Shin Kyung-sook Serializes Novel After 5 Years Amid Plagiarism Controversy

Weekly Twice on Changbi Web Magazine: Serializing 'I Went to Father'

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Novelist Shin Kyung-sook has started serializing a full-length novel for the first time in five years since the plagiarism controversy.

Publisher Changbi announced on the 23rd that Shin Kyung-sook's new full-length novel, "Abeojiege Gasseosseo" (I Went to My Father), will be serialized twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) on the Changbi Creative and Criticism Web Magazine (www.magazine.changbi.com). The serialization began on the same day, with the first episode and "Starting the Serialization" uploaded on the web magazine.

"Abeojiege Gasseosseo" is a novel that combines the story of a father who endured pain while maintaining his place with the narrator's own issue of "writing." The novel begins with the scene where "I" board a train to visit the father, who is left alone at home in city J after the mother is hospitalized.

In "Starting the Serialization," Shin Kyung-sook said, "I have written half of the father's story," and added, "I will only know how it ends after writing it all." She also said, "I want to say that I am writing this work with the desire to dedicate it to my father, who always stands before hardships that do not go according to his will, but in fact, I may be writing to recover my shriveled heart."

Shin Kyung-sook halted her activities after allegations arose in 2015 that her short story "Jeonseol" (Legend) plagiarized "Wakoku" by Japanese novelist Mishima Yukio. After a four-year hiatus, she picked up the pen again last May by publishing the novella "Bae-e Silrin Geoseul Gang-eun Alji Mothanda" (The River Does Not Know What Is Loaded on the Ship) in the summer issue of the quarterly magazine Changbi Creative and Criticism.

Changbi stated that the serialization of "Abeojiege Gasseosseo" is expected to conclude around this fall, and after revisions, it will be published as a standalone book within this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.