London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

LKL book database logo

Playing with Fire

Author:
Translated by:
Publisher: , 1997
Original title: 불놀이, 1982
Link to online store *

In this work, the smoldering hatred of the Korean War period resurfaces decades later in the form of a ruthless quest for justice. The main character, a successful Seoul businessman, has a secret past: unknown to his wife and son, he once led another life under another name as a ruthless communist partisan. After a lifelong search, the son of one of his wartime victims discovers his true identity, then proceeds calmly and deliberately to exact a terrible revenge.

Playing With Fire was awarded the prestigious Korean National Literature Prize upon its publication in 1982. Cho Chong-Rae’s novella “Land of Exile” appeared in English translation in 1992. Cho subsequently published the immensely popular ten-volume historical novel The Taebaek Mountains (Taebaek Sanmaek), which sold millions in Korea in the late 1980s and was successfully adapted into a film. In the 1990s Cho continued his success with Arirang, another ten-volume roman fleuve set in the period of Japan’s occupation of Korea.

Entry on Goodreads.com here.

* 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.