Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra
The Pinocchio Theory2 weeks ago
Kim Choyeop is a South Korean science fiction writer. Her first collection of stories, IF WE CANNOT GO AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT, was published in Korea in 2019, and will soon be released in English translation. I read an advance copy that I got through Netgalley, which provides early access to books in return … Continue reading "Kim Choyeop" read more
I have mentioned ambivalence in most of my story descriptions at this point, and I would say that the insistence upon ambivalence, and the refusal to resolve it, is perhaps the key motif of all of Kim Choyeop’s fiction... So these stories by a relatively young author (she is now 33, and was only in her mid-twenties when this book was initially published in Korean) all express various modes of disillusionment, which necessarily attends the radical innovations and the “sense of wonder” that characterize science fiction as a genre...
While both authors deal with the "human condition" in surreal or futuristic settings, their approaches to alienation and authority create a sharp contrast.
The comparison between and is often a study in "Cold Absurdity" vs. "Warm Speculation."
1. Oppressive Systems vs. Empathetic Science
- Kafka (The Bureaucratic Nightmare): In Kafka's work, the "System" is a faceless, incomprehensible, and cruel authority that characters can never satisfy or understand. Josef K. in The Trial is arrested for an unknown crime and caught in a maze of meaningless rules.
- Kim Choyeop (The Scientific Mirror): Kim uses advanced science—like gene modification, mind uploading, or wormhole travel—to hold a mirror to modern society’s iniquities. While her systems can be exclusionary, they are usually grounded in realistic social issues like disability, migration, and discrimination rather than pure existential absurdity.
2. Transformation: Body vs. Identity
- Kafka (Physical Metamorphosis): In The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa's transformation into an insect is inexplicable and leads to immediate isolation and death. The focus is on the horror of being "othered" by one's own family and body.
- Kim Choyeop (Technological Metamorphosis): In stories like If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, transformations are often elective or technological—such as people becoming "more machine than flesh" to explore space. Her focus is on the pathos of connection and how we maintain humanity when technology changes our physical form.
3. Tone and "The Ending"
- Kafka (Existential Despair): Kafka’s prose is restrained and often ends in a "nightmare" of futility. His characters are frequently bereft of hope and narrative past.
- Kim Choyeop (Melancholic Hope): Her stories are described as a "quiet constellation" or a "soft whisper" about connection and grief. While tinged with melancholy, they often emphasize the yearning to understand others, even across time and space.
Summary Comparison Table
| Feature | Franz Kafka | Kim Choyeop |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Theme | Absurdity and bureaucratic alienation. | Empathy and social discrimination. |
| The System | Faceless, irrational, and inescapable. | Technological, social, and flawed. |
| Emotional Tone | Nightmare, guilt, and isolation. | Longing, "quiet ache," and pathos. |
| Character Goal | To justify themselves to an unknown power. | To connect with lost ones or different species. |
Would you like to analyze a specific story from If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light and see how its "Kafkaesque" elements are subverted?
- GoogleAI
To see how Kim Choyeop subverts the Kafkaesque, let's look at the title story of her collection: "If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light."
The Setup: A Kafkaesque Trap
The protagonist, Anna, is a grandmother and a brilliant scientist who has been living in a space station for decades. She is waiting for a ship to take her to the "Proxima" system to rejoin her family.
- The Bureaucratic Wall: Much like the man in Kafka's Before the Law, Anna is stuck. The company has abandoned the old "wormhole" technology she helped create in favour of newer, faster travel that doesn't go to her family’s planet.
- The Indifferent System: The younger men sent to decommission the station represent the faceless bureaucracy. They aren't "evil"—they are simply following the new rules of the market. To the system, Anna is obsolete data.
The Subversion: From Despair to Agency
This is where Kim Choyeop departs from the Kafkaesque "nightmare" and moves toward a speculative pathos:
| Feature | The Kafkaesque Version | Kim Choyeop's Subversion |
|---|---|---|
| Reaction to the System | The character is crushed by the weight of the rules. | Anna understands the science better than the system that discarded her. |
| Nature of the Conflict | It is an "Absurd" nightmare with no logic. | It is a "Social" tragedy caused by technological progress leaving people behind. |
| The Ending | Death or a return to the "hole" (e.g., The Metamorphosis). | Defiance. Anna steals a small, slow shuttle to attempt the journey. |
Why it feels different
In a Kafka story, the protagonist usually ends up in a state of paralysis. They realize that no matter what they do, they are guilty or trapped.
In Kim Choyeop's story, Anna chooses absurd action over absurd paralysis. She knows she likely won't survive the journey to Proxima because she can't travel at the speed of light, but she goes anyway.
The Takeaway: While Kafka highlights the horror of being a cog in a machine, Kim Choyeop highlights the willpower of the cog to break away and find its own orbit.
A Linguistic Connection for You
Since you liked the word encumber, we can say that in Kafka, the characters are encumbered by their guilt and the law until they perish. In Kim Choyeop, Anna realizes that while the system encumbers her movement, it cannot enjoin her heart from its original purpose.
Would you like to explore another story from that collection, such as "The Symbiosis Theory," which deals with "alien" influence on human emotions?
- GoogleAI
