Throughout his eventful life as a monk, poet, novelist, political dissident, husband, and father, Ko Un has remained a traveler on the Way. The poems in this collection, though strictly within the true Zen tradition, are as witty and down-to-earth as they are contemplative. Described by Allen Ginsberg as thought-stopping Koan-like mental firecrackers, the poems … [Read More]
Booklist: Literature Fiction and Poetry (page 49)
Diary of a Vagabond
From the publisher’s website: Song Yong is not one of the more celebrated writers in Korea but more of an outsider looking in on the mainstream writing establishment in Korea. His work has never seen commercial success, nor it is well-known in Korea, although he is respected among prominent literary critics. The lack of interest … [Read More]
Quiet People: Korean Stories
Quiet People: the title story (and lengthiest) in this collection, gives a Korean perspective with a projected liaison between Christianity and Buddhism: from the outset Maguire is depicting a global rather than a parochial vision. He is grappling with ‘the reality of the Orient’ as in Nights in the Moon Village not merely trading in … [Read More]
There a Petal Silently Falls: 3 stories
Ch’oe Yun is a Korean author known for her breathtaking versatility, subversion of authority, and bold exploration of the inner life. Readers celebrate her creative play with fantasy and admire her deep engagement with trauma, history, and the vagaries of remembrance. In this collection’s title work, There a Petal Silently Falls, Ch’oe explores both the … [Read More]
An Illustrated Guide to Korean Mythology
From the publisher’s website: This highly engaging volume by one of Korea’s leading scholars of comparative mythology – the the first study of its kind in English – provides a valuable introduction to centuries-old beliefs, myths and folk tales relating to Cosmology and Flood, Birth and Agriculture, Messengers of the Underworld, Shamans, Disease, Good Fortune, … [Read More]
My Sister Bongsoon
My Sister Bongsoon is an autobiographical novel. Through the eyes of Jiang, a precocious five-year old girl, the author relates how Bongsoon, a live-in maid who was uneducated, unloved but innocent and hard-working like most of the maids of those days, views the emerging new world of Korean reality. There is anguish, insight, but also … [Read More]
Aunt Suni
The Jeju Local Government has been trying to attract domestic and international attention to designate Jeju Island as World Peace Island. In this situation the top priority is to let people all over the world easily understand the people, culture and above all, recognize the tragic history of Jeju Island. The significant aspects of Jeju … [Read More]
Mommy Must Be a Fountain of Feathers
The first full-length English language edition of one of the foremost woman poets in Modern Korean poetry. Kim Hyesoon was the first woman recipient of the prestigious Kim Suyong Contemporary Poetry Award, and is the author of eight collections of poetry. In Kim Hyesoon’s saturated political fables, horror is packed inside cuteness, cuteness inside horror. … [Read More]
An Empty House: Korean-American Poetry
From the publisher’s website: A sequel to Fragrance of Poetry, a much acclaimed poetry collection, An Empty House contains ninety-four poems by twelve Korean-American poets. It is a work that represents significant thought, effort, and collaboration. Poems in this volume show the breadth and depth of Korean-American poets’ homesickness, grief, pain, and joy of life … [Read More]
The Dream of Things: Selected Poems of Hyonjong Chong
From the publisher’s website: The Dream of Things brings together about 80 poems by Hyonjong Chong that best illustrate his unusual poetic imagination and polished skill. In these poems, Chong demonstrates his persistent pursuit of the relationship between poet and object. It is through thoughtful meditation about language and meticulous precision in word choice that … [Read More]
A Person of Interest
Professor Lee, an Asian-born mathematician near retirement age would seem the last person to attract the attention of FBI agents. Yet after a colleague becomes the latest victim of a serial bomber, Lee must endure the undermining power of suspicion and face the ghosts of his past. With its propulsive drive, vividly realized characters, and … [Read More]
Susaek
Susaek tells the story of a writer who, in the midst of a mid-life crisis, begins a search for his identity. As a child and encouraged by his family, Lee Su-Ho mistakenly believed that he was the child of his father’s mistress. When the mistress left, Su-Ho felt abandoned by both his real mother and … [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]
Allegory of Survival: The Theater of Kang-baek Lee
From the publisher’s website: In the civil and government upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s in Korea, Kang-baek Lee began his distinguished playwriting career. He is perhaps best known as the premier writer of social commentary in the form of allegories in an effort to circumvent extremely strict censorship laws which were heavily enforced until … [Read More]
Land of Exile: Contemporary Korean Fiction (expanded edition)
From the publisher’s website: An anthology of contemporary Korean fiction including: “The Wife and Children”; “The Post Horse Curse”; “Mountains”; “Kapitan Ri”; “The Winter”; and “A Dream of Good Fortune.” LKL adds: the collection contains the following stories: Ch’ae Man-Sik: The Wife and Children (1948) Kim Dong-ni: The Post Horse Curse (1948) Hwang Sun-won: Mountains … [Read More]
Bride of the Water God
When Soah’s impoverished, desperate village decides to sacrifice her to the Water God Habaek to end a long drought, they believe that drowning one beautiful girl will save their entire community and bring much-needed rain. Not only is Soah surprised to be rescued by the Water God-instead of killed-she never imagined she’d be a welcomed guest in … [Read More]