Synopses & Reviews
Fiction. Asian Studies. Translated from the Korean by Hyun-Jae Yee Sallee. This collection of four short stories and a novella spans the time between the Korean War and the dawn of the 21st century. Korea has been a country divided for more than fifty years, yet for people who lived through it, the war preceding the division won't be over until their country is united. Wanting desperately to leave the past and all that's been lost behind, they find themselves reminded of it no matter where they go. Even a nursing home offers no refuge from ghosts of times past. Meanwhile, the younger generations of South Koreans struggle to find their identities in lives that have become nothing more than a quest to succeed in a consumer-driven society. For them, too, there is no escape, so they embrace the economic growth that has taken place since the war and rush headlong into a future devoid of meaning and tradition. Chung Yeun-hee is also the author of Ryangwhajin, Ranjido, winner of the Korea Literary Award, and The Horn, winner of the Yundongju Literary Award.
Synopsis
Haunting stories of the aftermath of war.
Synopsis
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 made a laughing stock when she thinks the condoms tossed aside on the beach by American GIs are balloons.
Chung Yeon-hee has published several novels and numerous short stories and essays.
Hyun-jae Yee Sallee has translated Korean literature for nearly twenty-five years.
About the Author
Yeun-hee Chung, born in 1936 in Seoul. She has since published several novels and numerous short stories and essays. Ms. Chung has received numerous literary awards, including the Korean Literary Writers Award. An important and influential contemporary Korean writer, her writing focuses on the inner strength and virtue displayed by ordinary people. Hyun-jae Yee Sallee has been translating Korean literature nearly twenty-five years. White Pine Press has two published two previous collections of her translations. Ms. Sallee was the recipient of a translation award from the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation in 1989.