The Last of Hanako
Publisher: Jimoondang
Pub. Date: Jan. 2003
Paperback: 116 pages
Dimensions (in inches): 7.5 x 4.75 x 0.25
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| >>>This book is written in English. |
About This Book
"The Last of Hanako" employs keen irony to expose hollow stereotypes of women.
The city of Venice provides an exotic landscape for the novel, casting the male
protagonist's provincialism and narrow-mindedness in stark relief. Choi's
strikingly original stories, set as far afield as Venice and Paris, transcend
the historical realities of politics after Korea's liberation from Japanese
colonial rule. Set against the backdrop of underground political activities
during the Park Chung Hee regime in the 1970s, "The Gray Snowman" demythologizes
the dissident movement and focuses on the plight of the outsider. A young woman
from the countryside unwittingly becomes involved with a group of men in Seoul
who print anti-government documents. The title resonates with suggestions of not
only the Korean masses (traditionally clothed in white) but also the
psychological burdens and the numbness resulting from political oppression. The
color gray here suggests a tarnishing of youthful aspirations as well as the
shadowy existence of dissidents and other marginal figures. Choi writes
convincingly from the viewpoint of both men and women and approaches the
upheavals of contemporary Korean history through the eyes of such unconventional
protagonists as a riot policeman and an inarticulate laborer. Her debut novel,
"There a Petal Silently Falls," was inspired by the Gwangju massacre of 1980 and
still remains as one of the most important works of contemporary Korean fiction.
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