BTS’s Official Translator Boldly Claims That RM Is “Saving Korean Literature”

Anton Hur, the writer and translator who worked on the English version of BTS’s memoir, Beyond The Story: 10-Year Record Of BTS, recently talked about BTS leader RM’s real-life influence in the world of literature.

RM | @rpwprpwprpwp/Instagram Anton Hur | @antonhur/Instagram

Hur was recently interviewed at the Emirates Literature Festival by popular K-Content creator Deema Abu Nasser, better known as @deemalovesdrama on social media. In a clip posted by Deema, the writer mentioned a “life-saving Namjoon story,” which made him come face to face with the realization that RM has become a key figure in Korean literature. Hur prefaced his story, explaining that a long time ago, he came across a book by Lee Seong Bok on an obscure topic, aphorisms about poetry writing, and after reading the book, he wanted to work on a translation.

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Hur pointed out that the topic was so unfamiliar that finding a publisher to allow him to translate this work into English was difficult. However, he found a small publisher in Seattle who agreed to work with him on it.

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One month before the book was scheduled to come out, RM coincidentally posted about it on his social media.

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RM’s post containing Lee Seong Bok’s work

With his influence, the book sold out even with two reprints. Hur pointed out that the work itself was not even that well-known in Korea itself. Even for people familiar with Lee Seong Bok, it was a book almost unheard of.

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The success of Anton Hur’s translation of Lee’s aphorisms has led to an even bigger project surrounding the poet’s repertoire. The author announced that he has signed a deal to publish a collection of Lee Seong Bok’s poetry, That Summer’s End, which RM has also posted about before.

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RM’s Instagram story showing the Korean poetry collection, “That Summer’s End”

Hur then half-jokingly expressed his gratitude toward RM, saying he was “so grateful to RM for saving Korean literature,” following it up with, “Thank you, ARMY, you have saved Korean literature!”

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After this particular clip gained significant attention on Twitter, Anton Hur doubled down on his bold claim, adding that he “belongs to the whole world,” but only a few of the Korean English translators seem to have realized it yet.

It’s not just Korea that has Namjoon, he actually belongs to the whole world, but I guess me and Sandy Joosun Lee and Damion Searls are the only English translators to have realized that yet lol https://t.co/BDHSeEMfQI

— Anton Hur (@AntonHur) February 6, 2024

This is, however, not the first time Hur has highlighted the influence of BTS in the world of literature. In 2022, he made a tweet mentioning that his translator friend Damion Searls started to earn royalties from his translation of Herman Hesse’s Demian, thanks to ARMY. Since a lot of BTS’s iconography during the Wings era was directly taken from the novel, it has since piqued the interest of their listeners.

My translator friend Damion Searls tells me that thanks to #BTSARMY, he is seeing actual royalties from his translation of DEMIAN by Hermann Hesse @PenguinClassics Concepts and motifs from DEMIAN was used in BTS’s iconography during their WINGS era. https://t.co/zIHJJD0RGK pic.twitter.com/g4n0LSXuQi

— Anton Hur (@AntonHur) June 9, 2022

You can read more about Anton Hur and his appreciation for BTS here.