SPACE August 2023 (No. 669)
View of book talk, ‘Three Books on a Railway, One Author, and Three Editors’ / ©Park Jiyoun
On June 16, at the Seoul International Book Fair, a book talk titled ‘Three Books on a Railway, One Author, and Three Editors’ captivated its audience. It was moderated by Jeon Hyeonwoo, the author of three books related to railways. This event was held by three editors to share the planning and contents of the books. According to Park Hwalsung (editor, Workroom Press), Jeon Hyeonwoo is a ‘rail mania’, who would randomly discuss facts such as the number of diesel-fueled trains in Korea over drinks. Kim Misun (editor, leekim publishing house) said that he was ‘obsessed with the Osong Station’ and that for a few years his KakaoTalk profile used to be a picture of the station. Sin Saebyeok (editor, minumsa) defined him as a transportation philosopher who majored in analytic philosophy. The identity of the authors defined by each editor can be encountered in the books. Railway of Megacity Seoul: How to Transition to the Future in the Era of the Climate Crisis (Workroom Press, 2020, covered in SPACE No. 635) rolls out an immense sea of information and data on the rail roads. Starting with the analysis of 50 railroads in large cities around the world, it designs a new railway system and develops a plan of project financing for its realisation. Osong Station (leekim publishing house, 2023) follows the traces left by the decisions made from the transport, political, and urban perspectives before and after Osong Station became the junction for the Honam High Speed Railway. The book begins by pointing out that people who get off at Osong Station on weekday mornings usually head for the new city of Sejong or downtown Cheongju, which suggests that they all have yet to travel 30 minutes beyond from Osong Station by bus. Wayfinding in a Kidnapped World (minumsa, 2020), approaches the issue of transportation for the era of climate crisis in a philosophical way, proposing that we walk much more than we do. If there is a systematic rail transportation network, there will be no need for automobiles. The three books on the theme of railroads can be said to be an encyclopedia on railroads, an interpretation booklet highlighting the contexts of Osong Station, and a humanities study contemplating on the problems of transportation. One author collaborating with three different editors resulted in three books, each with its own unique colour. by Park Jiyoun