Two years ago Seoul National University professor Kim Rando decided to write something besides academic papers. A collection of self-empowering essays for frustrated university students, Kim's Youth, It's Painful is a simple yet powerful book of advice, written in the voice of a father talking his son or a teacher to his students. It has made history in the South Korean literary scene with 762 reprints and has sold more than two million copies.
Through a voice unfamiliar to most Koreans, Kim has touched young readers with his straightforward life lessons, with the most memorable chapter being an analogy of life as a clock. He asks readers to compare the human lifespan with a 24-hour clock _ assuming that each of us lives until 80, if we are aged 24 it means our life clock is at 7.12am. It's still early, and we still have a long way to go until the end of the day. Therefore, young people shouldn't be so hard on themselves. They still have plenty of time to make the best choices for their lives.
Youth, It's Painful has been translated into nine languages including Thai. Last week, the 49-year-old author visited Bangkok during the National Book Fair to promote the translated version of his book, titled Proh Pen Wairoon Cheung Jeb Puad. We sat down to talk to him.
What drove you to write this book?
Five years before I wrote this book, I put an essay on my webpage and forgot about it. But my students copied it and forwarded it to their friends. The essay is called "Slump" and became very famous on the internet. In 2008, a publisher who read the essay proposed I write a book with this kind of essay. At that time I rejected it, I told them I am a scholar and a university professor, I don't think I'll publish essays like that.
However, she came again and said to me, "You are also a teacher, and you must have something to say to your students." My son was going to be a college student the following year, so I thought maybe I should write a book for my son being a university student.
I spent one year finishing the book. It was launched on Christmas Eve, 2010.
Some of your stories are fused with spiritual and philosophical ideas. Are they influenced from any philosophy or religion you practise?
I have no religion, but I utilise good thinking and teachings from different religions and philosophers. My favourite is the German philosopher [Friedrich] Nietzsche. He believes that a man can overcome himself to be a better person. He really influences my thinking, but I am not going to put his name in my book, it would immediately sound boring. What I am doing is to make it sound easy for readers with examples like a clock or flowers.
One of the strong points of your writing is that you express your ideas with clear logic.
The Thai translation on Youth, It’s Painful is now available in Thai book stores.
My first degree is in law. My father wanted me to be a lawyer so he sent me to law school. I was very bad at it, but one thing I learned from this degree is logic.
When I write a book, I'll try to make it touching and rhetorical, but still each story needs to have a strong basic idea.
The truth is universal. It's all the same, but what matters is how you say or explain it. If you give them good examples, it is easier for people to understand than something too abstract. That's why I write memos all the time. When I come up with something, I write it down.
In one of your essays you encourage young people to read newspapers. How do you feel about the situation now, with many afraid newspapers are dying in favour of online media?
I feel very sorry, because I think newspapers are an excellent source for information and opinions. It is very cheap for such good information. It's worth the money.
Nowadays, most students read news only from their computers or mobile phones. Some people say it is the same as reading newspapers, but it's not. If you browse the news on the internet, you only click the issues that you like. And, mostly, young people are into news about their favourite actors and their scandals, or sports. For newspapers, when you spread the sheets, there are enormous issues that you have to know even though you don't like it. You could at least get a bit of this and that which makes you smarter. So, I recommend my son and my students read newspapers, at least one, consistently. But, in reality, they don't really keep doing it.
There are some quotes and stories from movies in your book, but what is your favourite film?
My favourite is an Indian film called 3 Idiots. Some people asked me whether I had watched it, because the philosophy of the film and my book is very similar. It's about three students from a famous college. They study only because their family and society tells them to, not because they wish to. But, in fact, you have to follow your own dream in order to achieve great success.
Besides your own, what books would you recommend?
The book called Don't Eat The Marshmallow... Yet by Joachim de Posada and Ellen Singer. There was an experiment with a group of four-year-old boys. They were given each a marshmallow, but they were told that if they waited for 15 minutes, they would get another one. Ten years later, those who waited appeared to be more successful than those who ate the marshmallow right away.
Actually, I wanted to recommend Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche, but I'm afraid it's a bit too difficult.
What are the differences between older and younger generations in South Korea nowadays?
Many parents, including me, are selfish, weak and have no dreams. They keep saying to younger people, "When I was younger, I was poor but still I was very active. Our generation built the country." My argument is that we don't have to say such things, we are in our generation and they are in their generation. It is a totally different world, therefore we don't have to push our ideas to our young generation. It's not good.
The main characteristic of the young generation is that they have higher expectations. They are born into a world of better technology, higher incomes and better jobs. They have fewer siblings than the past, which means that they have a more individual life than people from previous generations. But they have less chance: the economy is not growing as when I was young when there were more jobs. Now it is more competitive.
What feedback do you receive from readers?
I get a lot of emails and letters from fans, including a reader from Thailand. There was a prisoner who wrote me a letter from jail, telling me that he killed someone and was serving a 20-year sentence. He said that when he comes out he will be more than 40. He caused a lot of trouble in jail. After reading my book, he realised that even when he is released at 40, it will only be 1 o'clock. He still has time to make a difference. So he wrote a letter to thank me.
Any bad comments?
Of course, there are many people who dislike it. A movie director called my book "garbage" during an interview. I was very angry, but I can understand why. People believe that Korea has a structural problem, and it needs to be solved first, while Dr Kim suggested young people should cheer up and make an effort to earn their success. Nothing in this book is about structural reform. My book is very personal advice to my son and my students.
What did your son say about it?
He likes it. Then, more and more people who read the book recognised who he was, and he felt quite uncomfortable.
Any advice for parents?
Motivate, don't interfere.
