UNITED STATES / Hwang Jungeun / 황정은 / 2024 / literature  >  Korean Literature  >  Korean Fiction  >  21st century  >  Romance

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER! "There is an unforgettable, curious beauty to be found here." —Han Kang, Winner of the Man Booker International Prize for The Vegetarian Han Kang's Human Acts meets Yōko Ogawa's The Memory Police in this understated South Korean novella in translation: a restrained yet emotional magical realist examination of futility in a capitalist society written in response to the 2009 Yongsan Disaster. In a Seoul slum marked for demolition, residents' shadows have begun to rise. No one knows how or why–but, they warn each other, do not follow your shadow if it wanders away. As the landscape of their lives is torn apart, building by building, electronics-repair-shop employees Eungyo and Mujae can only watch as their community begins to fade. Their growing connection with one another provides solace, but against an uncaring ruling class and the inevitability of the rising shadows, their relationship may not be enough. Winner of the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award and the Korean Bookseller's Award, One Hundred Shadows is a tender working-class perspective with subtle and affecting social commentary. This edition features an introduction by Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Vegetarian, Han Kang, a historical note about the Yongsan tragedy that inspired One Hundred Shadows, and an exclusive interview with the author. source: https://lti.overdrive.com/media/10251231?cid=37224

UNITED STATES / Jungeun Hwang / 황정은 / 2024 / literature  >  Korean Literature  >  Complete Collection  >  Library  >  Complete Collection (individual)

Three women—the old mother and her two daughters—contemplate their family life and their bottled-up feelings through the novel's placating yet oddly unnerving prose. Every Year is divided into four large chapters; the first unravels from the perspective of Sejin, younger daughter, the second from that of Youngjin, older daughter, the third from the mother's, and the fourth, back to Sejin's. Throughout the course of the novel, a number of themes are developed, including its discussion of interracial marriage, different forms of family, and sexual minorities. Circumstances and history forced the mother to the life of obedience, familial obligations and financial hardship forced Youngjin to give up her dream and support the family, and the reality of her culture forced Sejin to be in the closet. And all the while, these three women, while empathizing with each other, seem entrapped in the cycle of forcing each other to further succumb. source: https://lti.overdrive.com/media/10267489?cid=37224

UNITED STATES / Bora Chung / 정보라 / 2024 / literature  >  Korean Literature  >  Korean Fiction  >  21st century  >  SF  >  Fantasy

From the internationally acclaimed author of Cursed Bunny, in another thrilling translation from Korean by Anton Hur, this collection shares tales of loss and discovery, idealism and dystopia, death and immortality. ​ In “The Center for Immortality Research,” a low-level employee runs herself ragged planning a fancy gala for donors, only to be blamed for a crime she witnessed during the event, under the noses of the mysterious celebrity benefactors hoping to live forever. But she can’t be fired—no one can. In “One More Kiss, Dear,” a tender, one-sided love blooms in the AI-elevator of an apartment complex; as in, the elevator develops a profound affection for one of the residents. In “Seeds,” we see the final frontier of capitalism’s destruction of the planet and the GMO companies who rule the agricultural industry, but nature has ways of creeping back to life. Chung’s writing is “haunting, funny, gross, terrifying—and yet when we reach the end, we just want more" (Alexander Chee). If you haven’t yet experienced the fruits of this singular imagination, Your Utopia is waiting. “Nothing concentrates the mind like Chung’s terrors, which will shrivel you to a bouillon cube of your most primal instincts” (Vulture), yet these stories are suffused with Chung's inimitable wry humor and surprisingly tender moments, too. source: https://lti.overdrive.com/media/9957159?cid=37224

GERMANY / Han Kang / 한강 / 2024 / literature  >  Korean Literature  >  Korean Fiction  >  21st century

»Griechischstunden« erzählt die Geschichte zweier gewöhnlicher Menschen, die sich in einem Moment privater Angst begegnen. Han Kang hat einen schillernden Roman über die rettende Gnade der Sprache geschrieben. »Han Kangs Stimme kann man sich nicht entziehen.« The Independent »Dieser Roman ist ein Fest des unaussprechlichen Vertrauens, das im Austausch von Sprache zu finden ist... Han Kang ist eine scharfsinnige Chronistin der ungewöhnlichen, rebellischen Frauen. « New York Times »Han Kang erzählt zugleich mit großer Brutalität und großer Poesie – eine Mischung, die nur wenigen Schriftstellern gelingt.« STERN »Han Kang erzählt so intensiv, dass man manchmal die Augen schließen möchte.« HR2 KULTUR source: https://lti.overdrive.com/media/10295983?cid=37224

UNITED KINGDOM / Bora Chung / 정보라 / 2024 / literature  >  Korean Literature  >  Korean Fiction  >  21st century  >  SF  >  Fantasy

By the internationally acclaimed author of Cursed Bunny, in another thrilling translation from the Korean by Anton Hur, Your Utopia is full of tales of loss and discovery, idealism and dystopia, death and immortality. "Nothing concentrates the mind like Chung's terrors, which will shrivel you to a bouillon cube of your most primal instincts" (Vulture), yet these stories are suffused with Chung's inimitable wry humor and surprisingly tender moments, too—often between unexpected subjects. Chung's writing is "haunting, funny, gross, terrifying—and yet when we reach the end, we just want more" (Alexander Chee). If you haven't yet experienced the fruits of this singular imagination, Your Utopia is waiting. source: https://lti.overdrive.com/media/10306099?cid=37224

UNITED STATES / Yu Miri / 유미리 / 2023 / literature  >  Korean Literature  >  Korean Fiction  >  21st century

From the National Book Award winning author, an extraordinary, ground-breaking, epic multi-generational novel about a Korean family living under Japanese occupation. In 1930s Japanese-occupied Korea, Lee Woo-cheol was a running prodigy and a contender for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. But he would have had to run under the Japanese flag. Nearly a century later, his granddaughter is living in Japan and training to run a marathon herself. She summons Korean shamans to hold an intense, transcendent ritual to connect with Lee Woo-cheol. When his ghost appears, alongside those of his brother Lee Woo-Gun, and their young neighbor, who was forced to become a comfort woman to Japanese soldiers stationed in China during World War II, she must uncover their stories to free their souls. What she discovers is at the heart of this sweeping, majestic novel about a family that endured death, love, betrayal, war, political upheaval, and ghosts, both vengeful and wistful. A poetic masterpiece that is a feat of historical fiction, epic family saga, and mind-bending story-telling acrobatics, The End of August is a marathon of literature. source: https://lti.overdrive.com/media/9383794?cid=37224

FRANCE / Lee Kiho / 이기호 / 2023 / literature  >  Korean Literature  >  Korean Fiction  >  21st century

Quand un centre social devient un centre d'excuses, c'est la terre qui tourne à l'envers ! Deux pensionnaires sont régulièrement chargés de présenter des excuses pour les fautes qu'ils n'ont pas commises. Peu à peu, l'habitude aidant, ils présentent leurs excuses pour les fautes commises par les autres résidents. Lorsque les pouvoirs publics vont fermer ce centre insolite, les deux compères sans travail vont ouvrir une agence spécialisée dans la fabrication d'excuses. Mais c'est compter sans la vengeance des anciens éducateurs... Avec La fabrique d'excuses, LEE Ki-ho tourne en dérision la société coréenne moderne au travers de personnages souvent pathétiques ou marginaux. À PROPOS DE L'AUTEUR LEE Ki-ho, né en 1972, possède un doctorat en littérature. Il est actuellement professeur à l'université de Gwangju. Il a fait son entrée sur la scène littéraire en 1999 et a remporté de nombreux prix littéraires, le dernier en date étant le prix Hwang Sun-won, obtenu en 2017. C'est un écrivain connu pour son inventivité narrative. source: https://lti.overdrive.com/media/10300108

UNITED STATES / Minsoo Kang / Minsoo Kan / 2023 / History  >  Asia  >  Korea  >  Choson dynasty

One of the most important and popular premodern Korean novels, The Story of Hong Gildong is a fast-paced adventure story about the illegitimate son of a nobleman who becomes the leader of a band of honest outlaws who take from the rich and punish the corrupt. Despite the importance of the work to Korean culture—it is often described as the story of the Korean Robin Hood—studies of the novel have been hindered by a number of myths, namely that it was authored in the early sixteenth century by statesman Heo Gyun, who wrote it not only in protest of Joseon-dynasty laws on the rights of illegitimate children, but also as a manifesto of his own radical political ideas. In Invincible and Righteous Outlaw, the first book-length study of the novel in English, Minsoo Kang reveals that The Story of Hong Gildong was most likely written by an anonymous mid-nineteenth-century writer whose primary concern was appealing to the increasing number of readers in the late Joseon looking to be entertained and that the myth of Heo's authorship can be traced to the writing of literary scholar Kim Taejun in the 1930s. Following a detailed examination of the history and literary significance of the novel—including analysis based on Eric Hobsbawm's work on the universal figure of the noble robber—Kang surveys the many afterlives of the hero Hong Gildong, who throughout the decades has appeared and reappeared in countless revisionist novels, films, television dramas, and comics, even inspiring the creation of a Hong Gildong theme park in South Korea. He shows how the story was altered, distorted, and reinvigorated during and after the Japanese colonial period in both the North and the South for political, social, and literary purposes. While demonstrating the continued relevance of the novel and its hero in Korean culture up to the present day, Kang makes it clear that such narratives have served mostly to distance readers from a better understanding of this classic work. source: https://lti.overdrive.com/media/4005321?cid=37224

UNITED KINGDOM / Hwang Yeo Jung / 황여정 / 2023 / literature  >  Korean Literature  >  Korean Fiction  >  21st century

A group of dramatists that commit what was a subversive act during the South Korean military dictatorships of the twentieth century – distributing copies of Karl Marx's only surviving play, The Specters of Algeria. The consequences of the brutal crackdown by the authorities would set the directions of the lives of two children of the group's members, Yul and Jing. Despite the deep connection between them, Yul would open up an alteration shop in Seoul and Jing would move to Europe. But now, Cheolsu, a dissatisfied employee at a community theatre, is unearthing the truth about The Specters of Algeria and questioning whether the human situation is as absurd as the play asserts. source: https://lti.overdrive.com/media/10266844?cid=37224

UNITED KINGDOM / Bae Myung-hoon / 배명훈 / 2022 / literature  >  Korean Literature  >  Korean Fiction  >  21st century  >  SF  >  Fantasy

Earth is experiencing a sweltering heatwave caused by a second "sun" – a shining object in the sky that either looks like Pac-Man or a pizza missing a slice, depending on who you ask. As this object increases in size and risks making Earth uninhabitable, the Korean government decides it has to do its part and help the US-led Allied Space Force. Launch Something! is a sci-fi novel about a Korean Space Force that contains his quirky brand of political satire. source: https://lti.overdrive.com/media/10265866?cid=37224