Joon-Hwan Kim (editor, translator, and annotator)
제2권: 소설, 희곡 Volume 2: Fiction and Drama
February 2026, 408 pages
제3권: 산문 Volume 3: Prose
April 2026, 1268 pages
About the books: The Complete Works of Ki-Rim Kim, set to be published in six volumes, is a new critical edition of the oeuvre of the pioneering Korean modern/modernist poet, critic, and scholar Ki-Rim Kim (김기림 金起林, 1908–19??). These volumes present the original texts of Kim’s writings from 1930 to 1950 in chronological order, allowing readers to retrace the trajectory of his works in the context of regional and global developments—from the period of Japanese colonization (1910–1945) through liberation and the U.S. military government (1945–1948) to the establishment of divided political systems in North and South Korea and the outbreak of the Korean War (1948–1950).
Volumes 2 and 3 broaden Kim’s literary scope by compiling his diverse non-poetic writings. Volume 2 collects four fictional works and five plays, while Volume 3 gathers 142 prose pieces—including essays, travelogues, research papers, and newly discovered articles from his journalistic career—with the exception of his literary theory and criticism. These volumes enable direct comparative study alongside his poetry, offering a comprehensive view of his literature. To facilitate this multi-layered reading, this critical edition presents the original text on the left-hand pages and revised versions following current Standard Korean Orthography on the right. It also offers an official timeline and detailed notes on pen names, textual variants, archaic vocabulary, regional dialects, and historical contexts.
The editor, a scholar of Anglophone literature, seeks to transcend conventional framings of Kim within Western-centric modernism, presenting him instead as a writer who bridges colonial realities and global universality. Rich in historical contextualization and meticulous annotations, this edition opens new avenues for critical interpretation while serving as a foundation for highly accurate foreign-language translations.
About the editor: Joon Hwan Kim was a HYI Visiting Scholar from 2003-04, and an Associate from 2012-13 and 2019-20.