Tag: south korean fiction

Mini-Review: The Cabinet by Kim Un-Su

The Cabinet [2006/21] – ★★★1/2

For the lovers of the incredulous and highly imaginative, this book details a number of extraordinary cases filed in Cabinet 13. The man in charge of the cabinet is Research Assistant Deok-geun Kong (the narrator), and even he does not know the full extent of the cabinet’s mystery or why the organisation known only as the “syndicate” is after it. There are medical mysteries here in the vein of Oliver Sacks (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat), but completely fictitious, as well as Italo Calvino-inspired whimsy (see also The Musical Illusionist, a Borges-inspired book-encyclopaedia of fantastical curiosities that mixes facts and fiction). Deok-geun Kong’s boss is Professor Kwon, who is researching the world’s various “symptomers”, people who allegedly evolved “beyond humans” to the next phase, and are displaying surprising abilities or conditions. For example, there is a man who has a ginkgo tree growing out of his hand, a woman who has a doppelganger pestering her, and there are “time-skippers”, people who mysteriously disappear for days, months or even years only to reappear in distant places with no memory how they got there.

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South Korea: 5 Intriguing Short Stories

Miss Kim Knows [2021/23] by Cho Nam-Joo – ★★★★

In this short story collection, Cho Nam-Joo (Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982) focuses on the lives of eight Korean women, showcasing issues in contemporary Korea. In the titular story, even before starting her first day at her new job in a hospital advertisement agency, a young woman gets more than an eyeful of that company at an organised workshop for employees hosted over a weekend. Her predecessor, mysterious Miss Kim, a lowly employee, seems to have run the agency almost single-handedly, but where is she now and what happened to her? Cho Nam-Joo’s story idea and its beginning are definitely much stronger than the somewhat underwhelming finale, but this is still one memorable “a person against the system” tale that provides an incisive, humorous insight into the workings of a Korean company filled with nepotism and incompetence. I read this short story in Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories by Cho Nam-Joo [translated by Jamie Chang, Scribner UK, 2023].

The Glass Shield [2006/23] by Kim Jung-hyuk – ★★★★

Translated by Kevin O’Rourke, this is a story of two inseparable young men (our narrator and M) who go to a series of job interviews together because they cannot bear the thought of not working for the same company. They try very unconventional techniques to impress their interviewers (including untangling a yarn), but because of their togetherness and unique interviewing style, they have had no luck so far landing anything. That is, until the two friends-pranksters become an internet sensation, and finally have a chance to shine in the crowded job market. This story brims with comic originality, and is about trying to triumph through one’s eccentricity and individualism in a big city governed by monotony and predictability. It ends on the reconsideration of one’s life purpose. The story is part of The Penguin Book of Korean Short Stories [edited by Bruce Fulton, Penguin Classics, 2023].

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