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Romance, Beyond Chance: Raising Swallows by Youn Dae-Nyeong scrap
by
Jung Yeo-ul
Author Bio
October 20, 2014
Youn Dae-Nyeong is adept at weaving tales about romance. There is no doubt that he has been one of the top three Korean romance writers in the past twenty years. Yoon used to create romantic stories in faraway settings, always through a dramatic encounter with a total stranger rather than someone encountered in everyday life. Romance, for Youn, is a myth that goes beyond everyday life, and love is a denial of fate.
While Youn’s previous romance novels focused on the mysterious power of karma, Raising Swallows relies on the broader idea of a “meeting” rather than the narrow category of “romance.” While romance involves an attempt to capture the most enchanting moment, Youn’s attention is now placed on the yearning for eternal relationships that transcend the mundane world. The novel investigates how fated encounters work, even without going through social customs such as marriage. Dating, whose final destination is supposed to be marriage, is a relativist world where a sense of fear about parting prevails. Once such social restrictions are gone, a human-to-human encounter can be an absolute world where people do not control either sex or parting. Unlike his previous novels that revolved around a couple, Raising Swallows gives weighty significance to all the characters. In fact, the most ideal speaker of Youn’s previous novels was a man stuck with a lethal yet beautiful romance. Now, Youn’s new male protagonists are no longer impatient in their quest for love. They are now patient enough to listen to, say, a monologue by a grandmotherly figure, without any preconceptions. His past male protagonists used their lips to express their desires; his new male characters use their ears to listen to others attentively, which is a wise and welcome change. 
Writer 필자 소개
Jung Yeo-ul
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