Choi Eunmi
최은미
Choi Eun-mi is one of the few South Korean novelists of the twenty-first century to incorporate Buddhist cosmology into her fictional universe. However, her novels are a far cry from portraying a merciful and benevolent Western Paradise. In Choi’s view, people are no different than animals that follow instinct over reason, or hungry ghosts characterized by stinginess, greed, and jealousy. Naturally, the world where such people live and interact with one another, as Choi sees it, is hell. Her second short story collection Mokryeon jeongjeon (목련정전 Lotus Canon) is a chilling portrayal of hell, except she chooses to tell it like an old folk tale. The title piece “Mokryeon jeongjeon” draws on Buddhist themes, having been adapted into a short story from the Buddhist scripture Lotus Sutra.
