Djuna is a South Korean
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
writer and
film critic
Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outl ...
. Djuna is managed by Greenbook Agency.
Life
The identity of Djuna is unknown, and Djuna prefers the personal pronoun "they." They publish all their works under the name Djuna, and interviews are done by e-mail correspondence or online chats. For some of their early works, they used the name ''Lee Youngsoo'', but it is generally taken as a
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
, because Lee Youngsoo is one of the most common names in
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
.
They explain the name Djuna as follows: "We just took the name for our ID for HiTel, as we were reading the book of
Djuna Barnes
Djuna Barnes (, June 12, 1892 – June 18, 1982) was an American artist, illustrator, journalist, and writer who is perhaps best known for her novel ''Nightwood'' (1936), a cult classic of lesbian fiction and an important work of modernist liter ...
. The capitalization was due to the
Caps Lock key, and we felt it would be a bit strange not to capitalize a name."
From 2020 to 2021, Djuna served as the second President of the Science Fiction Writers Union of the Republic of Korea, following their first president
Soyeon Jeong.
Work
Since the 1990s, Djuna has been one of the most prolific and important writers in the
South Korean science fiction field.
They have published seven
short story collection
A short story collection is a book of short stories and/or novellas by a single author. A short story collection is distinguished from an anthology of fiction, which would contain work by several authors (e.g., ''Les Soirées de Médan''). The s ...
s, six novels, and two essays.
Short story collections
* ''Butterfly War'' (나비전쟁) 1997
* ''Duty Free Area'' (면세구역) 2000
* ''Pacific Express'' (태평양 횡단 특급) 2002
* ''Proxy War'' (대리전) 2006
* ''Teeth of the Dragon'' (용의 이) 2007
* ''Bloody Battle on the Broccoli Field'' (브로콜리 평원의 혈투) 2011
* ''Not Yet a God'' (아직은 신이 아니야) 2013
Novels
* ''Molok'' (몰록) 2001
* ''The Shadow of Spiderweb'' (거미줄 그늘) 2009
* ''Jezebel'' (제저벨) 2012
* ''The World of Mint'' (민트의 세계) 2018
*There I existed In Arcadia (아르카디아에도 나는 있었다) 2019
*평형추 2021
Film criticism
* ''Complaining over the Screen'' (스크린 앞에서 투덜대기) 2001
* ''Film Shakespeare'' (필름 셰익스피어) 2005
* ''Genre Encyclopedia: SF Film'' (장르백서 2: SF영화) 2015
Non-fiction
* ''Possible Spaces of Dreams: Djuna Essay'' (가능한 꿈의 공간들:듀나 에세이) 2015
References
{{authority control
South Korean novelists
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
South Korean science fiction writers