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Hwang Sun-won, perhaps the most beloved and respected Korean writer
of the 20th century, based this extraordinary novel on his own
experiences in his North Korean home village between the end of
World War II and the eve of the Korean War when Korea had been
divided into North and South by its two "liberators" - the United
States and the Soviet Union. In this story the Soviet-backed
communist party, using the promise of land reform, sets people at
each other's throat. Portrayed here is an entire community caught
in the political and social firestorm that brings out the
selfishness, cruelty and ignorance of simple people, but also shows
their loyalty and nobility. Compelling here, too, is a heroine who
represents the "eternally feminine" for all Korean men, and the
setting, the harsh political, psychic and physical landscape of
rural postwar North Korea rarely glimpsed by the outside world.
Hwang Sun-won is an artist of consummate delicacy and subtlety, and
his writing is marked by keen psychological insight and steely
asceticism. While three collections of his short stories have
appeared in Hong Kong and the West, "The Descendants of Cain" is
the first English translation of a Hwang Sun-won novel.
This anthology of short stories by some of modern Korea's
best-known writers reflects a rich variety of style and content,
but they all manifest a shared core experience of Korea's
trajectory from an inward-looking feudal Confucian state to
Japanese colony culminating in the Pacific War, to battleground for
the Korean War which inflicted horrific civilian casualties and a
scarred landscape while leaving in its wake a still festering
legacy of fraternal hostility, to a modernizing society that is
struggling with economic success and democratization. While the
intensity of these experiences and the relatively short period of
time over which they occurred permeate these stories, one is most
struck by the resiliency and vitality of their strong characters.
Suh Ji-moon, a leading authority on contemporary Korean literature,
has, with thoughtful selections, fluid translations, and helpful
annotations, given the English reader the rare opportunity to
experience the world of twentieth-century Korea. Three stories have
been added to the original edition and are presented here for the
first time in English translation.
This anthology of short stories reflects the writers' shared core
experience of Korea's trajectory from an inward-looking feudal
state, through Japanese colony and battle-ground for the Korean
War, to a modernizing society. Three stories have been added to the
original edition.
Hwang Sun-won, perhaps the most beloved and respected Korean writer
of the 20th century, based this extraordinary novel on his own
experiences in his North Korean home village between the end of
World War II and the eve of the Korean War when Korea had been
divided into North and South by its two "liberators" - the United
States and the Soviet Union. In this story the Soviet-backed
communist party, using the promise of land reform, sets people at
each other's throat. Portrayed here is an entire community caught
in the political and social firestorm that brings out the
selfishness, cruelty and ignorance of simple people, but also shows
their loyalty and nobility. Compelling here, too, is a heroine who
represents the "eternally feminine" for all Korean men, and the
setting, the harsh political, psychic and physical landscape of
rural postwar North Korea rarely glimpsed by the outside world.
Hwang Sun-won is an artist of consummate delicacy and subtlety, and
his writing is marked by keen psychological insight and steely
asceticism. While three collections of his short stories have
appeared in Hong Kong and the West, "The Descendants of Cain" is
the first English translation of a Hwang Sun-won novel.
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