Literature

People

Hwang Kyoungran
Pages
224
Dimensions
125*205
ISBN
978-89-6545-069-6 03810
Price
15,000KRW
Date
June 2020
Contents
Short Stories
*2020 Arco Literature Sharing Selection

This is a collection of stories that depicts dark sides of the times, such as domestic violence, impaired nature, and hard labor, and explores the psychology of people who make things worse.


People, the first collection of stories by Hwang Kyoungran, pays attention to people whom we pass by and who are somewhere. The stories serve as a magnifying glass by introducing readers to those who are everywhere yet unnoticed. 

“People,” the title story of the collection, is the title of the feature that journalist Ryun, the story’s antagonist, publishes in a paper. The head journalist tells Ryun that there is no truth in his feature, but Ryun replies, "Truth? It requires time just as history does.” The head journalist publishes Ryun’s feature while Ryun is on a business trip in Japan and realizes what the truth is through the computer files that Ryun left behind.

“Erhu” is a story about Saeburi, an imaginary village in Yangbian, China. Saeburi is a mix of North Korean defectors who are heading to South Korea, North Korean police officers who are trying to arrest the defectors, and tourists who have come to Yangbian to sightsee.

“Sunshine News” is a story about minority meeting minority. Visually impaired Chiyun meets people who hold a demonstration on a tower crane and writes in Braille what the protesters are saying. 

“Kingdom” explicitly shows how a fishing village is being destroyed, as a smelter called Kingdom is established in the Tamatave harbor of Madagascar.

“After the Day” is a story about the friendship between Geumryeong, a Japanese military sexual slavery victim, and Lien, a Vietnamese woman who has come to Korea for marriage. Geumryeong learns Korean to speak about her painful past, and Lien moves beyond the boundaries of a multicultural family and manages her life as a member of Korean society.

“The Boy Didn’t Know” is a story about a boy who lives with his younger sister and a violent father. Although they are suffering, he and his sister cannot get away from their home. The boy repeats his father’s behavior and is determined to take revenge against his father.

“Your Autobiography” is a story in which “I,” who is a producer at a broadcasting station, leaves his haunted wife and reminisces about his childhood with his father, who was a septic tank cleaner.

“A House on a Hill” portrays an old father who lives in the house that his son left and is lost in memories of the past days when his son was young.