The background of upbeat K-pop songs was a perfect prelude to the evening’s discussion of The Midnight Timetable, a collection of interconnected horror stories about a research institute and the cursed objects within. Author Bora Chung and translator Anton Hur were ready to entertain, as Hur asked Chung how it felt being back in the UK after losing the 2022 Booker Prize, to which Chung made an inconsequential remark about the weather.
Reading a passage from the book, Hur highlighted a conversation between two night shift workers – the ‘sunbae’, or senior, and her subordinate. The sunbae is blind, and Chung explained this characterisation by noting that when people see things, there’s a delay between real visual signals and the signals that the brain perceives. Within this delay, the mind tends to fabricate. Thus, she wanted to write about someone with a “more concrete” relationship with the world than the other characters. This is an interesting subversion, especially as Hur noted that stereotypically, disabled characters are the ones others look out for. Chung also clarified that the institute is a work environment, so the sunbae’s proactiveness can be attributed to protecting its image, as employees dying wouldn’t be ideal.
In fact, Chung’s inspiration for the institute stems from a professional setting. She wrote the book slightly after COVID, whilst she was a teacher. Classes were held online, but she frequented her university for admin work. She recalled a corridor through which she observed classrooms with doors slightly ajar or fully open. There was an “emptiness” that was “completely different from that peace and quiet” she felt during semester breaks. This eeriness is translated in the book, with the night shift workers doing rounds to make sure each room is locked, leading one to speculate what lies behind the doors.
The confined objects intrigued Hur, who asked Chung whether they were inherently dangerous or if the institute was “protecting these objects from humanity”. She revealed that the objects’ experiences were a result of what humans around them went through, so she felt some sympathy for their lack of agency. Hur then questioned why Chung didn’t involve the researchers more frequently in the book. She stated that paranormal research is a real field of study, so she didn’t want to offend anyone by inaccurately portraying their profession. She also tied this in with her own experience researching literature, saying it was “so boring”, so for her story, she “just skipped that part”.
Hur also offered insight into his profession. He compared translating to acting, saying that when working with source material, there’s a period of figuring out how to make it sound “not awkward”. Tackling this requires “processes of internalising” in order to “imbue with verisimilitude” in a similar vein to actors, who view their source material before coming up with their own interpretations. It’s for this reason that Hur views translation as a “performance”, as it’s impossible to reproduce a text in the exact manner of its original language. His goal is to make it resonate with readers the same way the original resonates with him.
The event offered an illuminating insight into Chung’s mind, with her belief that “there’s so much more to the human experience than we can empirically or scientifically imagine”, fostering her fascination with supernatural stories. Chung and Hur were a dynamic duo, flitting between quips and advice, ensuring the crowd held on to every word. Chung even asked the audience why they were here, as she didn’t believe she was interesting, to which Hur interjected, “Clap if you think Bora is interesting”. Obviously, there was ample applause.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
