Our Twisted Hero put on U.S. market

Celebrated Korean novelist Yi Mun-Yol’s "Our Twisted Hero’’ was recently released in English by a major publishing company in the United States.

Hyperion, a publishing arm of the Disney Group specializing in literary works, distributed the novel to major bookstores in the U.S. and Canada on Feb. 7 through the Wiley Agency. The work was translated by Prof. Kevin O`Rourke of Kyung Hee University’s English Language and Literature Department.

Yi’s novel has been translated into eight languages, including German and French. The publication of Yi`s novel in the U.S. is significant in that he is the first Korean writer to achieve wide release of a work in the world`s largest publishing market.

Wiley Agency is an influential copyright agent whose clients include Nobel Literature laureates like Kenzaburo Oe of Japan as well as internationally renowned writers like Argentina`s Jorges Luis Borges and American Beat poet Allen Ginsberg.

Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses,’’ wrote the afterward for the English version of the novel. Rushdie writes that "Our Twisted Hero’’ points out the universality of human weakness and says the "delicate and hard-boiled story about the glory and shame of assailant, victim and school prince" reminds him of the Gunter Grass novel "Cat and Mouse.’’

Yi’s novel has already been favorably reviewed by major journals like "Kirkus Reviews,’’ "Booklist’’ and "Library Journal.’’ Kirkus Reviews, comparing "Our Twisted Hero" to William Golding’s "Lord of the Flies,” said it was a beautifully organized and glittering story with abundant and suggestive irony.

Yun Jeong-Hoon digana@donga.com