The Korean War and its aftermath serve as the backdrop for the six selections showcased in this collection offering the reader a rarely-glimpsed view of Korean life. Each of the authors represented here has been the recipient of the prestigious Korean People’s Literary Award . Their work focuses on ordinary Korean people and the impact … [Read More]
Archives: Books (page 140)
Shrapnel and Other Stories: Selected Stories of Dong-ha Lee
Exquisitely translated by Hyun-jae Yee Sallee, these stories by one of Korea’s most revered storytellers reflect poignantly on the lives of ordinary people in the midst of the economic miracle that has been taking place in Korea since the end of the Korean War. Having seen their homeland split in two, they cannot cope with … [Read More]
One Human Family and Other Stories
The devastating hold the Korean War still has on the ordinary citizens of South Korea is revealed here in a novella and four short stories. Although the war happened many years ago, old animosities remain, and elderly nursing home residents are traumatized by their belief that the new resident was a collaborator. A child is … [Read More]
The Dog Thief: Short Stories by Chul-Woo Lim
As a college student, Chul-Woo Lim witnessed the Kwangju Uprising during which hundreds of prodemocracy protesters were massacred by the South Korean government of Chun Doo Hwan. Lim’s desire to bear witness to this tragic event became one of the motivating forces behind his writing. One year after the massacre, Lim published his first short … [Read More]
Farewell Valley
Divided into four seasons, each represented by a different character, Farewell Valley is a novel in which death and suffering are a recurring motif and historical events are central to the story. The longest chapter is set during World War II, when the central character is sent to Manchuria as a comfort woman. [Read More]
Evening Glow
From the publisher’s website: In 1948 a small town in South Korea was seized by communists. A lowly butcher, enthralled by the idea that the downtrodden could take power, became a hero of the people’, slaughtering opponents with unrivalled cruelty, all witnessed by his eleven year old son, Kapsu. Now forty and living in Seoul, … [Read More]
Land (Vols 1, 2 and 3)
Global Oriental is pleased to announce publication of the English translation of Part I (in three volumes) of Pak Kyung-ni’s Land (T’oji). Originally published in five parts, the work is widely regarded as a masterpiece of Korean literature and has achieved unprecedented popularity in Korea. The epic follows the fortunes and misfortunes of several generations … [Read More]
The Curse of Kim’s Daughters
Songsu Kim is orphaned when his father runs away from home and her mother takes poison. Raised by his uncle, he inherits the family pharmacy and later invests in a small fishing fleet. He marries Punshi of his uncle’s choosing and has five daughters, but curse is the undercurrent of their lives – the eldest … [Read More]
The Library of Musical Instruments
The second short-story collection by Kim Jung-hyuk, the author of Penguin News, features a total of eight short stories, including Syncopation D which won the 2nd Kim You-jeong Literary Award in 2008. They represent the many sounds sampled by the author when he recorded over 600 kinds of musical instruments. Like instruments coming together in … [Read More]
The House with a Sunken Courtyard
An occasionally terrifying and always vivid portrayal of what it was like to live as a refugee immediately after the end of the Korean War. [Read More]
Kashil and Best Essays by Yi Kwang-su
Yi Kwang-su was one of the pioneers of modern Korean literature. Throughout his lifetime, 1892 to 1950, Yi wrote twenty-seven novels, numerous short stories, essays, and poems. Most were written during the Japanese colonization of Korea until 1945. In “Kashil and Best Essays by Yi Kwang-su,” Chung-Nan Lee Kim, Yi’s daughter, translates a series of … [Read More]
The Soil
A major, never before translated novel by the author of “Muj?ng / The Heartless”–often called the first modern Korean novel–“The Soil” tells the story of an idealist dedicating his life to helping the inhabitants of the rural community in which he was raised. Striving to influence the poor farmers of the time to improve their … [Read More]
Mujong (The Heartless): Yi Kwang-Su and Modern Literature
Yi Kwang-su (1892-1950) was one of the pioneers of modern Korean literature. When the serialization of Mujong (The Heartless) began in 1917, it was an immediate sensation, and it occupies a prominent place in the Korean literary canon. The Heartless is the story of a love triangle among three youths during the Japanese occupation. Yi … [Read More]
The Square
This groundbreaking classic of Korean modernism tackles the shattering effect of the division of Korea. Taking place just before the Korean War, it follows its protagonist as he travels to the North hoping to escape what he sees as the repressive right-wing regime in the South…only to find that a different sort of lie reigns … [Read More]
Reflections on a Mask: Two Novellas
Reflections on a Mask explores the disillusionment and search for identity of a young man in the post-Korean War era. A war veteran and writer, Min finds his life unfulfilled until he stumbles upon a mysterious organization that offers a procedure to aid in his search for his true nature. In the resultant hypnotic journey … [Read More]
Three Generations
Touted as one of Korea’s most important works of fiction, Three Generations (published in 1931 as a serial in Chosun Ilbo) charts the tensions in the Jo family in 1930s Japanese occupied Seoul. Yom’s keenly observant eye reveals family tensions withprofound insight. Delving deeply into each character’s history and beliefs, he illuminates the diverse pressures … [Read More]