Short stories
유년의 뜰
Not translated into English
O Jung-hee · 1981
Synopsis
The collection brings together eight short stories, including the title story and the one set in the Chinese quarter, peopled by characters marked by the aftermath of the Korean War and often narrated by women caught between social norms and their own desires. In the title story, a little girl lives through the war with her father absent; her mother, a waitress, comes home late or drunk, her elder brother slides into violence, and the child watches what the adults leave unsaid.
Context
The collection, the second by its author, appeared in 1981 from Munhak-gwa Jiseong. It draws on memories of a childhood marked by hardship and by the wait for a father mobilised during the war, at the time when the family lived as refugees. The volume also contains a short story about the loneliness and desire of old people, which had won its author the Yi Sang Prize in 1979; the Munhwa Ilbo counts the title story among her representative works.
Who it is for
A collection of eight short stories, in dense prose and without marked action; the title story exists in French.
Prizes and reception
Translated into German as early as 2001 and into Japanese in 2024; the title story appeared in French in 2014.
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