Sales of Nobel laureate Anne Carson's books jump 204-fold

Books by Anne Carson, this year's Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, are flying off shelves at South Korean bookstores.

According to Kyobo Book Centre, sales of Carson's titles jumped 203.9 times compared with their pre-announcement average in the period from 8 p.m. Thursday — when the Nobel Prize in Literature winner was announced — through 9 a.m. Sunday.

Carson is a poet, classicist, translator and essayist who represents the best of Canadian literature. She has built a distinctive literary world by moving freely across the boundaries of ancient and modern literature, poetry and prose, creative writing and criticism, and translation.

The best-selling Carson title in South Korea since the Nobel announcement is her signature work, the verse novel "Autobiography of Red."

"Nox," a tribute to her brother who died suddenly, came in second, followed in third by "The Beauty of the Husband," the work that earned Carson the title of first woman to win the T.S. Eliot Prize.

"Autobiography of Red" also topped Kyobo Book Centre's online daily bestseller list for Saturday. "Nox" and "The Beauty of the Husband" ranked eighth and ninth, respectively.

Women accounted for 73.5 percent of buyers. By age group, readers in their 40s made up the largest share at 28.6 percent, followed by those in their 30s at 23.2 percent, those in their 50s at 19.4 percent and those in their 20s at 15.5 percent.

Nine of Carson's books are currently available in Korean translation.

The titles include "Eros the Bittersweet," "Short Talks," "Glass, Irony and God" and "Plainwater," all published by Nanda; "Autobiography of Red," "The Beauty of the Husband" and "Red Doc>," published by Hankyoreh Publishing; and "Float" and "Nox," published by Bomnalui Chaek.