3 Review(s)

Gendered Landscapes presents ten short stories and novellas by representative modern Korean women writers dating from the 1930s to the end of the 1990s. Signature pieces selected from the acclaimed novelists' repertoire, these narratives address issues related to Korean women as gendered beings in a Confucian-governed patriarchal society. Thematically interlinked and compellingly articulated, they bring into full view the vivid and colorful mosaic of Korean women's lives over the past seven decades, engendered under the formidable sway of centuries-old Confucian gender ideologies and practices. Collectively, these literary gems represent bold and astute counter-narratives to Confucian master discourses that have determined gender norms, woman's identity, familial and conjugal morality, and other kin and interpersonal relationships in modern and contemporary Korean society. These texts testify to their authors' creative ingenuity and refined craftsmanship in utilizing the power of storytelling and stand as powerful beacons both for the personal voyages of fictional characters and for the transformation of reading communities at large. Readers who are interested in the interrelationships among Korean, and even East-Asian, literature, women, culture, and society, will find the stories in Gendered Landscapes especially informative, illuminating, and enriching. This new anthology is a welcome companion volume to the translator's earlier work, Questioning Mind: Short Stories by Modern Korean Women Writers (2010).