In the Depths

The reading public of Korea was amazed when a reclusive housewife Moo-Sook Hahn “whisked away” the first prize in a contest for novel writing sponsored by a literary magazine in the early 1940’s with A Woman with a Lantern. Ever since, novelist Hahn received one literary prize or award after another including the Freedom Literature Award in 1958. She now has four full-length novels, 3 volumes of collected stories, and a book of collected essays to her credit.

The setting for all the stories collected and translated in the present volume is that of modern Korea. Because some make use of superstitions and customs which are peculiarly Korean, the Western reader may find some minor difficulty at first. [They] need not shy away, however. The strangeness is merely temporary and superficial; underneath [they] will come to see a truth which [they] will readily share…the convincing search for the tragic inevitability of all life.

LKL adds: According to the ever-helpful Charles Montgomery, the volume contains the following stories: Shadow | Put Me To Sleep | Among the Marching Columns | Dr. Chung | A Halo Around The Moon | In the Depths | By the Fire | Splinters | A Place for Fate and Festivity