Author Cheon Seon-ran, who published a novel collection ‘More’
“I want to show a life trapped in language”
I met Cheon Seon-ran, who published a new novel collection, ‘Mower’ (Literature Dongne), at a bookstore in Mapo-gu, Seoul on the 18th. He said, “If there were no language, wouldn’t the boundaries between today and tomorrow, the obsession with the passage of time, and even aging or aging disappear? I wanted to show how trapped we are in language.” Seonran Cheon is one of the most notable SF (science fiction) writers these days. His masterpiece ‘A Thousand Blues’, published in 2020, sold 180,000 copies, and earlier this year he signed a multi-hundred-million-dollar royalty contract with Penguin Random House in the UK.
The title work, ‘Mower’, depicts a world where language has disappeared 3,000 years later. Humanity, which was once on the verge of extinction, evolved to give up language, believing that greed, distrust, and hatred come from language. One day, a rift begins when ‘Mou’, a child who drifts into this world, is the only one who speaks language. The author said, “At first, humans were a part of nature no different from worms, insects, and animals, but as I pondered why they became separated from the ecosystem, I thought that the beginning was language.” He added, “Giving a name to an object itself is a part of nature.” “It comes from trying to clarify and use the purpose of an object,” he said. He said, “Unless we return to the natural state, humans will not be able to escape language,” and “But how we use it must change.”
The same phenomenon feels different when you change the language. It’s as if the lukewarm word ‘global warming’ is now being replaced by ‘climate crisis’. “I think we need to be mindful of our language and use it well.”
He has recently been taking on various writing challenges. The works in the novel collection are diverse in terms of subject matter and texture. ‘Surf Beat’, which deals with teenagers with superpowers, and ‘Record of Bones’, which is about an undertaker android, are readable, while ‘Kush Look’, which is about mind uploading, decided to “be decidedly unfriendly.” wrote. Expanding from language, attention has also been paid to all types of structures, including cities, families, and societies. He said, “Language is ultimately the home and form of thought,” and “I often think about why the current city and family forms were created and what it would be like if we dismantled them all.”
In particular, the dismantling of stereotypes is one of his important interests. When Chat GPT or digital textbooks came up as a topic during the interview, he showed a flushed expression.
“I think kids these days have a different way of perceiving space in their brains. The novels those children will write in the future will not have images that I cannot conjure up based on my stereotypes and perceptions. That excites me. As a science fiction writer. What else will come out?”
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