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“What a gift to have these stories translated, finally, into English!” —Ari Aster, director of Midsommar and Hereditary
The first story collection published in English by Lee Chang-dong, one of South Korea’s most celebrated and influential literary and cinematic figures
Much like Lee Chang-dong’s internationally renowned films (Burning, Secret Sunshine, and Poetry), these brilliant, unsettling tales, originally published in Korea in the 1980s and now translated into English for the first time, investigate themes of injustice, betrayal, and terror—on both an intimate and national scale. Lee writes deeply and hauntingly about conflicts between family, the powerful and the vulnerable, conformists and rebels.
In the title story, drawn from the author’s own memories of serving in the South Korean military, the class divide between a university-educated private and a working-class corporal serving sentry duty together one snowy night leads to tragic consequences. In “There’s a Lot of Shit in Nokcheon,” the psychological violence that two brothers enact on each other over the course of a lifetime captures the darkness and paranoia that pervaded Korea in the 1980s, as the country struggled toward democratic rule. And in the novella-length “A Lamp in the Sky,” a young woman’s brutal interrogation at the hands of the police reveals the series of increasingly troubling decisions that led her to this moment. Is she innocent or guilty? In the end, even she cannot say.
Snowy Day and Other Stories introduces English readers to a master storyteller.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
February 18, 2025 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9798217021444
- File size: 317964 KB
- Duration: 11:02:24
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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November 25, 2024
Filmmaker and writer Lee makes his English-language debut with a stirring collection of stories about resistance. The remarkable and tragic title story, originally published in 1987, revolves around two South Korean soldiers—naive Private Kim and verbally abusive Corporal Choi—guarding a sentry outpost. During the year’s first snowfall, Choi’s hectoring of Kim leads to an act of shocking violence. “There’s a Lot of Shit in Nokcheon” follows brothers Junshik and Minu, who were estranged as a result of Minu’s antigovernment activism. When Minu visits Junshik, their reunion is bittersweet, and it turns out Minu has an ulterior motive. In the layered novella “A Lamp in the Sky,” college student and waitress Jeong Shinhye is betrayed by a coworker and ruthlessly interrogated about her role as organizer of antiauthoritarian demonstrations. Faced with torture, she finally confesses, revealing even more to the reader than to her interrogators about the depth of her character. Though some of the shorter entries feel slight by comparison, Lee effectively and dramatically explores the sacrifices people make to hold onto their ideals. These potent tales leave a mark. Agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency.
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