(Sonnim)
Hwang Sok-yong
Winner of The Daesan Literature Prize
Based on actual events, THE GUEST is a profound portrait of a divided people haunted by a painful past, and a generation’s search for reconciliation. During the Korean War, Hwanghae Province in North Korea was the setting of a gruesome fifty-two-day massacre. In an act of collective amnesia the atrocities were attributed to the American military, but in truth they resulted from malicious battling between Christian and Communist Koreans. Forty years later Ryu Yosop, a minister living in America, returns to his home village where his older brother once played a notorious role in the bloodshed. Besieged by vivid memories and visited by the troubled spirits of the deceased, Yosop must face the survivors of the tragedy and lay his brother’s soul to rest. Faulkner-like in its intense interweaving narratives, THE GUEST is a daring and ambitious novel from a major figure in world literature.
‘Writing that refuses to ignore suffering, but at the same time refuses to let itself be destroyed by destruction.’ Le Figaro Littéraire
‘A story that helps explain the present weirdness in North Korea… its great insight into the region is deeply rewarding.’ Kirkus Reviews
‘A provocative novel … with a subtle power. Hwang takes the reader to the edge of a gruesome scene, then steps back and focuses on the sort of mundane detail that sticks in one’s mind more firmly than any blood-splattered image.’ Time ASIA Magazine
Sales
- Changbi Korea
- Seven Stories USA (WEL, 2006)
- Editions Zulma France
- Tinta Negra Brazil
- Kinneret Israel
- Ediciones del Ermitano Spain
- Shanghai Translation China
Material: Korean and French pdf (288pp)