Title Pages view of reality firsthand when he visited North Korea in 2007 on a state-sponsored trip, during which he was chaperoned and presented with a romanticized version of the country and its people. “You can’t talk to a human. You can’t travel where you want and you can’t design any aspect of your trip — they’re in total control.� After Johnson arrived at an airport about 30 kilometers north of Pyongyang and was whisked away into a vehicle, he saw his first striking image, which he later adapted in the novel. “On that lonely, strange drive, one of the first things that I saw was a dump truck filled with citizens of Pyongyang being transported to the countryside.� When Johnson asked his North Korean guide where the people were going, she replied, “’Oh, they’re volunteering to help with the harvest.’� “I looked at those people in the dump truck wearing suits, lab coats — who would wear a suit to help to volunteer with the harvest? “I said, ‘They’re volunteering?’ And she answered, ‘Everyone must volunteer.’� “Volunteering isn’t voluntary in
North Korea,� Johnson points out, delivering a paradox that underpins the book. While North Koreans are starving and lack adequate healthcare, one of the book’s narrators, the voice of propaganda, describes its country as having bountiful crops and says that North Korea gives aid to less fortunate countries like South Korea and the United States. In his novel, propaganda is just one of a few narrators that Johnson employs. Johnson utilizes a shifting narrative voice, which serves to disorient the reader and gives them a sense of the loss and distortion that plague North Korea’s populace. At one point, the narrative voice of propaganda relays an account in which Kim Jong Il was giving an inspirational speech to workers when “many doves were seen to spontaneously flock above him, hovering to provide (the) Reverend General some much needed shade on a hot day.� Though Johnson says he generally relies on humor in a lot of his writing, the amusing aspects of the outlandish propaganda help offset the brutality that befalls some of the book’s characters. In addition
to reading the daily news coming out of North Korea, Johnson spent a lot of his time reading personal stories told by North Korean defectors. “I could just read the raw stories of the North Koreans, and that human dimension in literature was what was lacking.� That human dimension — the inner thoughts, struggles and desires of North Korea’s citizens — is created by Johnson when he breathes life into a country often seen as being one-dimensional in its search for status and power. The narrative of North Korea, Johnson notes, has one main char-
acter: the Dear Leader. In the book, Kim Jong Il’s presence permeates many scenes. His image and ideology is everywhere, from portraits to the “state-sponsored single narrative,� which comes in the form of closely-monitored arts, academics and media broadcasts. But in “The Orphan Master’s Son,� Johnson fills out some of North Korea’s “23 million secondary characters� and thrusts them to the forefront of the story. “North Koreans are just like us. They want the same things out of life: safety, security and better things for their kids,� Johnson says. And in a world where dominance
is maintained through propaganda, the most dangerous thing of all is something that Jun Do must do: look inward and break from his statemandated role in order to find love and determine his own destiny. N Audra Sorman is a local freelance writer who teaches literature at Foothill and De Anza colleges. What: Adam Johnson, in conversation with Anthony Marra When: Friday, July 12, 7:30 p.m. Where: Kepler’s Books, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park Information: www.keplers.com
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