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On the Eve of the Uprising and Other Stories from Colonial Korea

Collected here are translations into English of six classic stories from colonial Korea (1910-1945) as well as the time of liberation (1945-1948). Each piece takes a different perspective on a defining process in Korean history—the colonization and modernization under Japanese rule. The volume demonstrates the rich variety of registers, settings, styles, and thematic concerns that characterized the literary production of early modern Korea. The editor’s introduction places the collection in the context of modern Korean literary history, and short biographies precede each story. In its judicious selection of classic texts, On the Eve of the Uprising and Other Stories from Colonial Korea offers an unprecedented opportunity to explore the intellectual complexity and artistic richness of colonial Korean literature.

LKL adds: the collection contains the following stories:

Ch’oe So-hae: Escape (1924)
Kim Namch’on: Barley (1941)
Na To-hyang: Samnyong the Mute (1925)
Pak T’ae-wŏn: A Day in the Life of Kubo the Novelist (1934)
Yi T’ae-jun: Before and After Liberation (1946)
Yŏm Sang-sŏp: On the Eve of the Uprising (1924)

* Where the book is available from a number of sources, they are prioritised as follows: (1) Amazon UK site, or Bookshop.org for the more recent uploads (2) Amazon US site (3) Other sites in US or Europe, including second-hand outlets (4) LTI Korea, where the title is advertised as available from there (5) Onlines stores in Korea. Links to Bookshop.org and Amazon UK site contain an affiliate code which, should you make a purchase, gives a small commission to LKL at no additional cost to you.