I choose North Korea first because it is probably the country with the most outside chance of winning and the least works translated if any well my research has turned up a 2003 article from words without borders click here .There is also a graphic novel with very 1940s or 50s style graphics translated via words without borders ,there is a lot of political control and censorship over everything in North Korea so getting the man on the streets view hard to get .hence a short post to start with .
the graphic novel is available on-line at words without borders and is worth a half hour read ,retro and heavily full of propaganda for north korea .
world cup memories –
The last time north Korea played in world cup was 1966 ,before my time but my grandfather said he remember a lot of security around them at the time ,they played well beating italy and qualify for quarter finals being knocked out in a 5-3 lose to Portugal .
do you know any books from north Korea ?
Hi Stu,
I did a quick search on the LibraryThing Reading Globally thread and located a few. Some are memoirs, a few non-fiction, some by Westerners, but also a few that seem to have come from North Koreans:
* Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi
* Jia by Hyejin Kim
* This is Paradise! by Hyok Kang
* The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Chol-hwan Kang
* Comrades and Strangers by Michael Harrold
thanks amy i look at them ,stu
Jia is subtitled ‘A novel of North Korea; but, looking at my copy, the writer is South Korean.
You could get Literature From The ‘Axis Of Evil’, which conrains a few short stories from North Korean writers. The problem with North Korean fiction will be, apart from the fact we barely know what’s going on there, that the state will monitor culture and the only things that the people will see — well, those that can afford it anyway — will be crap fiction that cares less about the art than it does about glorifying the Great Leader. It’s not saleable enough to warrant translation other than to niche interests.
thanks stewart ,yes true sure when there is a regeime change there will be a flush of fiction accounts of life under the leaders great and glorious ,which should be translated at some point i would hope ,all the best stu
I haven’t read anything from North Korea. So thank you for drawing attention to the graphic novel and thanks to Amy for her research.
Looking at the countries in the group G, North Korea’s group, I really don’t think they should entertain any hopes of making out of the group stages. That said, this is football and anything is possible. I love this series of yours.