Lost Souls

These captivating short stories represent three major periods within the history of modern Korea: colonial modernity in the late 1930s; the postcolonial struggle to rebuild society after four decades of oppression, emasculation, and cultural exile (1945 to 1950); and the post-Korean War efforts to reconstruct a shattered land and heal a traumatized national psyche.Lost Soulsexemplifies Hwang Sunwon's remarkable versatility, echoing the exceptional work of China's Shen Congwen and Japan's Kawabata Yasunari. Some stories are modernist narratives set in the metropolises of Tokyo and Pyongyang, while others are starkly realist portraits of rural life. Surrealist tales embody the unsettling sensation of colonial domination, while stories centering on the outcast reveal the thrill and terror of awakening to independence and surviving in a land devastated by war. Written during the chaos of 1945, "Booze" recounts a fight between Koreans for control of a distillery formerly owned by the Japanese, and "Toad" relates the suffering created by hundreds of thousands of returning refugees. Stories from the 1950s confront the catastrophes of the Korean War. Lost Soulsshowcases the innovation and craftsmanship of a consummate storyteller.