Park Wan-suh’s Who Ate Up All the Shinga, originally published in Korean in 1992, is a brilliant book on at least three levels. First, it is the compelling narrative of a writer coming into being in the most trying of times. Second, it is a highly amusing and often bittersweet mother-daughter memoir. Finally, it is…
In his review of Kang Sok-kyong’s The Valley Nearby (Found over at London Korea Links) Philip Gowman says: The synopsis on the back of the book suggests a more action-packed plot than is the case and quotes the synopsis: Living in the country, Yun-hee is engaged in a solitary struggle. Her two worlds, that of…
Choe In-ho’s Deep Blue Night is one of my favorite of the Portable Library of Korean Literature translations, partly because it’s theme is so accessible to a western reader. It is a combination of a travelogue and that most quintessential American literary form, the buddy road-trip. The story begins with a scene reminiscent of the…
Has an excellent page with links to his own translations of Korean fiction. This includes a range of short stories, but the bonus is three novellas and full novels by Yi Mun-yol, either still unpublished or out of print Winter that Year The Poet Son of Man And two novellas by Yi Oryong, the former…
The Portable Library of Korean Literature • Short Fiction • 2 • Jimoondang Publishing • Seoul Those who dwell in heaven have no occasion to concern themselves with hell. But since the five of us lived in hell, we dreamed of heaven… Each and every day was an ordeal. Our life was like a war.…
The Portable Library of Korean Literature • Short Fiction • 3 • Jimoondang Publishing • Seoul The Cry of the Magpies, By Kim Dong-Ni begins with an unusual literary conceit. The narrator tells us that what we are about to read is his retelling of a book he once came across that moved him as…
An article that seems to be saying that Korean literature (particularly at the level of the novel) is in some way schismatic and that this is even affecting domestic consumption of Korean literature in the Korean language. It’s the first I have heard of this, partly because I focus on translations, poor translation choices and…