OH JUNGHEE et al / 오정희 et al / 2018 / KDC구분 > literature > Korean Literature > Korean Fiction > 20th century > 1945-1999

These nine stories span half a century of contemporary writing in Korea (1970s–2010s), bringing together some of the most famous twentieth-century women writers with a new generation of young, bold voices. Their work explores a world not often seen in the West, taking us into the homes, families, lives and psyches of Korean women, men, and children. In the earliest of the stories, Pak Wan-so, considered the elder stateswoman of contemporary Korean fiction, opens the door into two "Identical Apartments" where sisters-in-law, bound as much by competition as love, struggle to live with their noisy, extended families. O Chong-hui, who has been compared to Joyce Carol Oates and Alice Munro, examines a day in the life of a woman after she is released from a mental institution, while younger writers, such as Kim Sagwa, Han Yujoo and Ch'on Un-yong explore violence, biracial childhood, and literary experimentation. These stories will sometimes disturb and sometimes delight, as they illuminate complex issues in Korean life and literature. Internationally acclaimed translators Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton have won several awards and fellowships for the numerous works of Korean literature they have translated into English. Featuring these authors and stories: Pak Wan-so: "Identical Apartments" Kim Chi-won: "Almaden" So Yong-un: "Dear Distant Love" O Chong-hui: "Wayfarer" Kong Son-ok: "The Flowering of Our Lives" Kim Ae-ran: "The Future of Silence" Han Yujoo: "I Am the Scribe—Or Am I" Kim Sagwa: "Today Is One of Those The-More-You-Move-the-Stranger-It-Gets Days, and It's Simply Amazing" Ch'on Un-yong: "Ali Skips Rope" Source : https://lti.overdrive.com/media/9D694B4B-10D6-4B71-B493-7F3513A5914E

Han Yujoo / 한유주 / 2017 / KDC구분 > literature > Korean Literature > Korean Fiction > 21st century

A chilling, wildly original novel from a major new voice from South Korea The Impossible Fairy Tale is the story of two unexceptional grade-school girls. Mia is "lucky"—she is spoiled by her mother and, as she explains, her two fathers. She gloats over her exotic imported color pencils and won't be denied a coveted sweater. Then there is the Child who, by contrast, is neither lucky nor unlucky. She makes so little impression that she seems not even to merit a name. At school, their fellow students, whether lucky or luckless or unlucky, seem consumed by an almost murderous rage. Adults are nearly invisible, and the society the children create on their own is marked by cruelty and soul-crushing hierarchies. Then, one day, the Child sneaks into the classroom after hours and adds ominous sentences to her classmates' notebooks. This sinister but initially inconsequential act unlocks a series of events that end in horrible violence. But that is not the end of this eerie, unpredictable novel. A teacher, who is also this book's author, wakes from an intense dream. When she arrives at her next class, she recognizes a student: the Child, who knows about the events of the novel's first half, which took place years earlier. Han Yujoo's The Impossible Fairy Tale is a fresh and terrifying exploration of the ethics of art making and of the stinging consequences of neglect. Source : https://lti.overdrive.com/media/3B0FC90A-BDFF-4358-B3E9-D9D0A543ACC8

Han Yujoo / 한유주 / 2020 / KDC구분 > literature > Korean Literature > Korean Fiction > 21st century

Mia et La môme se côtoient sans se connaître. Elles sont camarades de classe. Mia possède tout ce qu'un enfant peut désirer dans la vie, sauf l'essentiel. Quant à La môme, elle n'a pas cette chance. Autant dire que les deux écolières n'ont en apparence aucun point commun. Pourtant, ce soir-là, un jeu innocent et cruel débute. C'est ce que La môme attendait... Ce roman est un tour de force. En mettant en scène une gamine et son ombre, HAN Yujoo rappelle, à nous adultes, combien l'enfance nous poursuit, sous une forme ou une autre, toute notre vie. Cet impossible conte de fées, une fois ouvert, ne peut plus être lâché. Il convoque tous nos sens : la vue, l'ouïe, la parole, le toucher sont remis en cause dans leur efficacité à approcher la vraie vie. Et si la narratrice et l'auteure ne font qu'une, c'est pour mieux nous rappeler que notre vie est une éternelle enfance. À PROPOS DE L'AUTEURE HAN Yujoo est née en 1982, elle est l'une des plus prometteuses plumes de Corée du Sud. Un impossible conte de fées est son premier roman traduit en français. L'univers de l'auteure est marqué par une profonde recherche stylistique centrée sur l'expérience de la parole. Un effet esthétique qui confère à ses récits une beauté singulière. Source : https://lti.overdrive.com/media/99A04D9B-BF17-46B7-96E2-58E1574DDA2D

Lee Hyoseok et al / 이효석 et al / 2023 / -

This eclectic, moving and richly enjoyable collection is the essential introduction to Korean literature. Journeying through Korea's dramatic recent past, from the Japanese occupation and colonial era to the devastating war between north and south and the rapid, disorienting urbanization of later decades, The Penguin Book of Korean Short Stories captures a hundred years of vivid storytelling. Here are peddlers and donkeys travelling across moonlit fields; artists drinking and debating in the tea-houses of 1920s Seoul; soldiers fighting for survival; exiles from the war who can never go home again; and lonely men and women searching for connection in the dizzying modern city. The collection features stories by some of Korea's greatest writers, including Pak Wanso, O Chonghui and Cho Chongnae, as well as many brilliant contemporary voices, such as P'yon Hyeyong, Han Yujoo and Kim Aeran. Curated by Bruce Fulton, this is a volume that will surprise, unsettle and delight. source: https://lti.overdrive.com/media/9768586?cid=37224

Han Yujoo / 한유주 / 2017 / KDC구분 > literature > Korean Literature > Korean Fiction > 21st century

The Impossible Fairy Tale tells the story of the nameless 'Child', who struggles to make a mark on the world, and her classmate Mia, whose spoiled life is everything the Child's is not. At school, adults are nearly invisible, and the society the children create on their own is marked by cruelty, soul-crushing hierarchies and an underlying menace. Then, one day after hours, the Child sneaks into the classroom to add ominous sentences to her classmates' notebooks, unlocking a series of events with cataclysmically horrible consequences. But that is not the end of this eerie, unpredictable novel... Han Yujoo's The Impossible Fairy Tale is a fresh and terrifying exploration of the ethics of creativity, and of the stinging consequences of neglect. Source: https://lti.overdrive.com/media/11011082?cid=37224