Description 작품 소개
In “Hong Gildong,” Seo draws loosely from an early Korean literary source, Tale of Hong Gildong, attributed to Heo Gyun(1569-1618), to tell the story of a forty-five-year-old man wading through depression and a midlife crisis. Dr. Kang, his psychiatrist, recommends the man to stop seeing a woman behind his wife’s back and listens to one of the man’s disturbing childhood memories. The man seeks release from his existence and wishes that a straw man (an element from the earlier work) would come to take his place.“The Woodcutter and the Nymph” is a modern retelling of the well-known Korean folktale “Namukkun-gwa seonnyeo.” In the folktale, a nymph’s wing-clothes are taken away to prevent her from returning to her heavenly home. Seo’s story features a young woman who cannot return to her childhood home and finds herself trapped in a conventional life of marriage and childbirth. The alienation of the young woman is portrayed in a broken chronology of short incidents and flashbacks to depict a life whose reality has faded. Through this story that has the surreal quality of a dream, Seo comments on the vagueness of purpose in a life that only holds the usual expectations.Reference : Jimoondang. "Hong Gildong", http://www.jimoon.co.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=book1&wr_id=78. accessed 13 Oct 2023.
Author Bio 작가 소개
In “Hong Gildong,” Seo draws loosely from an early Korean literary source, Tale of Hong Gildong, attributed to Heo Gyun(1569-1618), to tell the story of a forty-five-year-old man wading through depression and a midlife crisis. Dr. Kang, his psychiatrist, recommends the man to stop seeing a woman behind his wife’s back and listens to one of the man’s disturbing childhood memories. The man seeks release from his existence and wishes that a straw man (an element from the earlier work) would come to take his place.“The Woodcutter and the Nymph” is a modern retelling of the well-known Korean folktale “Namukkun-gwa seonnyeo.” In the folktale, a nymph’s wing-clothes are taken away to prevent her from returning to her heavenly home. Seo’s story features a young woman who cannot return to her childhood home and finds herself trapped in a conventional life of marriage and childbirth. The alienation of the young woman is portrayed in a broken chronology of short incidents and flashbacks to depict a life whose reality has faded. Through this story that has the surreal quality of a dream, Seo comments on the vagueness of purpose in a life that only holds the usual expectations.Reference : Jimoondang. "Hong Gildong", http://www.jimoon.co.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=book1&wr_id=78. accessed 13 Oct 2023.
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