Whale: Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize

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Short stories are not usually my cup of tea but this one was done so artfully and cleverly that it's hard not to love. These stories all are interlinked with the same characters and instead form this huge overarching novel in which everything comes together in the end, with any questions being cleared up and clarified in not one, but TWO epilogues. Whilst the writing is often comedic, the tone is a philosophical one, with a twist of nostalgia and melancholy. The book is a classic in Korean literature, and this translation, though making the Booker Longlist, is not the first into English. Cheong Myeong-Kwan’s writing is funny and light while also deeply philosophical and sensual. The story often contains a twinge of wistful sadness and nostalgia that is far more common in Latin Boom literature but feels equally at home when mixed with the deeply Korean concept of han, a feeling of deep sorrow that is often claimed to be an integral part of Korean identity.’

There was something in the story that won us over almost immediately: the book’s sensitivity, its intriguing plot and the mythical atmosphere. … This is a novel that asks important questions about Korean society, with a strong sense of reality and social and political criticism but with literary value as well,” the publisher said. Cheon Myeong-kwan is a South Korean novelist, screenwriter and director whose work has been translated into eight languages. A sweeping, multi-generational tale blending fable, farce, and fantasy--a masterpiece of modern fiction perfect for fans of One Hundred Years of Solitude Rather than focus explicitly on these episodes – the Korean War, US occupation and military dictatorships, for instance – Whale tells its grand national narrative on a smaller human scale.I did like the novel, and I understand why it might be a bestselling, classic in Korea (published 20 years ago), but it didn't feel contemporary enough for me to be reading in 2023, and had me craving for signs of social justice or improvement or anything that might leave the reader believing in humanity. Still Born explores those aspects of motherhood that have often gone untold in uncompromising writing that feels throughout as though it’s being narrated in confidence to a close friend. Cheon’s novel has been compared to Gabriel Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude; both are larger-than-life magic-realist tales. What does the fantastical and fairy-tale like quality of Whale bring to the experience of reading it, and how does it work in relation to the book’s examination of historical events? 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. The shortlist of six books will be announced at London Book Fair on 18 April, with the winner announced at a London ceremony on 23 May.

Update: I read it. It did not win, unfortunately. The other one I thought it was likely to take the honors did. Too bad I dis not enjoy it as much as this one. The book is a history of Korea: from it’s humble beginnings to a land of progress then one divided by political strife. This could be represented by the whale itself but the events which happen in the book also mirror ones which have happened throughout Korea’s history. Due to the grotesque characters and overtly sexual situations, the book is a satire. Think of it as a modern day Candide or Terry Southern’s Candy ,both of which also used sex to point out the failings of the philosophies, government and social circles of their time,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. The tale focuses on three women and how they navigate changing circumstances while one aspect remains the same: Sexism. Protagonist Geumbok flees her bleak live in a rural area and enters relationships with men who help her survive and then rise in the social ranks. The business-savvy, matter-of-fact woman adapts to the expanding capitalist system by starting several enterprises, the most ambitious one being the cinema in the form of the title-giving whale. Geumbok tortures and neglects the second protagonist, her mute daughter, who gets a storyline of her own. Then, we have a one-eyed woman who directs an army of bees, born into another female line of family trauma. These three narrative strands are intertwined with minor stories about other characters (the most important one being a gangster with a scar), and it's fascinating how the author maintains control of this sprawling concept.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. PartnersIn one interview the author has described the novel as a revenge play. Do you agree, and if so how exactly? 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. Whale is Chi-Young Kim's translation of 고래 by 천명관 (Cheon Myeong-Gwan), a debut novel which won the 10th 문학동네소설상 (Munhakdongne Novel Award) on its first publication in 2004. How does it feel to be shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023, and what would winning mean to you?

The story itself broadly follows Geumbok, the driven woman from the provinces, who, inspired by a breaching whale she glimpsed the first time she saw the ocean, aims to build a successful life. I really liked Geumbok, one of the female protagonists, who had a real entrepreneurial gift. Until, that is, she fell in love with a lovely woman, transitioned to a man, and then transitioned to a drunken load. Geumbok was one shitty mother, too, worse than anything Joy Williams has so far thought up. The book consists of four intersecting storylines and each focus on four women: one called The Old Crone, her one eyed daughter, Geumbok and her daughter Chunhui. Through many surreal instances ranging from mind reading elephants to biblical floods, these four characters lives overlap and shape their destinies. The whale itself is a cinema which Geumbok builds after feeling emancipated by seeing a real life whale. Whale is my first novel. As I wrote it quite a long time ago, I’m stunned that it’s shortlisted for the International Booker Prize this year, and that makes it all the more exciting. The publication of Whale changed my life, and it feels like Whale is still a propulsive force in my life.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.” Kim, who is based in Los Angeles, has translated over a dozen books including Shin Kyung-sook’s “Please Look After Mom,” which won her the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2011. The novel asks challenging questions about care for terminally ill children and substitute motherhood. Laura and Alina’s bond is a constant core. At one point the prospect of the death of a child is described as “so unacceptable that we have chosen not to name it”. By its very nature, a story contains adjustments and embellishments depending on the perspective of the person telling it, depending on the listener’s convenience, depending on the storyteller’s skills. Reader, you will believe what you want to believe. The heroines include an old downcast woman who struggles all her life, yet saves an enormous amount of money as revenge against all who have wronged her; a woman blinded by a vengeful mother and sold for two jars of honey to a farmer at the tender age of 13; a girl from a remote area who goes to a port to escape her father, only to be haunted by his death and driven by an overwhelming drive for business success; and finally the heroine of the story: a mute woman of unusually large size who can talk to elephants, and was wrongly imprisoned for a fire she didn’t start.