Soul of Darkness (어둠의 혼), other than REALLY tempting me to make some kind of horrible pun that might end up as a blog name, is a brief, ugly, but completely transparent snapshot of what happens when starvation and politics intersect. In that way, it is also a snapshot of a particular time in Korean…
Two Travelers is a collection of nine short works (including three from Ha Kun-chan) , many of which cannot be found in any other collection. Two Travelers is volume 7 of the 10 book Modern Korean Short Stories Collection, which is no longer in print and thus can only be found online, although often inexpensively.…
Dong Mei’s review might be compared to Charles Montgomery’s, which can be found here. A woman writing a letter. A simple premise for Shin Kyung-sook’s short story The Place Where the Harmonium Was. A woman writing a letter to her lover who already has a wife and children. The circumstances of their relationship are backed…
Our Friend’s Homecoming (돌아온 우리의 친구) by Shin Sang-ung (신 상 웅) is a short story/novella that was written some time in 1977-8 during a series called the Roadside Drinking Stall, which was turned into a collection in Korean. A roadside drinking stall is a place, often illegal, for quick drinking, a place to eliminate…
Today at 2, at TOZ in Jongno, I will be chatting with a few like minded folks about Korean literature. For that lecture I have created 3 PPTs (these contain links to the stories and resources I discuss) Korean Literature Influences & History Korean Literature in a Few Short Stories Korea Literature Recommended Also, I…
WAR AND SEPARATION (As usual, I welcome disagreements and corrections^^) Previously: I) Hyangga and Koryeo Kasa II) Sijo & Kasa III) Classical Fiction IV) Pansori V) Introduction to Modern Literature VI: Enlightenment VII: Background to Colonial Lit VIII: The History of Korean Modern Literature VIII: Themes & Approaches to Fiction VIIII: The Colonial Era Several…
Here at KTLIT we are happy to welcome a new contributor aboard, Dongmi Hwang. Dongmi is, among other things, bilingual and bi-cultural, and as an introduction, we thought we do some side-by-side reviews, so that readers could get dual perspectives on the works we review here. Particularly interesting to me was the different ways we…
Some really great authors here, Yi Sang, Kim Ae-ran, Ch’oe In-Ho and more. 13 stories of translated Korean literature that you can read online for free! Ch’oe In-Ho Deep Blue Night Korea Journal (PDF) Vol.35. No.4 Winter, 1995 Ch’oe In-Ho Hwang Chini 1, Dead Person (Translated by Benjamin Cheung, Na Youn) Vol.11 No.3 December 2008 Ch’ŏn…
A very interesting article in the Korea Times about Imprima Agency (a leading literary agency in Korea), that begins by revealing the traditional Korean obsession about literature, particularly Korean literature overseas: Koreans have long coveted the Nobel Prize in Literature as poet Ko Un has been nominated for it over the past few years. The…
A video of Kim Young-ha giving a charming lecture, as well as excerpts from six of Kim Young-ha’s works, several of which are linked to full versions of the stories (I have linked the full versions, where possible). The excerpts are here, and the works include: I Have the Right to Destroy Myself Marilyn Monroe…