tag Adult

My Exploration of Cultural Heritage, Vol. 9, 10 : Seoul, Vol. 1,2

A unique series representative of humanities books in South Korea With eight volumes on the two Koreas and four on Japan published over 25 years, the “My Exploration of Cultural Heritage” series has finally entered the nation’s capital, presenting volumes 1 and 2 on Seoul. While gazing at the cultural heritage and history of this megacity, where the past, present, and future coexist, with sensitive and keen insights, Yu Hong-june recounts related anecdotes in his typically relaxed style. Because the author skillfully weaves together and presents in easily accessible language vast information encompassing history, arts, and culture, readers can learn about the history of Seoul at a glance. Vivid are his flowing sentences, thus summoning before readers’ eyes cultural heritage and the tales and figures linked to it. Noteworthy is the deft balance that Yu strikes between entertainment and information, avoiding both academicism and levity. Although earlier volumes in the “My Exploration of Cultural Heritage” series already are lofty works on culture and the finest examples of travel literature, the volumes on Seoul shine with the author’s accumulated expertise, thus reaching even greater heights. As a megacity that changes each day, Seoul today holds a contradiction where the highest and the lowest coexist. Stressing that cultural heritage is something that can unite such a complex city, he tells stories of the capital with pride and affection. Thanks to his experience and singular perspective, the author adroitly combines vast information and unknown anecdotes, thus helping readers to see cultural heritage in a multifaceted manner. Consequently, he goes beyond hackneyed surveys of architectural structures, guiding readers to more in-depth accounts including the history of such spaces and the people who inhabited them. Nor does his exploration of Seoul aim at covering every nook and cranny of the city. In order to allow readers to understand and to enjoy the capital as a space of everyday life, he addresses both well-known and more obscure areas. To be published soon, the third volume on Seoul will address old neighborhoods such as Insa-dong, Bukchon (“North Town”), Seochon (“West Town”), and Seongbuk-dong. The fourth volume will deal with the Han River and Bukhansan (Mt. Bukhan). On the day that installments on Seoul in My Exploration of Cultural Heritage are completed, people will finally come to know the true colors of Seoul, an unprecedented capital worldwide. Seoul, Vol. 1: Table of Contents Part 1: Jongmyo (Royal Ancestral Shrine) Part 2: Changdeokgung (Changdeok Palace) Part 3: Back Garden of Changdeokgung Part 4: Changgyeonggung (Changgyeong Palace) Seoul, Vol. 2: Table of Contents Part 1: The Fortress Wall of Hanyang (Old Seoul) Part 2: Outside Jahamun (Jaha Gate) Part 3: Deoksugung (Deoksu Palace) and Its Surroundings Part 4: Donggwanwangmyo (East Shrine to Guan Yu) Part 5: Seonggyun’gwan (National Confucian Academy)

Changbi Books, Changbi Books_Adults, Changbi Books_Adults > History, Changbi Books_Adults > Social science
The Adventures of Peter, Alice, and Pooh

The profound stories held by masterpieces for children from the authors’ lives to landscapes of the eras In the library of an antiquarian book collector, readers will meet the first editions of masterpieces of juvenile literature that have become classics including Peter Pan, Little Women, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Treasure Island. Flipping each page in the first editions of works obtained flea markets and antiquarian bookshops in the United States and Europe, Kwak Hanyoung shows and tells readers the original forms in which famous stories were published. meticulously examining not only these volumes’ covers but also the endpapers, title pages, now nearly non-existent dust jackets, and illustrations in the body text, the author carefully unveils the charms of old books. Preserving in their entirety abridged or omitted tales and illustrations, first edition both recall memories of childhood and handsomely fill gaps in those bygone years. At one time, there was a deluge of masterpieces for youngsters that have shaped people’s inner landscapes of and sentiments about juvenile literature ever since. With an increasing interest in children in the United Kingdom both before and after the Victorian era, stories for young readers began to be actively created as well. Peter Pan flying across the sky, the richly imaginative Anne Shirley, the four “little women” or sisters undaunted by poverty, and mischievous Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn… Created in that age, all of these tales have been transmitted to us and become nostalgic reminders of childhood. After a chance encounter with the first edition of Daddy-Long-Legs at a used bookstore in Canada, Kwak began to collect first editions of other Western stories published in the same period. Ever since he stepped into that world, he has amassed old copies of diverse Western classics for children, sometimes accidentally and sometimes through quick wit. Out of them, he has chosen ten works most well-known to South Koreans and recounts anecdotes surrounding them. Obtained at secondhand bookstores and flea markets across Canada, United States, and Europe, these first editions retain the original forms of old favorites, thus recalling memories of childhood engraved in readers’ minds like watercolor paintings. As such, this volume broadly addresses not only the authors’ lives and thought but also the bindings of the first editions, illustrations included in these volumes, contemporary publishing environments, readers’ responses, and posthumous evaluations. After reading the profound stories behind classics in juvenile literature, which hitherto have been taken as tales fixed in form and contents, readers will come to harbor even deeper love for these timeless works. Table of Contents Prologue 1. Girls, Maidens, and Little Women: Little Women 2. An Incidental Masterpiece of Nonsense Literature: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 3. Mark Twain’s Joke or Nostalgia: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 4. Eternal Children Stranded on Neverland: Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens 5. Legends of Pirates, Boys’ Dreams: Treasure Island 6. It’s a Truly Sunshiny Day! Anne of Green Gables 7. When the Fantasy of School Is Shattered: The Flying Classroom 8. The Ugly Duckling, Hans Christian Andersen’s Self-portrait: Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy Tales 9. A Slow Yet Thoughtful Little Poet: “Winnie-the-Pooh” series 10. Soaring into Sensuous Modernity: The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

Changbi Books, Changbi Books_Adults, Changbi Books_Adults > Humanities
Studying My Body

Minimal common sense about my body carefully chosen by a teacher of doctors amidst the flood of false health information today Amidst the fad-like spread nowadays in South Korea of expressions such as “era of ailing longevity” and “sickly hundred years,” which become even more chilling as they are pondered on, a welcome book has been published: Studying My Body penned by Professor Eom Yung-eui at Seoul National University. Having taught prospective physicians at Seoul National University for the past 40 years, the author states that even good medicine and treatment methods are useless without an understanding of the body. In other words, heeding the latest health tips or information on new drugs without even knowing the structure and operation of our bodies is like trying to solve higher-degree equations without even knowing addition and subtraction. This is why contemporaries, who are too busy even to grasp all of the health information that daily bombards them, need to study their own bodies. Unlike most books on the human body, which are in an encyclopedic format, Studying My Body is in an anecdote-centered essay format, which makes it easy to understand and enjoyable to all readers. Honed at the lectern over a long period, the author’s expertise shines in the skill with which he fluently spins his tale, delectably mixing solid medical knowledge with the history, literatures, and arts of the East and the West. The most delightful and intellectual way to prepare for an era of centenarians Having pondered on disease and health for decades, the author criticizes the current climate, which abounds with false health information, and presents solutions to it. Because medical research and health management alike stem from an understanding of the body, he argues that it is necessary first to focus on the body instead of memorizing the names of health foods and pursuing state-of-the-art medical technology. In fact, though numerous people visit hospitals, are diagnosed, and receive treatments, not many of them know which functions of the body develop problems and how they are treated. Is it possible to manage our health proactively without knowing anything about our bodies? Stating, “As someone who has taught doctors for a long time, I at least want to make what doctors say comprehensible,” the author describes in detail topics such as the structure and functions of the human body, interactions among organs, and principles and processes of the generation of diseases. Thanks to such efforts, readers will be able to learn about the principles of the operation of our bodies and the mechanisms of diseases and to build the foundation of medical common sense necessary for healthy lives simply by reading this book. Chapter 1. The Immune System: A Soldier and a Cleaner Chapter 2. The Frameworks of Our Bodies: The Skin, Skeleton, and Muscles Chapter 3. Conveying Warm Feelings: The Heart Chapter 4. Respiration: Breathing and Living Chapter 5. The Sensory System: What’s Happening outside Our Bodies?

Changbi Books, Changbi Books_Adults, Changbi Books_Adults > Science & Nature
An Age of Politics Series

Ever since citizens, the bearers of national sovereignty, began to carry candles in vigils in 2016, the word “politics” itself has become the mantra of the era in South Korea. Full-fledged guides to politics in which the nation’s intellectuals respond to the people’s fiercely blazing desire for democracy in everyday life, works in the An Age of Politics series (4 vols.) earnestly reflect on the optimal contents of democracy, which has been established in form. In these collections of “An Age of Politics: Consecutive Special Lectures for a Civic Revolution in 2017” presented at Changbi School during the first half of 2017, when candlelight vigils swept across the country and summoned the people to open squares, Eun Su-mi, Chin Jung-kwon, Choi Kang-wook, and Han Hong-koo, authors who have been with citizens at the forefront of field politics, offer meaningful suggestions about the future of South Korean society that must be created through politics. Arguing in unison that politics and democracy must now seep into South Koreans’ daily lives, authors participating in An Age of Politics present specific methods. Having changed from an outstanding theorist to a popular politician, Eun Sumi discusses methods for restoring everyday politics. A trenchant political commentator, Chin Jung-kwon talks about ways of creating a world where the haves and the have-nots alike enjoy equality. A vigilant jurist, Choi Kang-wook speaks of the concrete need for judicial reforms. Han Hong-koo discusses the roots of the candlelight vigils and ways of eradicating deep-rooted evils. Eun Su-mi, Part-timers of the World, Engage in Politics Chin Jung-kwon, What Is Good Politics? Choe Kang-wook, Can Law Judge Politics? Han Hong-koo, Open Squares Shout out Democracy

Changbi Books, Changbi Books_Adults, Changbi Books_Adults > History, Changbi Books_Adults > Social science
The Taste of the First Time

A collection of stories in which diverse beginners including job seekers, newly employed, repeaters at various examinations, new independent businesspeople, and rookies at love are comforted, convey their feelings, overcome failures, and open their hearts through food, this volume warmly consoles youths who barely find their places in a confining society. As such, it is a bittersweet comic book of young novices in public life who meet and move forward through food. Stories of people who take their first steps in public life: Job seekers, newly employed, and rookies at love While meals eaten every day are all too easy to become simply means of staving off hunger, certain foods stay in the memory forever. Skewered fish balls eaten in the street with a lover on a cold winter day, ice cream eaten at an amusement park on South Korean Children’s Day—the feelings of those moments are remembered wholly by the tongue. The taste of the first time experienced by characters in their 20s-30s in this comic book is sweet at times, bitter at times. Memory of plum syrup drinks made by Mom, who now lives apart due to divorce; dried persimmons delivered from hometown while assiduously preparing for employment; vending machine coffee drunk while working at a driving school; fiery chicken feet eaten to shake off the memory of a degrading matchmaking session; café mocha drunk while working at a coffeehouse after giving up on becoming an actor; cooked rice sold in a paper cup eaten alone in the street of Noryangjin, a neighborhood in Seoul famous for cram schools for various test preparers, in order to save time for studying… The protagonists of the episodes each show the concerns of South Korean youths today as if unfolding a screen. Family, employment, dating, friendship, and career… Although the personages come from a wide spectrum, their tales will be relatable to anyone who has striven to enter public life. Su-yeon, a job seeker, finds herself shabby among friends who have already succeeded in finding their places in society; after failing even the driving test four times, Su-ji criticizes herself, “What’s easy for other people is so hard for me”; and Min-hui chooses to find employment after struggling to become an actor and facing the barrier of reality… Shining like gems, episodes with lifelike characters and circumstances will warm readers’ hearts.

Changbi Books, Changbi Books_Adults, Changbi Books_Adults > Graphic novel
The History of Everyday Culture In Modern Korea Series

Covering the period from the 1950s to the 1980s in units of decades in four volumes, the History of Everyday Culture in Modern Korea series recounts the stories of the ancestors and living family members of South Koreans today, who have hardily survived despite political cataclysms and global confusion. It vividly recounts the history of those who lived during the era at least from the 1950s to the 1980s. Modern Korean history hitherto has been recounted with a focus only on the political maelstrom. Duly taking note of all factors in politics, economy, society, and culture that affected the lives of contemporaries including political history, the History of Everyday Culture in Modern Korea endeavors to capture the patterns and changes in people’s lives within. Participating in the project, 32 writers from diverse fields including those in everyday culture such as cinema, music, sports, and food culture as well as mainstream fields in historiography such as agriculture, war, economy, North Korea, and minjung (plebeian) movements sought to present to readers a South Korean history from a new perspective that transcended a diachronic history centering on political history. By shedding light in a multifaceted manner on the sphere of daily culture as a space in which history is created, humans’ actions that colorfully unfold in this space, and the emergence and change of new subjects that arise in such a process, the series richly reconstructs contemporary Korean history. A new lens for viewing South Korean history South Korean history is unparalleled worldwide in the political cataclysms that the nation underwent from the 1950s to the 1980s including the Korean War (1950-53), April 19 Revolution (1960), May 16 Military Coup (1961), repression under the Yusin (“Revitalizing Reforms”) system (1972-79), and democratization movements. However, when one dwells only on the political perspective, it is all too easy to obliterate and to forget the lives of people who lived through South Korean history. Accordingly, the History of Everyday Culture in Modern Korea vividly describes the everyday culture of both individuals and groups unfolding in colorful ways amidst the grand flow of history. The recovered history of the other half The History of Everyday Culture in Modern Korea allots considerable space also to important changes in everyday culture not only of South Korea but also of North Korea, in 2-3 chapters, thus allowing readers to examine the two Koreas simultaneously. As such, in addition to reconstructing the story of the other half of Korea lost since the national division (1945), this series provides readers with a glimpse of the hitherto inaccessible daily culture of North Korea. It presents the history of everyday life in North Korea through fascinating topics including the lives of North Korean war orphans who studied in the former East Germany in the 1950s, lives of Korean residents in Japan who moved to North Korea during the 1960s-70s, influence of the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble in North Korea, and changes in North Korean women’s lives. The situation in East Asia at a glance These volumes simultaneously show Japan from its pursuit of postwar economic revival to its decline since the collapse of the asset price bubble and China from its pursuit of economic self-reliance to its first steps in economic modernization. Having ascertained changes in daily life in North and South Koreas, readers will be able easily to confirm through these works that the circumstances in China and Japan from the 1950s to the 1980s already had a significant effect on the Korean Peninsula at the time. In addition, they will be provided with keys for understanding Japan and China today, which are endeavoring to become economic and military powers.

Changbi Books > Adults, Changbi Books, Changbi Books > Adults > Non-fiction
Glaciers Move

Moving the immense glacier of the Cold War on the Korean Peninsula with the power of diplomacy A meticulous field report of diplomacy penned by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Song Min-soon, a main actor of the September 19 Jo int Statement This book is a diplomatic memoir by former South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Song Min-soon, who, working in the arena of international politics for over 30 years, led the realization of the September 19 Joint Statement of 2005. For a long time, the internal and external reality of South Korea has been one where attempts to overcome the history of national division are constantly foundering on the rock of the North Korean nuclear program, beneath which lies the Cold War on the Korean Peninsula, as frozen as a glacier. With a focus on the process of agreeing on and implementing the September 19 Joint Statement, which has been called the set of rules for resolving the North Korean nuclear program and the question of the Korean Peninsula, the author presents in this book a vision of how South Korean diplomacy may serve as a lever moving the future of Northeast Asia including the peninsula. With major occasions such as the Panmunjom axe murder incident of 1976, Joint Statement on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula of 1992, Geneva Agreed Framework of 1994, the fourth six-party talks of 2005, and October 4 Inter-Korean Summit Declaration of 2007 as the stepping stones, the author’s memory and records widely encompass the main diplomatic points of contention such as light water reactors (LWRs), sanctions against Banco Delta Asia (BDA), retrieval of wartime operational control, deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile, and negotiations on the import of US beef. However, his gaze relentlessly pursues a single goal: the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the construction of a peace system. In particular, the September 19 Joint Declaration, a fruit of the fourth six-party talks, was an agreement in which the two Koreas, United States, China, Japan, and Russia put their heads together and declared to the world the phased denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In the author’s view, in order to resolve the question of the Korean Peninsula, the two Koreas must become the leaders and induce the participation of the surrounding countries. The confidence that “We are writing our history, which used to be written by others, with our own hands,” above all, is an accomplishment of the September 19 Joint Statement presented to the history of South Korean diplomacy. On the other hand, as the memoir of an individual who was a diplomat and a public servant, this book also holds shining moments of professionalism that is clearly aware of what one must do and in which direction one must proceed. Anecdotes involving Roh Moo-hyun, Ban Ki-moon, George W. Bush, and Condoleezza Rice and sketches of foreign relations experts encountered during negotiations and informal occasions alike add to the vividness of historical moments. As such, the volume can be seen as an unprecedented textbook of diplomacy surrounding the Korean Peninsula.

Changbi Books > Adults, Changbi Books, Changbi Books_Adults, Changbi Books > Adults > Non-fiction, Changbi Books_Adults > Non-Fiction
Travels to Latin America, A Treasure House of Civilization

The Silk Road was completed by going around the globe To pen these volumes, Cheong Su-il embarked on a 62-day-long journey freely exploring major ports and cities from Ushuaia, the southernmost tip of Latin America, to Mexico and Cuba at the northern end and returned via Hawai’i in the United States (first exploration). Subsequently, he visited main cities and countries in the Caribbean and Central America (San Salvador, La Isabela, Santo Domingo, and Nassau) to explore the sites of Christopher Columbus’ trans-Atlantic voyages for twenty days. (second exploration). Through an odyssey to the western hemisphere for a total of 80 days, the author sought concretely to elucidate patterns in intercivilizational exchange through the “Maritime Silk Road.” Commonly, the expression the “Silk Road” recalls the land and steppe routes across Europe and Asia. However, the Silk Road, the channel of exchange among civilizations, was not limited to the so-called “Old World” and, from the early 16th century, stretched all the way to the so-called “New World,” or the Americas, through sea routes. Through his explorations of Latin America, Cheong arrives at the conclusion that the Maritime Silk Road served as a “transglobal transportation route” linking the eastern and western hemispheres, and the northern and southern hemispheres of Earth. As such, these volumes constitute a challenge against the existing consensus of the academia, which has limited the scope of the Silk Road to Europe and Asia, or the “Old World.” On these trips, the author recreated the journeys of figures who had pioneered Atlantic routes such as Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, and Henry the Navigator (Infante Henrique of Portugal) in order concretely to demonstrate the concept of the “Maritime Silk Road” and collected traces of exchange as revealed by remains and artifacts. In addition, he confirmed with his own eyes the mysterious and unfathomable artifacts of Latin America including the Mo’ai on Easter Island and the Nazca Lines and the reality of the miraculous civilizations left by the Mayans and the Incans and shed light on the lives of independence movement heroes including Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Simón Bolívar, personally retracing their steps. Cheong traveled to 51 areas in 20 countries and visited no fewer than 284 remains and museums. Accounts of the exchange of ideas and goods and insights into history and humanity that only an expert of civilizational exchange can convey combine with the 556 vivid photographs taken in each location that he visited, thus transporting readers to the sites of the Age of Exploration.

Changbi Books > Adults, Changbi Books > Adults > Non-fiction
Selections from the Four Confucian Books

South Koreans’ interest in the four oldest classical Confucian books of East Asia—i. e., the Analects (Lunyu), Mencius (Mengzi), Great Learning (Daxue), and Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong)—is strong as never before. It stems in part from the fact that China, in its rise as a great power, has vocally presented these volumes as the roots of its cultural identity. Such an interest originates also from the fact that, since antiquity, people have steadily looked to these four works as guidelines for daily life. Accordingly, Changbi has published Selections from the Four Confucian Books, which abridges the four works in a single volume so that contemporary readers may read and ponder on these classics close at hand. Professor Choi Seok-ki, who has studied Confucian classics and published modern Korean translations and commentaries on them for a long time, has selected in this tome choice passages that merit rumination in diverse stages of life today, thus presenting new guideposts for our lives. If you seek to read minds, read the Analects For a long time, the Analects of Confucius (551-479 BC) has been evaluated as a work establishing the foundation of humanity. Contemporary readers likewise have concurred with the aims and meanings of the book, exhibiting a steadfast love for it. This is because the Analects sees “benevolence” (ren) as the most important virtue to be practiced in living as a human. A later and renowned Confucian philosopher, Zhu Xi (1130-1200 AD) explained “benevolence” in easily comprehensible language, as “a virtue of the mind and a principle of love,” and elucidated in detail the ways in which the human mind moved. Choi stresses that it is important to read the Analects closely and carefully, thus coming to understand and to practice its principles. Mencius speaks of the conduct of life in a society of limitless competition Produced during the Warring States period (403-221 BC), when the survival of the fittest was an everyday occurrence, Mencius harbors elements that have won the hearts of people from its birth down to this day. However, though living in a dog-eat-dog age, Mencius (372-289 BC) presented his famous theories of virtuous kingship and the goodness of human nature. Together with the “benevolence” stressed by Confucius, he emphasized “righteousness” (yi). In other words, at the center of Mencius’ thought lies his placement of weight on both moral conscience and social justice. To achieve these goals, he urged people to cultivate “oceanic vital force” (haoranzhi qi). Readers in later eras assessed Mencius’ thought as teaching ways to preserve one’s mind and to cultivate one’s innate nature, thus reining in one’s wandering mind. The Great Learning presents the royal road to learning For everyone who has set his or her goal on learning in any way, the Great Learning is a must. This is because the book, above all, informs readers of the “scale and methods of learning.” At the beginning and end of all learning is a sense of reverence. In other words, a learner must be awed, wonder at the profound meaning, and adopt an attitude of self-watchfulness. What we must learn from the Great Learning is that learning does not consist solely of learning new things. If we learn the wisdom of the ancients, who experienced through their bodies what they had learned and, through this process, sought to become one with the truth, the gate to previously unknown ways of learning will open before us. The Doctrine of the Mean presents the overarching principle of one’s mental attitude For ages, the Doctrine of the Mean has been evaluated as one of the most abstruse books. At the same time, however, it is a work that led people of yore to the greatest number of repeated readings in order to grasp its meaning. Why, then, is the Doctrine of the Mean so difficult to understand? This is because the book addresses one’s mindset and presents a “way that is without shame when one looks up at heaven.” Zhu Xi thus explained: “Centrality [zhong] is a fair and impartial mindset that does not veer toward or depend on anything before the mind has arisen and is the restrained mind that neither exceeds nor falls short of the middle way after the mind has arisen. Commonness [yong] is always maintaining the mindset of such centrality at ordinary times.” It is difficult indeed to stand firmly by one’s convictions, even to the end.

Changbi Books > Adults, Changbi Books, Changbi Books > Adults > Non-fiction
The Wretched Light

In this collection of short stories, Baek Su-rin depicts with her unique sensitivity the misery of the world, which overlaps like background sounds under radiant light falling like heavy snow, through the fascinating contrast of “wretched light.” The solitary ethics of outsiders and the radiant beauty emanating from moments in the never-to-be-repeated prime of life that she juxtaposes in these tales are scenes made possible by the uniquely delicate shadow that she casts over searing wounds. The author states in a calm yet firm voice the fact that light can waver only in the darkness, that happiness likewise can be wholly ours only against the background of a certain kind of wretchedness. In “The Wretched Light,” two worlds coexist. A reporter for a film magazine, Jeong-ho meets Adele Monahan, a documentary film director who is visiting South Korea to participate in a movie festival, for an interview. During the interview, which has been arranged after much trouble, he hears of how she has come to suffer from tunnel phobia. As Adele hesitates and continues her speech with difficulty, Jeong-ho recalls his short-lived happiness and the unhappiness that suddenly turned its face toward him one day. Through his voice, the story recounts the changes in the relationship between him and his wife following the death of their 6-month-old fetus in the womb and the actions subsequently taken by Jeong-ho, who was unable to accept her pain. The decisive scene in this work will be the moment at which Adele’s phobia is transposed to Jeong-ho. Also pregnant with meaning is the one where these two characters can be seen overlapping each other through the medium of light. “Midday in Summer” begins with the narrator recalling in Paris Takahiro, a Japanese man ten years her senior whom she met over ten years before in the same city during her short stay as a 20-year-old. Like the scenes of their date in a cemetery, the image of death glimmered above the couple. Nevertheless, those days would have been like the midday of life for the protagonist. Though it thus depicts the prime of life, this tale also features, as if they were the backgrounds, historical events including the sarin gas attacks in Japan, September 11 attacks, and textile laborers’ deaths and the memorial rally. By placing such real-life scenes all over the characters’ paths, the author endlessly reminds readers that the pain suffered by these fictional personages is not unrelated to the wretchedness of the world. “First Love” recounts the one day in which the narrator works part-time at a department store to buy a new dress for her reunion with J, an upperclassman at the university for whom she had harbored unrequited love. The story proceeds by interspersing the protagonist’s work in the present with recounts of the past, in which she and J studied Russian literature at college. Although the narrator then briefly studied in Russia and went on to the graduate school after returning to South Korea, she lost contact with J and the university was on the verge of closing the department altogether due to restructuring. In addition, while working part-time at the department store, which is like the forefront of capitalism, she learns of how J ultimately came to be ruined. The author meticulously depicts in her unique way the ethics of solitary individuals who live like foreigners. Born in Germany, Lena in “The Northwestern Port” vividly remembers the first time that she visited her mother’s hometown during her childhood. As the girl forever awaited her mother, who had gone to visit someone, in a street corner in an unfamiliar port city, an elderly man suddenly started to kick a dog. Fearful and sorrowful, the young protagonist then pleaded with her mother that they return to Germany. To her, the latter said, “Have you ever thought about how it might have been for me in Germany?” (p. 238). Lena recounts the situation and scenery of that day in detail just as her mother remembers her own solitude in terms of the scenery of that unfamiliar port city.

Changbi Books > Adults, Changbi Books, Changbi Books > Adults > Fiction > Collection-short stories, Changbi Books > Adults > Fiction

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