From the publisher’s website: This selection of Moon Dok-su’s poems includes some eighty of his poems chosen from among a dozen different books and magazines. These poems cover a variety of subjects and show Moon’s perception of the world as well as his modernistic approach to poetic inspiration. He paints landscapes unseen in traditional Korean … [Read More]
Booklist: Literature Fiction and Poetry (page 55)
Traveler Maps
From the University of Hawai’i Press website: Winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Book of Poetry, Independent Book Publisher’s Association Many followers of Korean literature believe Ko Un—one of the country’s most revered and prolific writers—will be nominated for a Nobel Prize. Once a Buddhist monk, then a political dissident, and always a … [Read More]
Flowers in the Toilet Bowl
From the publisher’s website: This volume brings together 65 poems from Choi Seungho’s ten books that best illustrate his thought and art. In many of his poems, Choi portrays the rampant desires of the “hypnotized” man and the gray landscape of the late consumer society. Choi tries to expose the illusory nature of man’s desire … [Read More]
Even the Knots on Quince Trees Tell Tales
From Ku Sang’s obituary in The Independent: The volume Mogwa ongduriedo sayeoni itta (1984, translated as Even the Knots on Quince Trees Tell Tales, 2004) contains 100 poems evoking his life’s stumbling progress through the agonies of modern Korean history. LKL note: the volume is pretty impossible to find in hard copy. It looks like … [Read More]
Vision of a Phoenix
From the publisher’s website: The biography and writings of Ho Nansorhon (1563–1589), one of the finest poets of the entire Choson dynasty, who wrote during the Golden Age of Sino-Korean poetry. This period also witnessed the Confucianization of Korean society, when government-imposed sanctions greatly restricted the lives of Korean women, particularly those of the ruling … [Read More]
Sueño and Bascom mystery series
Publisher description: Sergeant George Sueño and his partner, Ernie Bascom, are stationed in Korea with the US 8th Army in the 1970s. They investigate crimes in which US Army personnel might have been involved. Meanwhile, George, who is very interested in Korea and its culture, does what he can to soften everyone’s bad opinion of … [Read More]
Mu-ga: The Ritual Songs of the Korean Mudangs
Introduced and Translated by Alan C. Heyman This work is mainly comprised of a translation into English of four complete large-scale Korean Shaman ritual songs transcribed from tape recordings, which, until the present time, have remained either entirely untranslated, or, if otherwise, are only quoted in the form of brief excerpts in a few short … [Read More]
A Toy City
No synopsis available [Read More]
The Last Of Hanako
Includes two stories: The Last Of Hanako The Gray Snowman [Read More]
American Woman
On the run for an act of violence against the American government, 25-year-old Jenny Shimada agrees to care for three younger fugitives whom a shadowy figure from her former radical life has spirited out of California. One of them, the kidnapped granddaughter of a wealthy newspaper magnate in San Francisco, has become a national celebrity … [Read More]
The Preview and Other Stories
From the publisher’s website: Cho Seon Jak (1940-) is a prolific South Korean writer of many novels and short stories. Many of his works have been adapted successfully as TV dramas and films, but very few of his works have been available in English till now. He presents an honest and frank view of the … [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]
Photo Shop Murder
‘Reality is stranger than fiction,’ or so the saying goes, but few would deny that the madness of contemporary society is captured in the work of Kim Young-Ha, one of the leading young literary voices of Korea. There’s no Hollywood here-no omniscient audience, or plot lines which have all folded neatly together by the time … [Read More]
The Chronicle of Manchwidang
No synopsis available. [Read More]
Sky, Wind and Stars
From the publisher’s website: Born and raised in northern Manchuria during the colonial period of Korea, Yun Dong-ju was a poet of the utmost purity, beauty, and sincerity. His posthumously published collection of poems under the title Sky, wind, stars, and poems is one of the all-time favorites of Korean readers. Wishing not to have … [Read More]
Silver Stallion
In a mountain village in Korea, 1950, the memory of the Japanese occupation has just begun to fade when the farmers hear that the World Army, led by the great American General “Megado” has landed at Inchon. [Read More]