November 25, 2024
Filmmaker and writer Lee makes his English-language debut with a stirring collection of stories about resistance. The remarkable and tragic title story, originally published in 1987, revolves around two South Korean soldiers—naive Private Kim and verbally abusive Corporal Choi—guarding a sentry outpost. During the year’s first snowfall, Choi’s hectoring of Kim leads to an act of shocking violence. “There’s a Lot of Shit in Nokcheon” follows brothers Junshik and Minu, who were estranged as a result of Minu’s antigovernment activism. When Minu visits Junshik, their reunion is bittersweet, and it turns out Minu has an ulterior motive. In the layered novella “A Lamp in the Sky,” college student and waitress Jeong Shinhye is betrayed by a coworker and ruthlessly interrogated about her role as organizer of antiauthoritarian demonstrations. Faced with torture, she finally confesses, revealing even more to the reader than to her interrogators about the depth of her character. Though some of the shorter entries feel slight by comparison, Lee effectively and dramatically explores the sacrifices people make to hold onto their ideals. These potent tales leave a mark. Agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency.