Enter your email Address

ENTROPY
  • About
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Advertising
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Info on Book Reviews
  • Essays
    • All Introspection
      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Revolution for Covid

      January 14, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      WOVEN: My Precious: On Leaving My Abusive Ex-Husband and Being Left with the Ring

      January 13, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      The Birds: Saw-Whet

      January 7, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Turned to Gold Before My Eyes

      January 7, 2021

      Introspection

      The Birds: A Special Providence in the Fall of a Sparrow

      January 2, 2020

      Introspection

      Returning Home with Ross McElwee

      December 13, 2019

      Introspection

      The Birds: In Our Piety

      November 14, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations: Landslide

      June 12, 2019

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      The Birds: Little Birds

      December 11, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Perdix and a Pear Tree

      December 9, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: A Glimmer of Blue

      November 23, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Circling for Home

      November 13, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: The Guest

      November 9, 2020

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Review

      Perceived Realities: A Review of M-Theory by Tiffany Cates

      January 14, 2021

      Review

      Review: Danger Days by Catherine Pierce

      January 11, 2021

      Review

      Review – : once teeth bones coral : by Kimberly Alidio

      January 7, 2021

      Review

      Review: Defacing the Monument by Susan Briante

      December 21, 2020

      Collaborative Review

      Attention to the Real: A Conversation

      September 3, 2020

      Collaborative Review

      A Street Car Named Whatever

      February 22, 2016

      Collaborative Review

      Black Gum: A Conversational Review

      August 7, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      Lords of Waterdeep in Conversation

      February 25, 2015

      Video Review

      Entropy’s Super Mario Level

      September 15, 2015

      Video Review

      Flash Portraits of Link: Part 7 – In Weakness, Find Strength

      January 2, 2015

      Video Review

      Basal Ganglia by Matthew Revert

      March 31, 2014

      Video Review

      The Desert Places by Amber Sparks and Robert Kloss, Illustrated by Matt Kish

      March 21, 2014

  • Small Press
    • Small Press

      Gordon Hill Press

      December 8, 2020

      Small Press

      Evidence House

      November 24, 2020

      Small Press

      death of workers whilst building skyscrapers

      November 10, 2020

      Small Press

      Slate Roof Press

      September 15, 2020

      Small Press

      Ellipsis Press

      September 1, 2020

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        Creative Nonfiction / Essay

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Games

        Hunt A Killer, Earthbreak, and Empty Faces: Escapism for the Post-Truth Era

        September 21, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Paperback and Anomia

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Video Games

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Video Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Video Games

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Video Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 2018

    • Food
    • Small Press Releases
    • Film
    • Music
    • Paranormal
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Graphic Novels
    • Comics
    • Current Events
    • Astrology
    • Random
  • RESOURCES
  • The Accomplices
    • THE ACCOMPLICES
    • Enclave
    • Trumpwatch

ENTROPY

  • About
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Advertising
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Info on Book Reviews
  • Essays
    • All Introspection
      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Revolution for Covid

      January 14, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      WOVEN: My Precious: On Leaving My Abusive Ex-Husband and Being Left with the Ring

      January 13, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      The Birds: Saw-Whet

      January 7, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Turned to Gold Before My Eyes

      January 7, 2021

      Introspection

      The Birds: A Special Providence in the Fall of a Sparrow

      January 2, 2020

      Introspection

      Returning Home with Ross McElwee

      December 13, 2019

      Introspection

      The Birds: In Our Piety

      November 14, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations: Landslide

      June 12, 2019

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      The Birds: Little Birds

      December 11, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Perdix and a Pear Tree

      December 9, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: A Glimmer of Blue

      November 23, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Circling for Home

      November 13, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: The Guest

      November 9, 2020

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Review

      Perceived Realities: A Review of M-Theory by Tiffany Cates

      January 14, 2021

      Review

      Review: Danger Days by Catherine Pierce

      January 11, 2021

      Review

      Review – : once teeth bones coral : by Kimberly Alidio

      January 7, 2021

      Review

      Review: Defacing the Monument by Susan Briante

      December 21, 2020

      Collaborative Review

      Attention to the Real: A Conversation

      September 3, 2020

      Collaborative Review

      A Street Car Named Whatever

      February 22, 2016

      Collaborative Review

      Black Gum: A Conversational Review

      August 7, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      Lords of Waterdeep in Conversation

      February 25, 2015

      Video Review

      Entropy’s Super Mario Level

      September 15, 2015

      Video Review

      Flash Portraits of Link: Part 7 – In Weakness, Find Strength

      January 2, 2015

      Video Review

      Basal Ganglia by Matthew Revert

      March 31, 2014

      Video Review

      The Desert Places by Amber Sparks and Robert Kloss, Illustrated by Matt Kish

      March 21, 2014

  • Small Press
    • Small Press

      Gordon Hill Press

      December 8, 2020

      Small Press

      Evidence House

      November 24, 2020

      Small Press

      death of workers whilst building skyscrapers

      November 10, 2020

      Small Press

      Slate Roof Press

      September 15, 2020

      Small Press

      Ellipsis Press

      September 1, 2020

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        Creative Nonfiction / Essay

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Games

        Hunt A Killer, Earthbreak, and Empty Faces: Escapism for the Post-Truth Era

        September 21, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Paperback and Anomia

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Video Games

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Video Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Video Games

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Video Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 2018

    • Food
    • Small Press Releases
    • Film
    • Music
    • Paranormal
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Graphic Novels
    • Comics
    • Current Events
    • Astrology
    • Random
  • RESOURCES
  • The Accomplices
    • THE ACCOMPLICES
    • Enclave
    • Trumpwatch
FeaturedInterview

The Archaeology Of Revolutions: An Interview With Jimin Han

written by Peter Tieryas January 29, 2018

Jimin Han’s A Small Revolution was one of the most interesting and thoughtful novels of 2017. When I wrote my review last year, I described it as “a timely novel that perfectly balances a personal story with the grander historical backdrop of Korean history.” I had the chance to talk to Han about the novel and the revolutions within.

Revolutions are complicated things. How did A Small Revolution find its roots and grow into a full fledged novel?

You know how you have these experiences in your life that stay with you? Visiting Korea in 1985 and finding my cousin’s boyfriend’s photo hidden behind a photo in a frame made me wonder about the boy who was involved in the protests at the time. Why would he volunteer to jump to his death to move his country forward?  Also what was really going on in Korea — this country I’d been born in and my parents had left? I’ve also been furious about the lack of legislation to keep guns out of people’s hands. These kept me from giving up on this book.

The layered structure you use, jumping from past to present, makes it feel like a rich tapestry you’re slowly unweaving. How much planning did you do for it? What were the challenges?

First novels are famous for being put into drawers as learning experiences and I wondered if I was stupidly hanging on to a story that I wasn’t capable of telling in the way it should be told. I tried entering the story at different points, from the last scene and telling it backwards, starting from when Yoona was a child and moving forward chronologically. Kathy Fish inspired me with her flash fiction that engages the readers with all the white space she employs in her stories. Her stories always make me lean in a little more as the reader, try to figure out what’s going on. I was also inspired by David Levithan’s The Lover’s Dictionary which used letters of the alphabet to organize his telling of a relationship’s demise. I loved how stories like these give you space to imagine what isn’t said. The most difficult part was trying to keep an open mind about the possibilities I could be exploring and not letting it be an endless process because every idea at one point seems like the best idea.

Can you talk about your research process for the historical elements? What was the most unusual aspects you researched?

In Paris several years ago we found ourselves accidently in a political protest. I was there on spring break with my kids and a friend of ours with her daughter. My first reaction was to get as far away from it as I could– my kids were young and I imagined all kinds of chaos, but it was remarkably calm and orderly– families with little kids in strollers, store owners closing shops in solidarity and actually on the streets peacefully marching to President Sarkozy’s cuts to measures that helped workers. I remember being struck by how my assumptions had been wrong but then later that night there were emails from friends asking me how I was because they’d heard about a violent protest in Paris. So I checked news from the United States and there were articles implying that people had been in danger during the protest. The protest apparently had the support of most of Paris and there could have been things I didn’t see– we didn’t stay for hours and hours– but my experience was radically different from what had been conveyed in the media. And that’s sort of the approach I took with my novel too. Hearing first-hand accounts from family and friends– talking to people when I was in Korea and afterward was the best part of the experience of gathering information for the book. I read what the experts said too– those are acknowledged in the novel–and I compared that with what people told me. My cousin’s wife, in particular, helped me a great deal– explaining things to me because she spoke both Korean and English.

That’s very interesting about the misrepresentation of the peaceful protest you took part in. What are your thoughts on the role of writers/story-tellers in this era where even the very idea of “truth” seems to be under attack?

You ask great questions. There is a truth and it’s substantiated by facts. Science matters, history matters. Without that truth we have nothing but propaganda. As writers it’s more important than ever to cut through the bullshit, especially with this president in the White House.

Were there any ideas or concepts that got discarded that you wished you could include?

I have to think about that a bit. I discarded pages and pages of scenes in Korea. In terms of ideas or concepts, I think I had to let go of guilt, regret, and other reverberations of the aftermath of the hostage taking. Pages and pages of that were cut along the way.

You mentioned how planning is tough and you shuffled through hundreds of files. Can you talk a little about your writing process for A Small Revolution? Do you write on schedule, or in bursts? Did you do lots of revisions? Was there a discovery process in the editing or did you have a pretty clear idea of where you were going in the initial draft?

I’m terribly indecisive. Growing up as an immigrant with parents who survived colonization and war has made me cautious about everything. I weigh consequences constantly. It can be paralyzing. One way around it is to write a lot knowing that I’m not committing to anything. One draft in this direction and then another whole draft in another and just see where it goes. So yes — a zillion revisions. There are so many possibilities for a book, right? It’s hard for me to figure out exactly what I’m trying to say because it’s not until I write it that I know that’s it. A lot of digging– an archaeological expedition is the better metaphor. Digging and then sorting what I find and digging some more. I schedule thinking about the writing (which is less pressure!) because so much else is going on, raising a family, the dog, important but small things about living in a house, stocking the fridge (which I hate!), teaching. So it’s in bursts more than writing every day but I’m getting better at devoting more time to being messy at the writing, not worry as much, but write.

Science matters, history matters. Without that truth we have nothing but propaganda.

Now that the book has been out for a bit, is there anything you’ve learned or anything you’d change about the book?

There are always words to change here and there, aren’t there? Does the editing ever stop? (laughing) To answer your question, I have to say that I’ve been most moved by the response to the book. Going to book clubs, book stores, colleges, festivals, and other events has been more fun than I imagined. People have been incredibly kind. I found that people cared — they had strong opinions about the choices Yoona made, about Lloyd’s motivations, about the friendship among the students in that room. I’ve talked passionately about books I’ve read but didn’t imagine that anyone would talk that way about something I’d written. It felt as if I hadn’t written the book they were talking about at all. They owned it now– does that make sense? It was their experience of reading that mattered. Maybe the scale gave me this impression. I’d never before had so many people talk about something I’d written. I’m deeply grateful.

Finally, what’s next for you?

Revising a novel right now that I’m excited about. I want to hurry because so many people I met this past year have invited me back and I want to see them again. And I want to think about more ways of supporting writers. Doing what you’re doing– interviews and other writing– to bring attention to other writers. My friend and director of the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College, Patricia Dunn, started The Wrexham Road Reading Series and she’s asked me to help her organize it. In addition to sharing work, writers talk about issues they care about. It’s important to have these larger conversations.

The Archaeology Of Revolutions: An Interview With Jimin Han was last modified: January 31st, 2018 by Peter Tieryas
A Small RevolutioninterviewJimin Han
0 comment
3
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Avatar
Peter Tieryas

Peter Tieryas is the author of Mecha Samurai Empire (Ace and Roc) and United States of Japan, which won Japan's top SF Award, the Seiun. His work has been published in Electric Literature, Evergreen Review, Indiana Review, Kotaku, and ZYZZYVA. Read about his attempts at transmuting entropy at tieryas.wordpress.com.

previous post
To Play Again (An Excerpt)
next post
Review: Heart Berries by Terese Mailhot

You may also like

Getting Lit: Round 7 with Juliet Escoria

June 26, 2015

Attention: A Highly Personal and Tangential Etymology

February 2, 2017

Literacy Narrative: Reading Fernando Pessoa

August 23, 2018

Failure Is The Universe Testing Our Resolve: In Conversation With Michael J Seidlinger

July 16, 2020
Facebook Twitter Instagram

Recent Comments

  • Lisa S Thank you so much for your kind words and your feedback. I can only hope my story is able to help someone who needs it.

    WOVEN: This isn’t love ·  January 8, 2021

  • Ann Guy Thank you, Josh. And glad you didn’t get tetanus at band camp on that misguided day.

    A Way Back Home ·  December 24, 2020

  • Ann Guy Thank you, Tyler! Great to make a connection with another Fremonster. I had a wonderful catchup with your uncle while doing research for my essay. I think Fremont is a microcosm of what’s occurring...

    A Way Back Home ·  December 23, 2020

Featured Columns & Series

  • The Birds
  • Dinnerview
  • WOVEN
  • Variations on a Theme
  • BLACKCACKLE
  • Literacy Narrative
  • COVID-19
  • Mini-Syllabus
  • Their Days Are Numbered
  • On Weather
  • Disarticulations
  • The Waters
  • Session Report series
  • Birdwolf
  • Comics I've Been Geeking Out On
  • Small Press Releases
  • Books I Hate (and Also Some I Like)
  • The Poetics of Spaces
  • Fog or a Cloud
  • 30 Years of Ghibli
  • Tales From the End of the Bus Line
  • Cooking Origin Stories
  • YOU MAKE ME FEEL
  • Ludic Writing
  • Best of 2019
  • The Talking Cure
  • Stars to Stories
  • DRAGONS ARE REAL OR THEY ARE DEAD
  • Foster Care
  • Food and Covid-19
  • LEAKY CULTURE
  • Jem and the Holographic Feminisms
  • D&D with Entropy

Find Us On Facebook

Entropy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

©2014-2020 The Accomplices LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Read our updated Privacy Policy.


Back To Top