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Wayfarer: New Fiction by Korean Women
English (translation)Original Korean
- GenresFictionShort Stories
220 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1997
3 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
About the author
Bruce Fulton
46 books15 followersBruce Fulton is an Associate Professor and Young-Bin Min Chair in Korean Literature and Literary Translation at the University of British Columbia. He has translated many major works of Korean literature over the past forty years.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 13, 2009
I really loved this anthology of Korean women writers - it is possibly one of my favorite collections to date. I felt like each story was very solid and I enjoyed each one of them.
I'll expound more at a later time.
I'll expound more at a later time.
Read
December 6, 2019Read:
1. Identical Apartments by Pak Wan So
I liked it
1. Identical Apartments by Pak Wan So
I liked it
October 7, 2022
I enjoyed reading this for the most part, although some stories were quite the downers. It gave me a fascinating look into a world--South Korea (with North looming nearby)--that I knew nothing about. I take issue with the title: this book was published in something like 1999 and it says the stories are "new fiction" but actually some of them were first published in the 70's and 80's.
December 24, 2023
Good, but depressing writing. I appreciate the concept of the work however, and the inspiration for it!
March 11, 2020
**originally, I wanted to give this 3.5 stars, but given its rarity, I don't have much to compare it with. So, 4 stars.
In recent years, many eyes have turned to Korea, both in fear and in awe. The nuclear tension has risen and fallen, fluctuating madly, involving not just the two Koreas and its neighboring nations but also others across the Pacific. Kpop, Kdrama, and Kbeauty have infiltrated the greater part of Asia under the banner “Hallyu.” In fact, Korean culture is also wildly popular in the Americas. Korea is currently one of the most buzzed-about countries in the world.
Modern Korean literature lags behind, however, not in importance but in accessibility, which is a loss. And this is even more true of Korean woman authors. Thus, Wayfarer is an attempt to address this vacuum: eight of modern Korea’s best storytellers -- all of whom happened to be women -- share about the pain of invisibility, loneliness, and betrayal, but also the strength of resilience, grit, and a rich interior life. “The quest of Korean women writers for acceptance both at home and abroad and to their anticipation of the day when they will no longer be distinguished by their gender but will be known simply as writers” (XIV). So, Wayfarer takes this important first step in achieving this quest.
Most of these short stories are delightful and can be read within 30-60 minutes. But these are translated works -- there will always be something lost. So, two or three short stories dragged on at times, but my hunch was the translation’s fault, not the authors’. Before reading any short stories, read the introduction: it states the overarching theme, lists short summaries, and whets one’s appetite. In particular, I loved “Dear Distant Love” by Seo Yeong-eun, “Identical Apartments” by Park Wan-so, and “The Flowering of Our Lives” by Kong Seon-ok.
cf. www.sooholee.com
In recent years, many eyes have turned to Korea, both in fear and in awe. The nuclear tension has risen and fallen, fluctuating madly, involving not just the two Koreas and its neighboring nations but also others across the Pacific. Kpop, Kdrama, and Kbeauty have infiltrated the greater part of Asia under the banner “Hallyu.” In fact, Korean culture is also wildly popular in the Americas. Korea is currently one of the most buzzed-about countries in the world.
Modern Korean literature lags behind, however, not in importance but in accessibility, which is a loss. And this is even more true of Korean woman authors. Thus, Wayfarer is an attempt to address this vacuum: eight of modern Korea’s best storytellers -- all of whom happened to be women -- share about the pain of invisibility, loneliness, and betrayal, but also the strength of resilience, grit, and a rich interior life. “The quest of Korean women writers for acceptance both at home and abroad and to their anticipation of the day when they will no longer be distinguished by their gender but will be known simply as writers” (XIV). So, Wayfarer takes this important first step in achieving this quest.
Most of these short stories are delightful and can be read within 30-60 minutes. But these are translated works -- there will always be something lost. So, two or three short stories dragged on at times, but my hunch was the translation’s fault, not the authors’. Before reading any short stories, read the introduction: it states the overarching theme, lists short summaries, and whets one’s appetite. In particular, I loved “Dear Distant Love” by Seo Yeong-eun, “Identical Apartments” by Park Wan-so, and “The Flowering of Our Lives” by Kong Seon-ok.
cf. www.sooholee.com
July 1, 2010
Beautiful and intriguing. A lot of itchy restless emotions and quiet/strange(but easy to relate to) female desperation. Does chronic dissatisfaction = mental disease or clarity? Reading this made me feel lonely and comforted at the same time.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews