Sales of books related to "The Odyssey" have surged 31-fold from a year earlier as director Christopher Nolan's film of the same name drew more than 10 million viewers in South Korea.
Sales of books with "Odyssey" in the title, including various Korean transliterations of the Greek epic, rose 940.9% from the previous month and 2,984.8% from a year earlier in the month the film opened, according to Kyobo Book Centre on the 8th. Sales of books on Greek mythology also climbed 84.3% from the previous month and 33.5% from a year earlier. The bookstore chain attributed the jump to a rush of readers wanting to read Homer's original epic after seeing the film.
The mix of best-selling Odyssey-related titles has also changed. In August last year, all of the top 10 sellers were children's Greek and Roman mythology series. This August, full translations of the original text and introductory guides took the top spots, including Hyundaejisung's "Odysseia," a complete translation from ancient Greek, and Eulyoo Publishing's "Odysseia." Kyobo Book Centre said sales are expanding beyond children's mythology content toward original classics aimed at adult readers.
New releases also drew attention. Six of the top 10 overall sellers in the fifth week of August were published that month, ranging from new translations to introductory guides, children's editions and a screenplay collection. "The Odyssey Screenplay," which contains the film's official script, topped Kyobo Book Centre's arts category bestseller list after its release on the 19th of last month.
Sales of e-book comic sets also rose sharply. Monthly sales of the 12-volume set of writer Hong Eun-young's "Greek and Roman Mythology & Guidebook" jumped about 53-fold from a year earlier, while the seven-volume "Greek and Roman Mythology" set rose about 97-fold. With the print editions of the series out of print, demand driven by the film's release appears to have shifted to e-books.
