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Whale: Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize

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Cheon, Myeong-Kwan; O’Rourke, Kevin (2012). "Frank and I". Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature & Culture. 5 (1): 151–171. doi: 10.1353/aza.2012.0004. S2CID 82935983. ProjectMUSE 474441. The author in an interview described the stories as a revenge play ("이 모든 이야기가 한 편의 복수극") and it is, like the stories of man with the scar—the renowned con artist, notorious smuggler, superb butcher, rake, pimp of all the prostitutes on the wharf, and hot-tempered broker [he is introduced that way more than once] at times frightening and cruel. But it is also a story rich in bawdy anecdotes and exaggerated, even fantastical, characters - such as Chunhui herself, a supernaturally large baby and monstrously strong woman, unable to speak or even understand language, except when communicating telepathically with an elephant, even after the animal passed away. As the narrator warns us: There has never been a novel like this in Korean literature . . . A novel that's more like reading out loud than reading quietly to oneself; its structure is like that of a folktale. You can feel the oral tradition in the rhythm of the sentences."

Think Big! Think of the biggest thing on the planet, and turn it into an epic story of enormous proportions and scope and you will get this whale of a novel. John Updike’s Rabbit, Run. Before this, the books I read when I was young followed remarkable lives. Stories about adventure and romance, hardship and adversity, struggle and triumph. What I realised when I read this novel at 18 was that, for the most part, not much happens in life. And while that truth was very disappointing, it was also oddly a relief.Life is sweeping away the dust that keeps piling up, as she mopped the floor with a rag, and sometimes she would add, Death is nothing more than dust piling up.” If you had to choose three works of fiction that have inspired your career the most, what would they be and why? WHALE starts with Chunhui leaving prison and returning to the scene of a crime she may or may not have committed. Spanning through generation, one also follows Geumbok (Chunhui's mom) - a conflicted protagonist whose life is far from mundane. A spry, cunning work of invigorated tale-telling. Cheon Myeong-kwan harnesses the ferociously erratic flow of shared narratives, embracing their natural disposition toward salacious detail at every turn.Whaleis a billowing, boundless novel. — Justin Walls, Bookshop.org Korean Literature Authors Name Authority Database". LTI Korea. Archived from the original on 12 January 2015 . Retrieved 13 January 2015.

Amulti-generational story detailing the lives of three women—grandmother, mother, and daughter—from Korea’s lowest social class, demonstrating resilience, cleverness, and loyalty in the name of survival in a poor, rural, and heavily patriarchal society that has little but contempt for females . . .Imbued with a sense of the mythical and archetypal . . . the novel’s actors seem as fatally flawed as any lead character in a play by Aeschylus.”— Tom Bowden, The Book BeatUniversity of Glasgow and University of Manchester provide funding as members of The Conversation UK. Whale is the English-language debut of a beloved and bestselling South Korean author, a born storyteller with a cinematic, darkly humorous, and thoroughly original perspective.

A peerless work devoted to telling a powerful story and lauded for expanding Korean literature into new dimensions.”— The Hankyoreh The story revolves around Geum-bok, an ambitious woman who goes from being a village girl to a small-town entrepreneur, alongside her mute daughter Chun-hui. What was the experience of working with the book’s translator, Chi-Young Kim, like? How closely did you work together on the English edition? Did you offer any specific guidance or advice? Were there any surprising moments during your collaboration, or joyful moments, or challenges?

Advance Praise

Whale" was translated by award-winning Chi-Young Kim and released by Europa Editions on Jan. 19. The International Booker Prize was established in 2005 to honor an author and a translator for a single work of international fiction translated into English, selected from entries published in the UK or Ireland. A sweeping, multi-generational tale blending fable, farce, and fantasy–a masterpiece of modern fiction perfect for fans of One Hundred Years of Solitude The conflagration was indeed horrific. Over eight hundred people perished in the fire, and even more in the market where it eventually spread. The damage was massive. It was no exaggeration to say that half of Pyungdae burned to the ground. It was the greatest tragedy since the war.

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