A life of pride
My mouth is watering
Christmas special
When crossing the meridian
gain
pray
square seats
Fly Data Recorder
Commentary: My Own Room: The Geography of the Universe by Lee Kwang-ho

Author's Note

Her new collection of short stories instantly captivates readers with its sparkling imagination that transcends the conventional wisdom.

Again, it's Kim Ae-ran!

Stories that accumulate like fresh water in everyday life…
Sadness is calm, loneliness is humorous~

Why, Kim Ae-ran?
In late 2005, she was the center of attention in literary circles and various media outlets.
From receiving the Daesan Creative Fund to becoming the youngest recipient of the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award, to the publication of her first novel collection.
The interview articles continued one after another.
As if they had been waiting for her, the literary world and the media welcomed her, and articles about her poured out like a flood here and there.
In an article summarizing that year, it was evaluated as “one of the greatest harvests of the Korean literary world,” and was also selected as the fifth in the “Top 10 Cultural Search Terms of 2005” published in the Kukmin Ilbo.
The first sentence of the article began with, “The main topic of this paragraph was generational change.”
Interest in her did not wane in the following year, 2006, and she once again continued to be a writer to watch in 2006.

Publishing critic Han Ki-ho selected "Run, Father" as the "Book of the Year" in 2005, finding important clues to reading the changing world in Kim Ae-ran's novel.
“In these novels, which are achieving great success amidst the flood of foreign novels, the writers born in the 1980s began to talk to their fathers who had ‘abandoned’ them and thus caused them to have sleepless nights.
This can be seen as young people living in an incomprehensible world beginning to find their own identity.
So next year, we will seek 'dialogue' in some way.
This is an important keyword for reading our society next year and even in the 21st century.”
Kim Ae-ran has been praised for using a new grammar for the video generation, but she is also a writer who remains faithful to traditional novel grammar.
Literary critic Kim Dong-sik also commented on Kim Ae-ran's characteristics, saying, "She is a writer who destroys the traditional grammar of novels from within while maintaining the expression of a traditional novel."
In the 2000s, when some were talking about a "crisis in literature" and a "crisis in the novel," the Korean literary world, which was desperate for new writers who could breathe life into literature, was so captivated by this compelling work by a young writer born in the 1980s that it felt like a refreshing drink.

Two years have passed since my first novel collection.
This is the point where I start to wonder about her new story again.
It is a time when another evaluation of her is expected.
So she came back with a lot to talk about with her second collection of short stories, "Saliva Gathers."
Again, it's Kim Ae-ran.

What we expect from Kim Ae-ran
Kim Ae-ran is one of the writers with many adjectives.
The main things that symbolize change are 'Scary Child', 'Leading Novelists Born in the 80s', 'Rising Star of the Literary World', and 'Fresh Blue'.
In her acceptance speech for the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award, she said, “I will not hesitate to look at the youngest person without looking around.”
The same would have been true for other investigations that came before his name.
So, she quietly returned to her desk, unfazed by the reactions around her.
She expressed her feelings about receiving the award by saying, “I want to become a good writer, not a myth.”
The works published thereafter have been nominated for the 'Lee Hyo-seok Literary Award' ("Saliva Gathers"), the 'Yi Sang Literary Award' ("Saliva Gathers"), the 'Modern Literature Award' ("Christmas Special"), and have received consistent attention from the literary world and readers, including being selected for the 'Good Novel of the Year' ("A Proud Life").
So, maybe that's why I'm looking forward to this second collection of short stories even more.
Novelist Lee Ki-ho once said of author Kim Ae-ran, “This gentleman works for everyone, regardless of age or gender.”
Literary critic Shin Hyeong-cheol also brought up Kim Ae-ran's charm by asking, "Is it possible not to love (this writer)?"
The literary world's praise and expectations for Kim Ae-ran continue.
To those who view contemporary Korean novels with suspicion and distrust, this unity across all ages and genders may seem like a desperate effort.
However, those who have passed over it like that are strongly encouraged to read the author's second novel collection, which will be published soon.
This can be confirmed in the words of literary critic Cha Mi-ryeong, “You can immediately see that this reaction is not an exaggerated one.”

For readers who have been anticipating the "transparent sensibility," "witty writing style," and "refreshing imagination" already evident in Kim Ae-ran's previous works, her second collection of short stories will once again be a special gift.


Again, what Kim Ae-ran shows
To borrow Cha Mi-ryeong's words again, "After her first collection of novels, which was universally welcomed, Kim Ae-ran's novels have been lowering themselves and heading towards a more humble place." The convenience stores and one-room apartments that served as the spatial settings of her previous works were also somewhat shabby places, far from the refined everyday life, but going further, a boarding house ("Christmas Special") and a semi-basement room ("Dauntless Life") have become the spaces of her new novels.
And here, the ironic titles reveal the sordid everyday life shown in each work even more heartbreakingly.
Christmas, which returns every year like a plague to young men and women who are not even allowed a single room on the ground, cannot be called a 'special', and the piano played in a room filled with water is not majestic but rather heartbreakingly sad.

Literary critic Lee Gwang-ho, who was in charge of commenting on this collection of short stories, also focused on the space shown in Kim Ae-ran's novels, commenting, "Unlike young contemporary writers who are rearming themselves with unrealistic imaginations, this writer reactivates her novelistic imagination from a lower and more humble position."
He particularly views the space as “the small ‘room’ in this city where you and I lived, or are living,” and argues that Kim Ae-ran’s novel “deepens the topology of confinement and communication surrounding the ‘room,’ while positioning it on a new ‘cosmic geography.’”
Furthermore, it is emphasized that “what is important here is the personal narrative involved in the space called the room, and the imaginary geography of that personal narrative,” and that “Kim Ae-ran’s narrative is now making a big stride from a variation of family romance to a contemporary exploration of the topography of the room.”

Kim Ae-ran's new story, which "realistically reveals the socio-cultural poverty of the younger generation of our time, explores the cracks and abyss of their individuality, and unfolds an imaginary adventure that discovers the geography of existence and cosmic space within it," will meet readers this fall.
It may be a little painful, but if you go into their universe where they dream, you will encounter stories that will stick in your mouth like sweet water.