[April Recommended Books② by Korea Publication Culture Industry Promotion Agency] 'A Very Comfortable Death'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] The Korea Publication Culture Industry Promotion Agency operates the ‘Book Sharing Committee’ and announced seven titles, including ‘Is This Your First Time with Cognitive Psychology?’ (Bookmento), as the ‘Recommended Books of April.’

The ‘Book Sharing Committee’ is composed of experts from various fields. To expand publishing demand and promote reading culture, it introduces books in seven categories each month with recommendations: ▲Literature ▲Humanities & Arts ▲Social Sciences ▲Natural Sciences ▲Practical & General ▲Picture Books & Fairy Tales ▲Youth.

The ‘Recommended Books of April’ include seven titles: ▲‘Is This Your First Time with Cognitive Psychology?’ (Bookmento) ▲‘A Very Comfortable Death’ (Eulyu Publishing) ▲‘Philosophizing in Modern Korean’ (Memento) ▲‘Sociology in One Line by Noh Myung-woo’ (EBS Books) ▲‘AI Knowledge Understandable Even to Non-Majors’ (Banni) ▲‘Plant Counseling’ (Bookhouse) ▲‘Queen of Words’ (Biryoungso).

The Book Sharing Committee members include Chairperson Jung Subok (Sociologist), Kwon Bokgyu (Professor at Ewha Womans University College of Medicine), Ryu Daesung (Writer), Jo Kyungran (Novelist), Jin Taewon (Professor at Sungkonghoe University), Choi Hyunmi (Reporter at Munhwa Ilbo), and Pyo Jeonghun (Critic).

Detailed information on the Book Sharing Committee’s recommended books and recommendations can be found on the Publication Promotion Agency’s website or the Reading IN website.

A Very Comfortable Death | Written by Simone de Beauvoir | Translated by Kang Chorong | Eulyu Publishing | 200 pages | 12,000 KRW

“Protecting my mother, that was my only goal.”

To think that the author who wrote this sentence is Simone de Beauvoir. Somehow, I might have misunderstood Simone de Beauvoir all this time. That is, I thought of her as a difficult theorist who was philosophical and solely focused on existentialism, far from writing intimate personal stories. Or as an author who only wrote controversial essays like ‘The Second Sex’ or ‘Old Age.’ What I misunderstood might have been that even this world-renowned intellectual had a ‘mother.’ A mother who was powerless and sad, dying of cancer.

She is neither a world-renowned intellectual nor a great author, but the more I turn the pages, the more this ‘mother’ resembles my mother, our mothers. A mother who was hardly ever called by her own name throughout her life, a mother who could not live as an individual, a mother who was merely forgotten, and a mother with no possibility of recovery from all this... Now that I write this, I understand why Simone de Beauvoir began writing this book. Perhaps it was to call forth this ‘mother,’ buried and forgotten, as an autonomous individual. And through that mourning, to seek with readers a way to ease the pain of death and the weight of sorrow with a spirit of communication.

Without this, what meaning would there be in the act of writing one’s most intimate story? Through the death of her mother whom she observed, Simone de Beauvoir attempted to embody various aspects of existence in this very book.

As an appendix, the 30-page commentary by translator Kang Chorong titled “Reconciling with Oneself through Mourning Others” is as clear and beautiful as the author’s writing.

- Jo Kyungran, Novelist

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