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Spring Night
Bi-lingual Edition Modern Korean Literature 055
75 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 27, 2017
About the author
Kwon Yeo-Sun
7 books97 followersKwon Yeo-sun was born in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province of South Korea in 1965. Kwon enjoyed a brilliant literary debut in 1996 when her novel Niche of Green was awarded the Sangsang Literary Award. At the time, novels that reflected on the period of the democratization movement in South Korea, were prevalent.
Kwon's work is often unconventional in form and topic and for that reason she sometimes has a reputation for being difficult to read
Kwon's first work Niche of Green was one of the most outstanding coming-of-age novels to emerge from the South Korean publishing world of the 1990s. Eight years after the publication of Niche of Green, Kwon published a short story collection called Maiden’s Skirt. This collection, a book that Kwon professes felt like publishing a love letter to herself, is about defeated individuals who, though troubled by their tragic fates, come to a place of resigned acceptance. The characters in this collection generally consist of people who are handicapped by relationships that society does not accept, such as extramarital affairs and gay relationships. Unable to overcome this sense of handicap, the characters witness their love collapse. In Kwon's second short story collection The Days of Pink Ribbon, the characters are often people who have failed rather than succeeded. They are generally people with defects in their character or physique. In Kwon's work, characters do not fail because of exterior causes but because of their own shortcomings or due to bad fate.
Her novel, told through interconnected short stories, Lemon, was expanded from her 2016 short story "You Do Not Know". It was her first work translated into English, with Janet Hong as the translator and the translation released in 2021.
Kwon's work is often unconventional in form and topic and for that reason she sometimes has a reputation for being difficult to read
Kwon's first work Niche of Green was one of the most outstanding coming-of-age novels to emerge from the South Korean publishing world of the 1990s. Eight years after the publication of Niche of Green, Kwon published a short story collection called Maiden’s Skirt. This collection, a book that Kwon professes felt like publishing a love letter to herself, is about defeated individuals who, though troubled by their tragic fates, come to a place of resigned acceptance. The characters in this collection generally consist of people who are handicapped by relationships that society does not accept, such as extramarital affairs and gay relationships. Unable to overcome this sense of handicap, the characters witness their love collapse. In Kwon's second short story collection The Days of Pink Ribbon, the characters are often people who have failed rather than succeeded. They are generally people with defects in their character or physique. In Kwon's work, characters do not fail because of exterior causes but because of their own shortcomings or due to bad fate.
Her novel, told through interconnected short stories, Lemon, was expanded from her 2016 short story "You Do Not Know". It was her first work translated into English, with Janet Hong as the translator and the translation released in 2021.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 2, 2025
STUNNING, as per usual. I cried.
Nothing compares to Korean literature.
Absolutely wonderful, absolute perfection, no notes. Western books could never.
Nothing compares to Korean literature.
Absolutely wonderful, absolute perfection, no notes. Western books could never.
August 23, 2025
Watch my review on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMv3s...
KBS Korea 24 @KBSKorea24
"For #KoreaBookClub, @barrypwelsh reviews "Spring Night," a short story by Kwon Yeo-sun, who wrote the highly acclaimed novel "Lemon." Translated by Jeon Seung-hee, it tells the tragic love story of two patients at a care home and how they got there.#권여선 #봄밤 #KoreanLiterature”
#KBSWORLDRadio #KBS월드라디오 #Korea24 #코리아24 #책추천 #책스타그램 #북스타그램 #bookstagram #book #reading #KoreanLiterature
19:10-20:00 KST, Mon-Fri on KBS WORLD Radio.
Download the KBS Kong / KBS WORLD Radio Mobile apps or subscribe to the Korea 24 podcast for your daily updates!
http://world.kbs.co.kr/service/progra...
KBS Korea 24 @KBSKorea24
"For #KoreaBookClub, @barrypwelsh reviews "Spring Night," a short story by Kwon Yeo-sun, who wrote the highly acclaimed novel "Lemon." Translated by Jeon Seung-hee, it tells the tragic love story of two patients at a care home and how they got there.#권여선 #봄밤 #KoreanLiterature”
#KBSWORLDRadio #KBS월드라디오 #Korea24 #코리아24 #책추천 #책스타그램 #북스타그램 #bookstagram #book #reading #KoreanLiterature
19:10-20:00 KST, Mon-Fri on KBS WORLD Radio.
Download the KBS Kong / KBS WORLD Radio Mobile apps or subscribe to the Korea 24 podcast for your daily updates!
http://world.kbs.co.kr/service/progra...
April 10, 2026
Group#11 - "Family" also includes
- Hye-ja’s Snow-Flowers - Chun Seung-sei
- Ahbe's Family- Jeon Sang-guk
- Outside the Door - Lee Dong-Ha
- And Then the Festival- Lee Hye-kyung
While Lemon shows us some of the uglier sides of humanity, this story is a lot more sympathetic to its characters, who choose to be together despite their terrible circumstances.
This is probably the first book of the series I didn't read in english, all because of the translation quality. I understand a lot of korean words are only now familiar to foreign readers so the awkwardness of "big sister" and "big brother" could be revised in newer editions. But the dialogues are quite weird and mismatched too, almost like someone used the google translator on this thing.
The original is a lovely story, of course. Despite being full of clichés, it feels sincere. Like many other authors showcased in this series, social taboos of the time are brought into focus—that both Youngyeong and Suwhan's first marriage is to scheming opportunists, that their current state is a direct result of their exes' betrayal, that they love each other regardless of their financial and medical problems. I wouldn't call this a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, nor is it so heavily rooted in korean culture that readers all over the world couldn't relate. This is just the love story of two powerless people who have to see the other person slowly die.
Recommended for anyone who likes the romantic genre when it's not childish or superficial.
- Hye-ja’s Snow-Flowers - Chun Seung-sei
- Ahbe's Family- Jeon Sang-guk
- Outside the Door - Lee Dong-Ha
- And Then the Festival- Lee Hye-kyung
While Lemon shows us some of the uglier sides of humanity, this story is a lot more sympathetic to its characters, who choose to be together despite their terrible circumstances.
This is probably the first book of the series I didn't read in english, all because of the translation quality. I understand a lot of korean words are only now familiar to foreign readers so the awkwardness of "big sister" and "big brother" could be revised in newer editions. But the dialogues are quite weird and mismatched too, almost like someone used the google translator on this thing.
The original is a lovely story, of course. Despite being full of clichés, it feels sincere. Like many other authors showcased in this series, social taboos of the time are brought into focus—that both Youngyeong and Suwhan's first marriage is to scheming opportunists, that their current state is a direct result of their exes' betrayal, that they love each other regardless of their financial and medical problems. I wouldn't call this a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, nor is it so heavily rooted in korean culture that readers all over the world couldn't relate. This is just the love story of two powerless people who have to see the other person slowly die.
Recommended for anyone who likes the romantic genre when it's not childish or superficial.
February 5, 2026
A modern take on the Romeo and Juliet trope, only here the tragedy isn’t driven by feuding families but by age, illness, alcoholism, and deeply painful pasts. These forces clash and ultimately doom the lovers. Although both main characters are deeply flawed, the author still manages to evoke genuine sympathy for them. I read the story in both Korean and English, though I found the Korean version quite challenging for my language level.
***
"If we think of someone's strong points as the numerator and their shortcomings as the denominator, we can find the value of that person. No matter how great a person's strength is, if his shortcomings are greater than his strengths, then, their value is less than 1, and vice versa."
"분자에 그 사람의 좋은 점을 놓고 분모에 그 사람의 나쁜 점을 놓으면 그 사람의 값이 나오는 식이지. 아무리 장점이 많아도 단점이 다 많으면 그 값은 1보다 작고 그 역이면 1보다 크고."
***
"If we think of someone's strong points as the numerator and their shortcomings as the denominator, we can find the value of that person. No matter how great a person's strength is, if his shortcomings are greater than his strengths, then, their value is less than 1, and vice versa."
"분자에 그 사람의 좋은 점을 놓고 분모에 그 사람의 나쁜 점을 놓으면 그 사람의 값이 나오는 식이지. 아무리 장점이 많아도 단점이 다 많으면 그 값은 1보다 작고 그 역이면 1보다 크고."
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews