“The bird that flies highest sees farthest.”
New ending, new translation!
The final edition, completed after 45 years!

Since its publication in 1970, Richard Bach's fable novel, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, has been translated into over 40 languages ​​and sold over 40 million copies worldwide. It is a bestseller that has touched the hearts of countless readers across generations. It has been newly translated and published in a revised and expanded edition.

This classic fable novel, which was first officially published in Korea in 2003 through the translation of poet Ryu Si-hwa and has been much loved, has been completely reborn after 45 years, with the addition of the author's previously unpublished manuscript and the language of veteran professional translator Gong Gyeong-hee.

"Why, John? Why? Why is it so hard for you to live like other birds, John? Why can't you leave the low-altitude flying to the pelicans or albatrosses? Why don't you eat? Look at how skinny you are, boy!"
“It doesn’t matter if you’re skinny, Mom.
I just want to know what I can and can't do in the air, that's all.
“I just want to know.” --- p.15

He was full of life, trembling with joy, and proud of his fears under control.
Then, without making a fuss, it folded its forewings, extended its short, angular wingtips, and flew straight down toward the sea.
By the time he passed 1,200 meters, Jonathan had reached his limit, and the wind was like a wall of screaming iron, preventing him from going any faster.
Now he was descending straight ahead at 344 kilometers per hour.
Jonathan swallowed, knowing that if he unfurled his wings at that speed, his body would be torn apart.
But speed was power, speed was joy, speed was pure beauty.
--- p.26~27

As each day passed, Jonathan realized that he had as much to learn about flying here as he had in his previous life.
But there was a difference.
The seagulls here thought like Jonathan.
For each of us, the most important thing in life was to strive for perfection in what we most wanted to do.
And the thing I wanted to do most was fly.
They were all majestic birds, spending hours each day flying and testing difficult skills.
--- p.55

Is there a seagull who sees the meaning of flight as more than just a means to get food or scraps from a ship, who strives to break free from its limitations? Perhaps there is a seagull who was exiled for telling the truth to its tribe.
The more Jonathan practiced what he had learned about kindness and tried to understand the nature of love, the more he wanted to return to Earth.
Despite his lonely past, Jonathan Seagull was a natural teacher, and his way of showing love was to teach the truth he knew to the seagull who was seeking a chance to learn the truth on his own.
--- p.74

So that morning, eight gulls flew from the west in a double diamond formation, wingtips almost overlapping.
They flew towards the shore, the meeting place of the tribe, at a speed of 217 kilometers per hour.
Jonathan stood in front, Fletcher on the right, and Henry Calvin, with fighting spirit, on the left.
The entire formation rolled to the right as one… … horizontally… … there… … back… … there… … horizontally… … The wind blew fiercely against everyone.
The formation was silent, as if it had become a giant sword, cutting through the squawking, cawing noise of the seagull tribe, and eight thousand eyes watched without blinking.
Eight seagulls took off one after another, made a sharp turn in the air, flew straight ahead, and landed slowly in a standing position on the sand.
--- p.92~93

"Why is it the most difficult thing in the world to convince a bird that he is free, that with a little practice he can prove it himself? Why is it so arduous?" --- p.105

Less than two hundred years later, Jonathan's teachings had largely disappeared from everyday practice, with the simple words "holy" and the aspirations of ordinary seagulls, even more humble than sand fleas, falling short.
Over time, the rituals and ceremonies in Jonathan's name became more extreme.
A thinking seagull would change course in the sky to avoid seeing the stone tomb.
It was a stone tomb built on empty words and superstition by those who would rather make excuses for their failures than try and become great.
The thinking seagulls paradoxically closed their hearts to words like 'flight', 'stone tomb', 'Great Gull', and 'Jonathan'.
They were the most lucid and honest birds since Jonathan on other matters.
But when Jonathan's name or any other term coined by the 'high-ranking local disciples' was mentioned, their hearts slammed shut like a trapdoor.
--- p.127

There was a key, and Anthony the Seagull knew he had said those words at that moment.
He didn't have the answers, but he knew he would be grateful and willing to give his life if he could just follow the bird that could show him what he was talking about.
If only there were a bird that could offer some answers that would influence and bring joy and wonder to life! Until I found that bird, life was aimless, dull, desolate, and absurd.
All seagulls would remain as mere corpses of blood and feathers, bound for oblivion.

--- p.131~136