offering lessons to readers.
However, when disability is defined broadly as an individual's physical or mental suffering and the social and cultural issues surrounding that suffering, “what do we call 'disability'?
What becomes 'disability' and what becomes 'normal'?
This inevitably leads to the question, “Where is that faint boundary line located?” (Lee Seo-young, author’s note).
So these novels don't go into space (which is what we usually think of when we think of science fiction).
However, even if we travel to the near or distant future, we remain in a world not significantly different from Earth in the 2020s. The science fiction worldview is realized through questions, not through a spatiotemporal backdrop.
What will disability be like in the future? If our understanding of disability were to change, what would it be? "The Mermaid's Steps" is the four authors' answer to this question.
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
Jongsan Lee · Happy birthday!
Lee Yuri and the Mermaid's First Steps
Jeon Sam -hye and Goraegorae Communications
Lee Seo-young · Deja Vu
Lee Yuri and the Mermaid's First Steps
Jeon Sam -hye and Goraegorae Communications
Lee Seo-young · Deja Vu
Detailed image
Into the book
It's like walking down the street, feeling lost, groping in your pockets, not knowing what or where you lost it.
Lira knew that feeling well.
Listening.
dad.
Things like that.
It is not something you lose, since you were not born with it.
But I felt like I lost something.
But standing in this square among people who seem to understand, it feels like there's something tangible in each pocket.
They have been in Lyra's pocket since birth.
Lira felt proud.
About being born with those things.
--- "Lee Jong-san, "Happy Birthday!"
It was all blue there.
I've never seen blue like that before.
What can compare it to? No matter how expensive the jewel, it cannot surpass the beauty of that color.
The vast space was filled with colors that you would never forget once you saw them.
And the light, a bright, hot light that stung the eyes, poured down from a great distance and filled the place.
Something transparent and soft came from afar and swept across my face, and below my chest, 'sleep' rippled and tickled me.
No matter how much I explain it, you will never fully understand that wonderful feeling.
--- Lee Yu-ri, "The Mermaid's First Steps"
Echolocation is said to be a kind of hand-like use of ultrasound.
It is said that it can measure everything from the rough size and location to the detailed material and curvature.
It was the hand, not the eye.
In the end, even that echolocation couldn't be an eye for Lee Won.
But just because I think this way, it doesn't mean that Won Lee is any different from the arrogant kid he was when we first met.
Why do I keep feeling sorry for you?
I heard it was called hypochondria.
I heard that you lost your family.
Because I heard that Lee Won is just an ordinary kid, no different from me.
That could be the case.
When people hear a pitiful story, they feel pity.
But why do I feel this feeling of pity, this disgusting feeling?
--- Jeon Sam-hye, "Whale Whale Communication"
No, maybe not.
It is possible that a needless sense of victimization created a memory that did not exist.
Anyway, my memory is unreliable.
But I never had the courage to ask my mom if something like that had happened and if she was happy at that time.
If my mom said she was happy, I would be upset.
But my mother could lie to me.
If my mom lied to me, I would feel bad too.
If I say I wasn't happy, can I trust my mom?
If you start to doubt your mother, you'll be just as hurt.
Because of that, I never asked my mom even once.
I just lived remembering that joy, doubting it, and remembering it again.
Lira knew that feeling well.
Listening.
dad.
Things like that.
It is not something you lose, since you were not born with it.
But I felt like I lost something.
But standing in this square among people who seem to understand, it feels like there's something tangible in each pocket.
They have been in Lyra's pocket since birth.
Lira felt proud.
About being born with those things.
--- "Lee Jong-san, "Happy Birthday!"
It was all blue there.
I've never seen blue like that before.
What can compare it to? No matter how expensive the jewel, it cannot surpass the beauty of that color.
The vast space was filled with colors that you would never forget once you saw them.
And the light, a bright, hot light that stung the eyes, poured down from a great distance and filled the place.
Something transparent and soft came from afar and swept across my face, and below my chest, 'sleep' rippled and tickled me.
No matter how much I explain it, you will never fully understand that wonderful feeling.
--- Lee Yu-ri, "The Mermaid's First Steps"
Echolocation is said to be a kind of hand-like use of ultrasound.
It is said that it can measure everything from the rough size and location to the detailed material and curvature.
It was the hand, not the eye.
In the end, even that echolocation couldn't be an eye for Lee Won.
But just because I think this way, it doesn't mean that Won Lee is any different from the arrogant kid he was when we first met.
Why do I keep feeling sorry for you?
I heard it was called hypochondria.
I heard that you lost your family.
Because I heard that Lee Won is just an ordinary kid, no different from me.
That could be the case.
When people hear a pitiful story, they feel pity.
But why do I feel this feeling of pity, this disgusting feeling?
--- Jeon Sam-hye, "Whale Whale Communication"
No, maybe not.
It is possible that a needless sense of victimization created a memory that did not exist.
Anyway, my memory is unreliable.
But I never had the courage to ask my mom if something like that had happened and if she was happy at that time.
If my mom said she was happy, I would be upset.
But my mother could lie to me.
If my mom lied to me, I would feel bad too.
If I say I wasn't happy, can I trust my mom?
If you start to doubt your mother, you'll be just as hurt.
Because of that, I never asked my mom even once.
I just lived remembering that joy, doubting it, and remembering it again.
--- Lee Seo-young, "Deja Vu"
Publisher's Review
Editor's Note
This article is perhaps closer to an editorial review than a book introduction.
When I first planned this book, or more precisely, when I came up with the idea of tackling 'disability' as a topic, I was simultaneously thinking back to my childhood.
The elementary school I attended had only two classes per grade, and each class never had more than 40 students.
Because in the attendance list, which was in alphabetical order, I was always around number 35 because my name started with the letter ㅊ.
The average number of students per class at the time was surprisingly small (even though it was a fairly large city in the metropolitan area).
Because the school was so small, everyone in each grade knew each other.
I can't say that we were all close, but at least we knew who was taller between Class 1's Lee Ji-hyun and Class 2's Lee Ji-hyun.
Also, who are the children in special classes?
I don't remember clearly whether I knew the word 'special class' about 20 years ago.
I don't remember clearly what disabilities they had, or whether the word "disability" was used as a derogatory term or vulgarity at the time, but it was probably used that way (as it is now).
I don't remember much about them.
Because at a certain time, whether it was after the morning roll call or after the first period ended, they left the classroom and headed to another classroom.
I didn't know what classes they took there, and I still don't.
To me, they were 'them'.
In other words, children who are different from me, children who stand on the other side of a boundary line, not this side.
Children who sit in the same classroom but take different classes.
Children who seemed strange in some way.
I found out much later.
That they had disabilities.
Those who knelt before those who opposed the establishment of special schools, why they knelt, what it meant to establish special schools, what they, their children with disabilities, had to go through because there were no special schools, how much hatred they had to face even when demanding basic human rights, how indifferent I had been for so many years from childhood until now, and how I felt like I belonged in a world distant from disabilities.
I've been thinking about these things for the past few months while I was working on this book.
What if the books I'd been given featured characters with disabilities, what joys and sorrows they felt, who they liked, and what they disliked? I hope such thoughts find their way into the countless young adult literature books on display in school libraries.
Author's Note
×
One day, I received an email from editor Cha So-young.
He asked me to write a novel, saying that he had read my interest in disability in my previous work, Customer.
Recommending “Exile and Pride”.
“Exile and Pride” was a book that had been sitting in my shopping cart for a year.
In the end, I didn't read "Exile and Pride," but after receiving the request, I thought a lot about pride.
The moment I accept queerness and disability as my unique identity, it becomes a source of pride that lifts me up.
I wanted to tell a story about a person who meets the moment when he realizes that.
_Lee Jong-san, Author's Note
×
It was the evening I put a period on the last sentence of this story, while I was playing an online game.
My teammate sent me a chat message saying, "What are you doing?" after I made a mistake while losing focus for a moment.
I only realized what that meant after the game was over and I was devastated and helpless.
Are the world I created and the world on the other side of the monitor the same or different?
If they are the same, how are they the same? If they are different, how are they different?
_Lee Yu-ri, Author's Note
×
Until I was in college, I always wanted to be someone who helped others.
I dreamed of being a stenographer and a fortune teller, but for some reason I ended up becoming a storyteller.
Now, I want to be a person who lives together with others rather than helping them, so I hope this story will be shared with others.
_Jeon Sam-hye, Author's Note
×
I was diagnosed with adult ADHD in the summer of 2020.
A crack has appeared in the life that was generally thought to be contained within normality.
What do we call 'disability'?
What becomes 'disability' and what becomes 'normal'?
Where is that faint boundary line?
I wrote it while thinking about the world that transcends boundaries and the changes in humanity.
I hope that readers of the novel will stand on that boundary and feel confused.
_Lee Seo-young, Author's Note
This article is perhaps closer to an editorial review than a book introduction.
When I first planned this book, or more precisely, when I came up with the idea of tackling 'disability' as a topic, I was simultaneously thinking back to my childhood.
The elementary school I attended had only two classes per grade, and each class never had more than 40 students.
Because in the attendance list, which was in alphabetical order, I was always around number 35 because my name started with the letter ㅊ.
The average number of students per class at the time was surprisingly small (even though it was a fairly large city in the metropolitan area).
Because the school was so small, everyone in each grade knew each other.
I can't say that we were all close, but at least we knew who was taller between Class 1's Lee Ji-hyun and Class 2's Lee Ji-hyun.
Also, who are the children in special classes?
I don't remember clearly whether I knew the word 'special class' about 20 years ago.
I don't remember clearly what disabilities they had, or whether the word "disability" was used as a derogatory term or vulgarity at the time, but it was probably used that way (as it is now).
I don't remember much about them.
Because at a certain time, whether it was after the morning roll call or after the first period ended, they left the classroom and headed to another classroom.
I didn't know what classes they took there, and I still don't.
To me, they were 'them'.
In other words, children who are different from me, children who stand on the other side of a boundary line, not this side.
Children who sit in the same classroom but take different classes.
Children who seemed strange in some way.
I found out much later.
That they had disabilities.
Those who knelt before those who opposed the establishment of special schools, why they knelt, what it meant to establish special schools, what they, their children with disabilities, had to go through because there were no special schools, how much hatred they had to face even when demanding basic human rights, how indifferent I had been for so many years from childhood until now, and how I felt like I belonged in a world distant from disabilities.
I've been thinking about these things for the past few months while I was working on this book.
What if the books I'd been given featured characters with disabilities, what joys and sorrows they felt, who they liked, and what they disliked? I hope such thoughts find their way into the countless young adult literature books on display in school libraries.
Author's Note
×
One day, I received an email from editor Cha So-young.
He asked me to write a novel, saying that he had read my interest in disability in my previous work, Customer.
Recommending “Exile and Pride”.
“Exile and Pride” was a book that had been sitting in my shopping cart for a year.
In the end, I didn't read "Exile and Pride," but after receiving the request, I thought a lot about pride.
The moment I accept queerness and disability as my unique identity, it becomes a source of pride that lifts me up.
I wanted to tell a story about a person who meets the moment when he realizes that.
_Lee Jong-san, Author's Note
×
It was the evening I put a period on the last sentence of this story, while I was playing an online game.
My teammate sent me a chat message saying, "What are you doing?" after I made a mistake while losing focus for a moment.
I only realized what that meant after the game was over and I was devastated and helpless.
Are the world I created and the world on the other side of the monitor the same or different?
If they are the same, how are they the same? If they are different, how are they different?
_Lee Yu-ri, Author's Note
×
Until I was in college, I always wanted to be someone who helped others.
I dreamed of being a stenographer and a fortune teller, but for some reason I ended up becoming a storyteller.
Now, I want to be a person who lives together with others rather than helping them, so I hope this story will be shared with others.
_Jeon Sam-hye, Author's Note
×
I was diagnosed with adult ADHD in the summer of 2020.
A crack has appeared in the life that was generally thought to be contained within normality.
What do we call 'disability'?
What becomes 'disability' and what becomes 'normal'?
Where is that faint boundary line?
I wrote it while thinking about the world that transcends boundaries and the changes in humanity.
I hope that readers of the novel will stand on that boundary and feel confused.
_Lee Seo-young, Author's Note
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Publication date: July 16, 2021
- Page count, weight, size: 168 pages | 270g | 140*210*10mm
- ISBN13: 9791190893824
- ISBN10: 1190893827
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