Patterns of the Heart and Other Stories

Choe Myŏngik was a Korean writer who lived in Pyongyang his entire life. His stories are set in the city, which he describes in detail in his modernist prose. Despite the vitality and originality of his writing, Cold War politics and censorship consigned his work to obscurity. Patterns of the Heart and Other Stories presents a selection of his short fiction in translation, including later works from hard-to-find North Korean publications. These stories offer new perspectives on Koreas turbulent twentieth century, across political divides still in place today.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 09 April 2024
Publisher: Columbia University Press

Choe Myŏngik, a renowned Korean writer, was a lifelong resident of Pyongyang, a city that he skillfully captured in his exquisite modernist prose. His career spanned decades of turmoil, from his debut in the 1930s during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea to the Asia-Pacific and Korean Wars, as well as the early years of the Democratic People's Republic. As Pyongyang transitioned from Koreas secondary city, situated on the periphery of the Seoul-centered literary scene, to a socialist capital in the late 1940s, Choe briefly rose to the center of North Korean culture. Despite the vitality and originality of his writing, Cold War politics and censorship, including South Koreas anti-communist laws, relegated his work to obscurity.

Patterns of the Heart and Other Stories presents a curated selection of Choe's short fiction in translation, encompassing later works from hard-to-find North Korean publications. These cinematic and keenly observed tales delve into the intricate details of Pyongyang, portraying its transformations and the conflicts between old and new. They pay close attention to the lives of the marginalized and disaffected, such as a drifter who confronts a former revolutionary suffering from opium addiction, and a sex worker who is trafficked across the border aboard a train, amidst the indifference of her fellow passengers. Later stories offer a poignant glimpse of the Korean War from a North Korean perspective, including the occupation of Pyongyang, U.S. fighter jets bombing civilian refugees, and guerrilla heroics. Hidden treasures of world literature, these stories provide fresh perspectives on Korea's turbulent twentieth century, spanning political divides that still exist today.

Dimension: 216 x 140 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231202718