Short stories
잉여인간
Not translated into English
Son Chang-seop · 1958
Synopsis
Seo Man-gi, a respected dentist, runs a cramped practice where two former schoolmates spend their days: Chae Ik-jun, who is outraged by every injustice yet cannot hold down a job, and Cheon Bong-u, passive, haunted by the fear of bombings. The nurse Hong In-suk admires the dentist, and the dentist's sister-in-law Eun-ju feels a silent attachment to him. Bong-u's wife, the owner of the premises, tries to seduce him; rebuffed, she tells him she is selling the building, just as Man-gi is arranging the funeral of Ik-jun's wife.
Context
The story appeared in September 1958 in the journal Sasanggye and received the fourth Dong-in Prize in 1959. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture counts it among the representative works of postwar fiction: a narrator who is both omniscient and critical adopts the point of view of the main character. Cheon Bong-u's wife, rich and greedy, is the primary target of the satire, while the kindly characters, unable to adapt to the new world, gradually become superfluous beings.
Who it is for
A short story, with a few characters and a single setting; no French translation is recorded.
Prizes and reception
Awarded the Dong-in prize by the jury one year after its publication; the newspaper Hankyung ranks its author among the major figures of the postwar generation.
Sources for this page 3
The pages consulted to check this page.