Hong Gildong

by Hajin Seo

This book includes two short stories by South Korean writer Seo Hajin: "Hong Gildong" and "The Woodcutter and the Nymph." In "Hong Gildong," Seo draws from an early Korean tale to tell the story of a man wading through a midlife crisis. After seeing a psychiatrist, he seeks release from his present condition and wishes that a straw man would come to take his place. "The Woodcutter and the Nymph," based on a Korean folktale, tells the story of a Korean American woman vacationing in the Northern Mariana Islands. She remembers incidents from her troubled past and feels trapped and alienated from her childhood home.

78 pages, Paperback

First published February 20, 2007

Reviews

[belton :) · Rating 2 out of 5]

i dont feel like i'd be good enough to write a review of this book so i'll keep my review short lol. i'll explain why

i am fully aware myself that i do not enjoy short stories, yet i flew to korea and decided to pick up this book and one more short story. what was i thinking lol. and i mean i was right. this book did not change my mind. i still do not like short stories. i feel like i'm not fit to write a good and honest review of this book because i lowkey like skimmed most of it. well i skimmed the second story a lot more than i did the first. i actually did try reading the first story. both were just boring. i did like "hong gildong" more than the second story tho. so idk if i didn't like this because i dont like short stories or if these were actually not good LMAO. maybe i;ll give these stories another chance. that's a lie i probs wont lol. but anyways i didn't enjoy them but who knows maybe you might.

[BeckyisBookish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed these stories and love a good retelling or 'inspired by' and looked up the other stories so I could get more depth of understanding. I wasn't in love, but it was a good reading experience nonetheless.

3 straw men coming to replace you out of 5 times you never got to go home

[CJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Hong Gildong' is the title of one of two short stories collected in this slim volume, the other being 'The Woodcutter and the Nymph.'

Off the bat I must confess I wasn't able to pick much up from these two short stories. I love reading short stories, but I began to suspect while reading these that I was missing some larger context. As I understand it, 'Hong Gildong' and 'The Woodcutter and the Nymph' are both either inspired or adapted from existing folklore within Korea. As I'm only a neophyte with Korean culture I was a little lost. However, reading is never a total loss, as I now have a clue of where to read next. I've heard that Hong Gildong is to Korea what Jay Gatsby is to America. I have no clue what that could mean, but I'm excited to find out!

Both short stories swirled around the ideas of despair, ennui, and lack of control in one's life. Suicide was mentioned or darkly hinted a few times and I'm reminded of the stories 'Spinning Gears' by Akutagawa and 'No Longer Human' by Dazai, the Japanese authors. Before I put my foot in my mouth, I'll say no more about the Japanese and Korean cultures except that I'm eager to learn more and read on.

[Selena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, and especially liked the second story, The Woodcutter and the Nymph. Someone else said that it would be good to know Korean folklore to appreciate these more, and I can see that I must be missing out on something, but I liked Seo's language in the second story, particularly the description of the orgasm.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very spooky and insightful read. There are two stories in the collection which are loose allegories of ancient Korean folktales. One is Hong Gildong, and the other, The Woodcutter and the Nymph. It's helpful to have a sense of the folk stories to understand the connection with the short stories by this author, but it's not necessary.

Hajin Seo has a very eerie grasp of the inner thinking of people poised on the knife edge of a mental breakdown. One has the convincing impression that she has been there and done that.

Hong Gildong is about a middle-aged man in crisis -- more severe than the classic mid-life crisis, and Woodcutter and the Nymph is more or less about a post-partum breakdown of a young mother who is going through a long-term culture shock and the trauma of her first year of marriage combined with pregnancy.

It's a rather bleak collection but the reader likes the characters in spite of all their weaknesses and faults. Some of the images the author describes are unforgettable.