The Curious Tale of Mandogi's Ghost
, by Kin, SekihanNote: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.
- ISBN: 9780231153119 | 0231153112
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 9/15/2010
The Curious Tale of Mandogi's Ghostincorporates Korean folk tales, ghost stories, and myth into a phenomenal depiction of epic tragedy. Written by a zainichi, a permanent resident of Japan who is not of Japanese ancestry, the novel tells the story of Mandogi, a young priest living on the island of Cheju-do. Mandogi becomes unwittingly involved in the Four-Three Incident of 1948, in which the South Korean government brutally suppressed an armed peasant uprising and purged Cheju-do of communist sympathizers. Although Mandogi is sentenced to death for his part in the riot, he survives (in a sense) to take revenge on his enemies and fully commit himself to the resistance.Mandogi's indeterminate, shapeshifting character is emblematic of Japanese colonialism's outsized impact on both ruler and ruled. A central work of postwar Japanese fiction, The Curious Tale of Mandogi's Ghostrelates the trauma of a long-forgotten history and its indelible imprint on Japanese and Korean memory.