97page

97 Life in Korea has infuenced me to think about topics like the relationship between city life in Seoul and the countryside, but we can also fnd universal themes here. More info j www.l-p-lee.com www.annieridd.co.uk groove Korea: when did you begin writing fction? L.P. Lee: I’ve been scribbling on and off for a while. When I was a child, the earliest things I wrote could have been Rudyard Kipling knock-offs, with titles like “How the Giraffe Got its Long Neck” and “Why the Arctic Hare is White.” I would bind these into little books with illustrations and cardboard covers. how would you describe your work? I’ve dabbled in different styles to expand my range, though they all tend to have a focus on imagery. I draw a lot of inspiration from the visual arts, like painting and photography. I’m a bit uncomfortable ascribing adjectives to my own work, but people will often say it’s “haunt- ing” or “disturbing but beautiful.” how does life in Korea influence your work? Stories for me are a way of exploring a subject, doing a bit of research and thinking through the different aspects for myself. Life in Korea has influenced me to think about topics like the relationship between city life in Seoul and the countryside, but we can also find universal themes here. Although I’ve written about other places, Korea is a special place for me because of my family connection, and fiction is a way to ex- plore Korea with both my head and my heart. I can take something that I find compelling, like the history of ginseng, and weave it into a story. in your story “reflections,” you explore plastic surgery and the constructs of beauty in Korea. why did you choose to write about this? Plastic surgery in Korea has become a hot media topic, with a lot of people talking about it. Stories such as the Miss Korea 2013 beauty pageant went viral, for instance. In the midst of this, sometimes people can be very condemning of these women without critically approaching the context in which they make their decisions. In many ways, a Korean’s decision to go under the knife makes sense when we con- sider how important appearance is in Korean society, and how they believe that enhancing one’s beauty can significantly affect employ- ment and marriage prospects. There was even a New York Times article that interviewed Ko- rean doctors who said that their main patients are young women who have come to believe they must look good in order to survive. Then there are the direct personal relationships, which can include, perhaps, a fault-finding parent, or a partner who makes you feel inad- equate the way that you are. In “Reflections” I try to provide insight into how society might affect an individual’s rea- soning. I also wanted to take into account how easy it is for bystanders to look at a complex situation and crudely simplify it to stereotypes, interpreting it unreflectively according to their preconceived worldview. So I included a scene where international students are making re- ductionist remarks about “Asian” women, re- vealing their prejudice. Unfortunately, this is a behavior that I have seen in Korea and abroad. what have people’s reactions been to it? One Korean-American lady said that the narrative resonated deeply with her because she was already tired of the predominant beauty standards that make her feel flawed. Because of her own experiences with con- ducting fieldwork on Vietnamese marriage migration to Korea, she also brought a per- spective that related the dynamic between the stepmother and the automaton character to issues concerning the status and treatment of migrant domestic workers. What I find really interesting is how peo- ple interpret the character of the automaton differently. Some see it as an irrational and frightening machine — a monster. Others as a victim that reclaims control — a symbol of resistance. That being said, I think it’s important not to prioritize what other people think and be influ- enced by it too much. No piece of work can speak to everybody; it’s the nature of any art. Trying to please everyone will only compro- mise your vision. in “the Man root” you seem to be explor- ing something more dark and personal. do you use writing as a form of catharsis? Yes, writing can be cathartic for me. But some things that might seem like catharsis may just be a decision to do something in the interests of the story. In “The Man Root,” the exploration of themes like human and nature, and gender and power, led me to feel that the climactic scenes would be beneficial to the story’s arc. you have mentioned that some of your stories are being adapted for the screen. Can you share some more about this? I’m lucky to be working with some talent- ed people who are developing my stories into short films. I’m collaborating with filmmaker Carrie Thomas on a film that has come out of “Reflections,” with Gaelle Mourre of the London Film School on “The Feast,” a fanta- sy allegory with a European setting, and with journalist-videographer Emiko Jozuka on “The House of Locks,” a psychological horror with a transnational twist. where else can you see your writing tak- ing you? I don’t know where my writing will take me, but I’m happy to be a part of something cre- ative. I’m very excited by the possibilities of creativity, and how it is accessible to all of us. Creativity provides us all with the capacity to envision a different reality from the one that we are already embedded in. It frees us to transcend those pressures and rules that may bind us or oppress us, and to see them for what they are: constructs that we have the power to change. Even in the simple act of transporting ourselves to other worlds, tempo- rarily suspending the norms and regulations of our own reality, we are taking a step back. And from this stance we can question the validity of that reality and ask whether it can do with some improving.