Blackpill “You are a novelist? But you’re so young, and tall.”

[The Notorious SLAV]

Of course she mentioned him being tall. If he weren't, she'd let him turn around and leave, and not invite him into their home so he'll be swarmed by her and her friends.

“I’m from the KWU. Is the comrade director at home?”

“Ah, you’re here about the book? Come on in. My father’s not home yet. He’s gone to Pyongyang on business.”

“In that case, I’ll come another time. If you could get the book back within a week, I’d be much obliged.” But my feet just kept right on moving into the entryway.

Suddenly, three more beauties appeared in the entryway. They were all friends of the director’s daughter from the university. The sight of them arrayed around me was quite breathtaking.

“You are a novelist? But you’re so young, and tall.”

“Oh, no. I’m just a common citizen who hopes to become a novelist someday.”

‘I repeatedly failed to win any awards’: my doomed career as a North Korean novelist

The long read: Before I fled south, I spent years as an aspiring fiction writer in the hermit kingdom. I worked hard – but literary glory kept eluding me

www.theguardian.com

This reminds me of how much I hate the claims that high-status women are or were "oppressed" in past/non-feminist cultures. North Korea's probably one of the closest matches to a medieval monarchy, and this is how women from high-status families are "suffering" there:

It was the first time I’d ever been inside a party official’s home. Emboldened by my curiosity, I looked around as she chattered. It was equivalent to a four-bedroom, quite luxurious by North Korean standards of the time. In the parlour was a leather sofa, a Hitachi colour TV with a VCR and impressive speakers – in other words, posh digs. I was always hearing that party cadres lived incredibly well, but I’d never imagined it was this fabulous.

She punched the remote control, and a South Korean music video appeared on the screen. A cup of coffee appeared before me. The scent of Nescafé Gold Blend filled my nostrils. Sitting there, watching the South Korean singer Kim Jong-hwan belt out the ballad Reason for Existence, I felt like questioning my own existence. What are these people? Is this still North Korea?

Nowadays, whenever people ask my nationality, I always reply that I’m an alien from the planet Baltan. But the elites of North Korea are from a completely different galaxy.

Feeling like a man bewitched, I suddenly wanted to get the hell out of there. It was terrifying to sit there blithely doing things that under ordinary circumstances would get me shot.

“Nothing. But this is a real mess you’ve made. If you’re found out, we’re all screwed.”

“Oh, nonsense. We’re all daughters of party officials, they won’t arrest us. But why is it wrong to read such a wonderful book? It’s the same with songs, too. Isn’t it natural for a frog in a well to want to see the wider world?”

Well, at least I learned the hierarchy of North Korean fiction.

The most highly regarded genre, it goes without saying, is No 1 literature – that is, works about members of the ruling Kim family. This is not a genre that just anybody can write. In order of esteem, the genres of North Korean literature are:

1) No 1 works: stories about the achievements and personalities of the Kim family.

2) Anti-Japan partisan works AKA revolutionary works: stories set within the colonial-era independence movement.

3) War works: stories set during the Korean war.

4) Historical works: stories set during the Yi, Koguryo or Koryo dynasties.

5) Real-life works: stories about ordinary society from the postwar to the present.

6) South Korean works: stories set in South Korea.

7) Foreign works: stories set anywhere outside Korea.

This makes me curious about all the fiction we'll get once that country finally opens up or collapses.

 

[H8mychudlife]

How'd you get into North Korean Literature?

 

[aryanmikmaq]

It’s not a monarchy

 

[aryanmikmaq]

South Korea and Japan are gay

 

[Soystein]

Interesting article, thanks for the link.

 

[The Notorious SLAV]

How'd you get into North Korean Literature?

The dude's apparently an ethnic Korean from Japan who got there under some "homecoming" program or something, and then managed to get into that somehow. His background probably helped for propaganda purposes.

It’s not a monarchy

Only technically, that family is going to keep power for themselves until their regime falls.

Interesting article, thanks for the link.
View attachment 1542006

 

[aryanmikmaq]

The dude's apparently an ethnic Korean from Japan who got there under some "homecoming" program or something, and then managed to get into that somehow. His background probably helped for propaganda purposes.


Only technically, that family is going to keep power for themselves until their regime falls.

I think that’s a good thing

 

[The Notorious SLAV]

I think that’s a good thing

Fair enough.