Dedicated to "The Island" / Albert Camus 4

The Allure of the Ball 20
Cat Mulu 31
Kerguelen Archipelago 72
Lucky Islands 90
Easter Island 105
Imaginary India 122
Days Gone 159
Borromean Islands 166

Translator's Note
The Silence of Writing / Kim Hwa-young 171
The Island Floating in Each Heart / Kim Hwa-young 175

“In each person’s life, especially in the dawn of that life,
There is one moment that determines everything.
(……) It is childhood or adolescence
It continues throughout, seemingly as ordinary as it could be.
“It also colors the passage of time with a special brilliance.”

“I envy without any regrets.
“I envy that young stranger who is opening this 『Island』 for the first time today.”
― Albert Camus

“Here, the farthest from us… and therefore the closest… the dusted and newly adorned islands of beauty, the mother islands… the Borromean islands await you.”
― Kim Hwa-young (translator)


■ Delicate aesthetic thinking, the language of reflection discovered in everyday life
A revised edition of Jean Grenier's "The Island" has been published.

Jean Grenier's "The Island," which has been consistently loved by readers for twenty-three years since its debut in August 1997, was published by Minumsa in a revised edition with a new translation and design in October 2020.
Jean Grenier, well known to us as Albert Camus's teacher, is a representative French aesthetician and essayist who has conveyed his philosophy and beliefs on aesthetics through numerous art books and essay collections.
Because Grenier wrote concisely and reflectively, using a variety of anecdotes from his daily life, his writing is easy and comfortable to read, yet deeply touches the heart and resonates deeply with readers living today.
Here, "The Island" comes to us! Jean Grenier's "The Island" is particularly famous for being a beloved work of Albert Camus, who expressed his admiration for his teacher's book in a preface that bordered on praise.


I think I also wanted to write when I discovered 『Island』.
But it was after reading the book that that vague thought truly became my decision.
It's true that other books helped me make this decision, but once they finished their work, I forgot about them.
On the contrary, this book has lived inside me constantly, and I have been reading it for over twenty years.
Even today, I often write and speak about the words in “The Island” or in other books by the same author as if they were my own.
(Albert Camus, “On the Island,” pp. 11-12)

The book that inspired Camus to begin writing in earnest was “The Island,” so Camus took to heart the benefits he received from this book by Grenier and made it a lifelong learning experience.
Camus says that The Island shows “another reality that, without denying the sensuous reality we have taken for our kingdom, parallels it and explains where our youthful anxieties come from.”
These words from Camus are even more meaningful to us as we endure a reality more bleak than ever before.
In a calm tone, Grenier reminds readers of the value of living alone and spending everyday life with neighbors, and emphasizes life with animals.



■ Jean Grenier, who 'shows' without teaching
A true life with neighbors and animals, that is hope.

Jean Grenier's essay neither unconditionally affirms nor denies life.
He does not show off his experiences and does not treat any of his neighbors rudely.
Grenier consistently philosophizes about life and finds hope for a strong life in his own weakness.
Grenier does not try to force or teach his own thoughts.
He respects the lives of his neighbors in everyday life ("Easter Island"), and as a philosopher, he does not compare the superiority of human intelligence to animals, but rather informs us that the loving nature of animals is the most excellent teaching in life ("The Cat Mulu"). The sincerity of Grenier's essays is revealed in contemplation and observation. He simply 'looks' at the objects he looks at with a gaze of interest and affection, without giving them any special meaning or applying a standard of judgment. He simply watches, observes, and thinks.


Perhaps our attachment to life is so strong because of the unexpected surprises our bodies offer.
We were despairing that the illness would not get better, but then suddenly we stood up from our seats.
We had so much faith, but then suddenly that faith crumbles.
The ending is always the same, but the twists and turns leading there are as varied as the slopes of the Russian mountains. (Easter Island, p. 119)

Indeed, when it is said that in order to attain some absolute, it is necessary to break away from oneself and from everything human, what better example could there be for this than an animal?
It is often said that emotions are something that only humans possess, and that animals do not have such emotions. (Cat Mulu, pp. 57-58)

Another point of thought that shines brightly in Jean Grenier's essay is 'empty space.'
Grenier is not interested in the meanings that fill our lives, but rather in verbalizing emptiness itself.
This does not look at the world in a confrontational way, but rather reflects the organic flow of life that includes emptiness.
So the language his thoughts point to is neither negative nor positive.
As Camus confessed, 'The Island has come to teach us the secret of disillusionment', and only then do we discover culture.
A culture that is not limited to a specific person, but includes ordinary neighbors and even animals that cannot express their thoughts in words.
It shows a culture that is not just comprised of knowledge, but an unadorned and honest culture that reflects the emotions of life.


He prefers the story of a cat's death, a butcher's illness, the scent of flowers, and the passage of time.
Nothing is really said in this book.
Here everything is implied with unparalleled power and delicacy.
This light language, precise yet dreamy, flows like music.
(...) He simply tells us simple, familiar experiences in a language that is not overtly embellished.
Then he leaves it up to each of us to interpret it as we see fit.
(Albert Camus, “On the Island,” pp. 13-14)

I am… …a blank page doing nothing.
It's not just today that's completely blank.
There are countless pages in my life that are almost blank.
The greatest luxury is to take a life given to us for free and use it with the same generosity as the giver, and not to turn something of infinite value into an object of petty interests.
("The Vanished Days," pp. 161-162)

Don't we need stories like this, teachers like this right now?
A teacher who, as Camus said, is capable of “a conversation that, once started, never ceases to burn and fills each other’s lives.”
As translator Kim Hwa-young said, “Like a sculptor who chisels away at a solid log or marble until it can no longer be chiseled away, and then finds the core or true nature of the last remaining work, like a monk facing death, a philosopher who thinks and writes with moderation and nakedness of mind as his greatest virtues.” Jean Grenier.
The philosophical and beautiful essays of Jean Grenier, a true teacher of our time, are expected to warmly comfort and convey a rich message to Korean readers going through difficult times.



Jean Grenier's "The Island," renovated after twenty-three years
Resurfaced with a new translation by Kim Hwa-young

The revised edition of Jean Grenier's Anthology 1, "The Island," is even more anticipated because not only has the cover and text been redesigned, but also because translator Kim Hwa-young has completely retranslated the book, forty years after its first translation.
Translator Kim Hwa-young, in translating this revised edition of “The Island,” has tried to avoid the overly descriptive and friendly nature of translation sentences in order to preserve the elegance and secrets of Jean Grenier’s characteristically restrained sentences.
In addition, rather than further explaining the profound implications and meaning of the text, we added detailed footnotes related to relatively independent knowledge to help understanding.
The reasons are as follows:

Jean Grenier is a philosopher who thinks and writes not by combining or connecting materials, but like a sculptor who chisels away at a solid log or marble until he can no longer cut it, until he finds the true nature of the last remaining work, like a monk facing death, who holds moderation and nakedness of spirit as the greatest virtues.
That point, the few short words at the beginning of the book, is a kind of warning to the readers: “Faith, compassion, love, etc., must also be realities.
Ancient temples, churches, palaces, and even today's factories are strong refuges from despair.
“Things that humans acquire postnatally… … are not what I am talking about here.” This is a world of denial and rejection, far removed from vain decorations or comforts.
Therefore, I have taken care to minimize the number of words and syllables in the translation as much as possible, so that a great silence gathers around sentences or words that are in themselves solitary, solid, and isolated, like islands.
(From the translator's note)

The first edition of 『Island』 was first published by Minumsa on December 10, 1980.
At the time, the author Jean Grenier was unknown in Korea, so it was difficult to publish his writings, and it is said that several publishers refused to publish them.
There is an anecdote that translator Kim Hwa-young wanted to introduce Grenier to Korean readers, so she introduced “Kerguelen Archipelago” from “Islands” to literary media, and later Minumsa suggested publishing it.
As expected, "The Island" received an enthusiastic response from readers after its publication, and is still loved even after forty years.
Today, we are able to encounter Grenier's "Island" again thanks to two intellectuals who recognized its true value in conveying a message of timeless reflection.


Many years after introducing 『The Island』, in the summer of 2012, I was wandering through the small villages scattered across the mountains of Haute-Provence, and stopped for lunch in the village of Simien-la-Rotonde, with its 13th-century medieval castle tower perched on the mountaintop like the “cherry on the cake.”
I asked the owner of a restaurant that had a few tables set up in a shady spot in a narrow alley if he knew where Jean Grenier's house was.
The hostess was delighted and told me that her son, Ambassador Alain Grenier, would be coming to the country house for his vacation, and that he had asked her to open the windows of her house to ventilate the house a few days before, as he was planning to come down soon.
I stood in front of the old Jean Grenier house at the bottom of the hill and looked out over the fields of purple lavender, bathed in the brilliant Provençal light.
And then I thought of the Borromeo Islands in the middle of Lake Maggiore, not far from there.
Someday, when we are free from this tiresome coronavirus pandemic, I want to visit the islands floating in the middle of Lake Maggiore, not far from Locarno.
(From the translator's note)


Jean Grenier's four-volume anthology: The Island, In Memory of Camus, The Death of a Dog, and Everyday Life
Discover the message of our time's true teacher in a new design and new translation!

The four anthologies of Jean Grenier published by Minumsa (Anthology 1: The Island, Anthology 2: Remembering Camus, Anthology 3: The Death of a Dog, Anthology 4: Everyday Life) were first published in August 1997 and have been loved by readers for over a century.
This time, we will be publishing all four volumes of Jean Grenier's anthologies, starting with "The Island," in revised editions, to approach readers as an autumn gift.
This revised edition of the four Jean Grenier anthologies includes a comprehensive revision and new translation of the previously included translations, enhancing the modern linguistic sensibility and the completeness of the translations.
The design has also changed.
All four anthologies feature refreshing illustrations created by Etop in their cover designs, highlighting the image of friendliness and novelty.
Here, we have also preserved the characteristic empty and quiet feeling of the 1997 edition, making it an anthology with an empty, hidden, and delicate materiality.
Let's meet the beautiful essays of Jean Grenier, the teacher admired by Albert Camus, in a new design and new translation.