Author: Kim Ewhan
Translated by: Sean Lin Hilbert
Publisher: Serpent's Tail, expected Aug 2024
Original title: 절망의 구, 2009
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“Having reality and fantasy exist side-by-side, Kim E-whan’s fictional writing is often seen as an allegorical presentation of the world we live in. The novel “The Orb of Despair” — which shot Kim E-whan to fame after he was awarded the first Multi-Literature Award in 2009 — reveals his keen insight into human existence and greed. The backdrop for the novel is Seoul, just as it is today. A mysterious black orb suddenly appears and starts to devour humans, one after another, growing in strength each time. It reaches a point where the orb’s insatiable appetite has brought the entire human race to the verge of extinction. While an unidentifiable mass that consumes humans is an image well known from horror movies of the past, in this context it has been employed as a literary device, both familiar and unsettling, which can be understood as a symbol of death, while at the same time being a metaphor for the rapaciousness of Big Capital, and exposing the vastness of human greed.”
Source: Koreana