The book begins in 2017 with the story of the protagonist, “me,” and her old friend, “her.” The protagonist met “her,” the novelist, forty years ago in 1977 at a dormitory of a woman’s college. The protagonist had always been self-conscious about her stammering, which had shaped her into a non-committal and unassertive personality, while she felt comfortable with her friend’s self-centered, direct, and both inferior and superior attitude. Her friend had published a book, entitled For the Princesses Who Are No Longer There, recounting their dormitory days. Although the protagonist had known her for many years, she did not get to read the book until much later and found out that their memories of the shared time were completely different.

The author delineates the world of “difference” and “integration” that the young women, who have come of age, encounter in a new milieu called the dormitory. The literary critic, Shin Hyeong-cheol, stated in his introduction that Eun Heekyung’s book does not let the readers down—no matter what their expectations were; be it the detailed description of the culture of that era, and fluid and apt writing or her truthful observation of women’s experience that is sharply captured. The author presents a scrupulous visage of Korean culture in 1970s through the female students sharing communal space in a college dormitory. It was during a time when “Virtuosity, Hard Work, and Chastity” were the motto for these women from the provinces who began living in Seoul for the first time.

Above all, what stands out is the straightforward confessions of a person as she comes face to face with her naked self, who has used evasion as a shield against life. She does this by traveling back and forth in time. “A person with a weakness has an extra antenna for the world.” The author’s meticulously crafted writing discloses the universal problematic of an individual in life, which will mirror the reader as well. That is how “the stories of that period” filters through a writer called Eun Heekyung to become “my story” for everyone.

Eun, Heekyung

Eun Heekyung began her writing career when she won the Donga Daily New Writer’s Award with her novella, The Duet. Her collection of short stories are, Talking to a Stranger, A Happy

Person Does Not Look at the Clock, Inheritance, Beauty Looks Down On Me, A Snowflake That Closely Resembles All Other Snowflakes and Chinese Roulette. She published the following novels: The Bird’s Gift, Do the Last Dance with Me, Minor League, Secret and Lie, Comfort the Boy, Composed Life and Was It a Dream? She is the winner of the following literary awards by, Munhakdongne, Dongseo, Yi Sang, The Korean Novel, The Korea Times, Dongin, and Hwang Sunwon prizes.