
What we’re about
This is a biweekly group devoted to reading and discussing modern literature. Our goal is to read through modern classics - sometimes in series, and sometimes breaking up longer works into multiple parts that we discuss across two or more meetings. Our current theme is speculative fiction: fantastic fiction including science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism, slipstream, surrealism, weird fiction, etc.
Over the years, we've tackled series on the works of James Joyce, William Faulkner, and Vladimir Nabokov. We've devoted entire years to specific themes: a year on works from Latin American and Portuguese language writers, one spent reading African and African diaspora writers, another on central and eastern European literature, and another on works from east, south, southeast, and central Asian literature. And, every once in a while, we just throw in whatever book seems interesting to folks in group. Come join our ever-growing group to meet with friendly people and talk about great books!
Upcoming events
26

Pedro Páramo, by Juan Rulfo
독수리다방, 서대문구 연세로 36, Korea, al, KRJoin us as we continue our tour through speculative fiction by discussing this absolute classic of Mexican literature!
Publisher's description:
"The highly influential masterpiece of Latin American literature, now published in a new, authoritative translation, and featuring a foreword by Gabriel García Márquez.
A masterpiece of the surreal that influenced a generation of writers in Latin America, Pedro Páramo is the otherworldly tale of one man’s quest for his lost father. That man swears to his dying mother that he will find the father he has never met—Pedro Páramo—but when he reaches the town of Comala, he finds it haunted by memories and hallucinations. There emerges the tragic tale of Páramo himself, and the town whose every corner holds the taint of his rotten soul. Although initially published to a quiet reception, Pedro Páramo was soon recognized as a major novel that has served as a touchstone text for writers including Mario Vargas Llosa and José Donoso. Now published in a new translation from the definitive Spanish edition by celebrated Rulfo scholar Douglas J. Weatherford, and featuring a foreword by Gabriel García Márquez, this new edition of the novel cements its place as one of the seminal literary texts of the twentieth century."
If you don't have a physical copy of the book, you can find a copy of it here:
https://tinyurl.com/sd987u6x
Our plan is to meet at Dokdabang Cafe (독수리 다방) in Sinchon, which is on the 8th floor of the building indicated on the map linked to on this page. The address of Dokdabang is 36, Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03776. Below are Kakao Maps and Naver Maps links to the cafe:
https://kko.kakao.com/-U2GDIbg1b
https://naver.me/G7KDxJuu
If you plan to attend this meeting and would like updates you can join our ‘Reading Modern Lit active’ OpenChat on KakaoTalk. Feel free to leave and return to this chat based on your activity. The purpose of this chat is to better gauge who plans to attend our meetings as there are often no-shows.
Reading Modern Lit (active)
https://open.kakao.com/o/gaqP0Hre7 attendees
Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was, by Angélica Gorodischer
Location not specified yetJoin us as we continue our tour through speculative fiction by discussing Gorodischer's novel!
Publisher's description:
"Ursula K. Le Guin chose to translate this novel which was on the New York Times Summer Reading list and winner of the Prix Imaginales, Más Allá, Poblet and Sigfrido Radaelli awards.
This is the first of Argentinean writer Angélica Gorodischer's award-winning books to be translated into English. In eleven chapters, Kalpa Imperial's multiple storytellers relate the story of a fabled nameless empire which has risen and fallen innumerable times. Fairy tales, oral histories and political commentaries are all woven tapestry-style into Kalpa Imperial: beggars become emperors, democracies become dictatorships, and history becomes legends and stories.
But this is much more than a simple political allegory or fable. It is also a celebration of the power of storytelling. Gorodischer and translator Ursula K. Le Guin are a well-matched, sly and delightful team of magician-storytellers. Rarely have author and translator been such an effortless pairing. Kalpa Imperial is a powerful introduction to the writing of Angélica Gorodischer, a novel which will enthrall readers already familiar with the worlds of Le Guin."
If you don't have a physical copy of the book, you can find an epub of it here:
https://tinyurl.com/34amdd8m
Our plan is to meet at Dokdabang Cafe (독수리 다방) in Sinchon, which is on the 8th floor of the building indicated on the map linked to on this page. The address of Dokdabang is 36, Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03776. Below are Kakao Maps and Naver Maps links to the cafe:
https://kko.kakao.com/-U2GDIbg1b
https://naver.me/G7KDxJuu
If you plan to attend this meeting and would like updates you can join our ‘Reading Modern Lit active’ OpenChat on KakaoTalk. Feel free to leave and return to this chat based on your activity. The purpose of this chat is to better gauge who plans to attend our meetings as there are often no-shows.
Reading Modern Lit (active)
https://open.kakao.com/o/gaqP0Hre3 attendees
Book TBA
Location not specified yetJoin us as we
Publisher's description:
If you don't have a physical copy of the book, you can find a copy of it here:
Our plan is to meet at Dokdabang Cafe (독수리 다방) in Sinchon, which is on the 8th floor of the building indicated on the map linked to on this page. The address of Dokdabang is 36, Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03776. Below are Kakao Maps and Naver Maps links to the cafe:
https://kko.kakao.com/-U2GDIbg1b
https://naver.me/G7KDxJuu
If you plan to attend this meeting and would like updates you can join our ‘Reading Modern Lit active’ OpenChat on KakaoTalk. Feel free to leave and return to this chat based on your activity. The purpose of this chat is to better gauge who plans to attend our meetings as there are often no-shows.
Reading Modern Lit (active)
https://open.kakao.com/o/gaqP0Hre1 attendee
Book TBA
Location not specified yetJoin us as we
Publisher's description:
If you don't have a physical copy of the book, you can find a copy of it here:
Our plan is to meet at Dokdabang Cafe (독수리 다방) in Sinchon, which is on the 8th floor of the building indicated on the map linked to on this page. The address of Dokdabang is 36, Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03776. Below are Kakao Maps and Naver Maps links to the cafe:
https://kko.kakao.com/-U2GDIbg1b
https://naver.me/G7KDxJuu
If you plan to attend this meeting and would like updates you can join our ‘Reading Modern Lit active’ OpenChat on KakaoTalk. Feel free to leave and return to this chat based on your activity. The purpose of this chat is to better gauge who plans to attend our meetings as there are often no-shows.
Reading Modern Lit (active)
https://open.kakao.com/o/gaqP0Hre1 attendee
Past events
172

