The Place Where the Harmonium Was 풍금이 있던 자리

Modern Korean Literature #12

by Kyung-Sook Shin, 신경숙, Agnita Tennant (Translator)

Bi-lingual Edition Modern Korean Literature. "The Place Where the Harmonium Was" by Shin Kyung-sook. ASIA Publishers present some of the very best modern Korean literature to readers worldwide through its new Korean literature series . We are proud and happy to offer it in the most authoritative translation by renowned translators of Korea literature. We hope that this series helps to build solid bridges between citizens of the world and Koreans through rich in-depth understanding of Korea.

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Associated Names:
* Shin Kyung-sook
* 신경숙
* 申京淑

Kyung-Sook Shin is a South Korean writer. She is the first South Korean and first woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2012 for 'Please Look After Mom'.

Reviews

[Barry Welsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Watch my review on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JTR1...

Watch my review in Korean on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/live/1wtN6R9M...

Read my review on Substack here - https://open.substack.com/pub/barrywe...

[V · Rating 5 out of 5]

(The title of this book is misspelled! It is Harmonium, not Harminum!)

if you have read Kyung-sook Shin's most famous work, Please Look After Mom (엄마를 부탁해), then the themes of this short story will be very familiar.

It is a semi - epistolary story with the narrator writing a letter of explanation to her married lover about why she cannot keep their promise to run away together. She reflects back on the women in her own life who have been left or caused the leaving as she makes her decision.

I found this story very well written and completely matching the mindset of a mistress in turmoil about her her own decisions. I very much enjoyed it!

Merged review:

if you have read Kyung-sook Shin's most famous work, Please Look After Mom (엄마를 부탁해), then the themes of this short story will be very familiar.

It is a semi - epistolary story with the narrator writing a letter of explaination to her married lover about why she cannot keep their promise to run away together. She reflects back on the women in her own life who have been left or caused the leaving as she makes her descision.

I found this story very well written and completely matching the mindset of a mistress in turmoil the ver her own descisions. I very much enjoyed it.

[Jemma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as part of my literature class and really enjoyed it. When we further examined the story in class I loved it even more. It encompassed many elements such as the modernisation and industrialisation in cities, the roles women are sometimes forced to play and an insight into what it was like for someone born in 1960s Korea growing up in this climate, especially as a woman.

[Raluca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous book, so saddening.

[Kai Hirata · Rating 5 out of 5]

may this type of love never find me

[tb-or-not-tb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Group #3 - "Women" also includes
- Poor Man's Wife - Eun Hee-kyung

After her stellar entry into the world of translated fiction with Please Look After Mom, I've only felt a slow descent into disappointment for this author. Her other books have bordered on autobiographical too, but didn't have a particular point to make. A shame, because she clearly worked hard on developing her skills (as did her family, if an old 2010 interview is anything to go by.)

This is an epistolary piece, one that describes life in the countryside and a "sinful" romance. We don't originally see the full breadth of why the romance is sinful, it is revealed suddenly and quickly, easy to miss in the blink of an eye. The mc then goes on to tell us about the mistress who had replaced her mother in their household, and how her cooking was the first and most significant marker of this dynamic shift.

We also learn that the mc's lover is moving overseas and any plans she'd made to go with him are thwarted by her own changing feelings. She realises she has become someone she always wanted to be, followed by the strang awareness that what she always aspired to is not exactly commendable in any society: rural or urban, ancient or modern. Perhaps this is the core of the commentary in this story, that certain women are always relegated with the bulk of the shame in a relationship while their partners remain unmoved. Though I will say, the stark absence of a male POV renders my conclusion incomplete.

I wasn't let down by the story, but I won't say it's a favourite either. It's just alright.

P.S.: there is no harmonium in this story, unless the author is trying to draw an analogy with "a place that is perpetually ignored, lest grandma ask you to bring out the harmonium and sing a song for gathered guests."