The short story is a genre that Korean writers have made their own, reflecting a long literary tradition in which the short story is the major form of fiction writing.
Collected in this volume are eight stories by leading contemporary writers of Korea which provide deeply moving insights into the human condition. Sadness and triumph are unifying themes in the work. Sadness because all the characters have endured unhappy experiences of one kind or another, and triumph because they are all people who transform their sufferings into blessings through their own warm humanity.
The source of this humanity, as we find in these stories, lies in two things which are characteristic of the Korean people - powerful family bonds that are intricately woven and enduring, and a deep nostalgia for the past.
Chapter 1 THE STAR, Yoo Jai-yong;
Chapter 2 MY FATHERS LAND, Im
Chol-woo;
Chapter 3 A THIN LINE, Yoo Keumho;
Chapter 4 THE GUEST, Choi Hak;
Chapter 5 SHE KNOWS, I KNOW AND GOD KNOWS BUT , Park Wan-suh;
Chapter 6 WHY
THE SILKWORM DOES NOT LEAVE ITS COCOON, Yoon Chongmo;
Chapter 7 THE POET OF
WONMI-DONG, Yang Guija;
Chapter 8 SNOWY ROAD, Yi Chong-jun;
Agnita Tennant, nee Hong, was born in Korea and educated at Chong-ju Girls' High School and Yonsei University. She married an Englishman, Roger Tennant, and has lived in Leicestershire since 1964. She started translating Korean stories in the 1970S, and published a collection in 1972. She worked as a librarian for Leicestershire Libraries and Information Service until retiring in 1993. In 1990 she received a Ph.D. from Loughborough University for her study of Thomas Hardy's influence on Korean literature.
