The psychedelic bunny from the cover of Bora Chung’s short stories is a rather accurate suggestion of the atmosphere in the stories themselves. The stories blend the grotesque with the tale, evoking myths, folklore, magic realism, but also containing a fair bit of feminism — especially in the initial part of the collection.
The grim text about the being which looms in the toilet (The Head) and the surprising story of a girl, who finds out she is pregnant and now has to find someone who will become the father, or else she will face a terrible end (The Embodiment) — these may just as well be the best short stories which you’ll read this year (beware, though, these are not for everyone!).
Bora Chung studied Russian and Polish literature. She knows both languages well and works on literary translations into Korean. Her impressions from her visit in Poland are described in the final story, The Reunion, much different from the rest of the collection, though not less moving.
