Korean Literature

When Elijah Ri arrives in New York City for an internship at his father’s massive tech company, Haneul Corporation, he expects the royal treatment that comes with being the future CEO—even if that’s the last thing he wants. But instead, he finds himself shuffled into a group of overworked, unpaid interns, all sharing a shoebox apartment for the summer.

Meet Noh Inji: thirty years old, five wedding rings and counting, and she’s never once been in love. When Inji takes a job at Wedding & Life, the popular matchmaking service, she never imagines her role will be with NM, their secretive marriage division that rents out “field spouses” for a fixed period to their elite clientele. Just like a real marriage, Inji’s assignments involve a wedding, some sex, and a spot of housework. It’s all tailored exactly to the client’s desires—no legal battles, no fights, no emotional baggage.

A beautifully crafted, enriching saga inspired by East Asian mythology, The Melancholy of Untold History is Minsoo Kang’s debut novel, steeped in history like R.F. Kuang’s Babel, epic in scope like Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land, and lyrically exciting like David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, interweaving four complex yet entertaining stories as they shape and create a nation’s literary narrative through the themes of love and grief.

Often considered the highest achievement in Korean fiction, The Nine Cloud Dream poses the question: Will the life we dream of truly make us happy? Written in 17th-century Korea, this classic novel's wondrous story begins when a young monk living on a sacred Lotus Peak in China succumbs to the temptation of eight fairy maidens. For doubting his master's Buddhist teachings, the monk is forced to endure a strange punishment: reincarnation as the most ideal of men.

In an Empire run on necromancy, dead sorcerers are the lifeblood. Their corpses are wrapped in chains and drained of magic to feed the unquenchable hunger for imperial conquest. Born with magic, Arienne has become resigned to her dark fate. But when the voice of a long-dead sorcerer begins to speak inside her head, she listens. There may be another future for her, if she’s willing to fight for it. Miles away, beneath a volcano, a seven-eyed dragon also wears the Empire’s chains. Before the imperial fist closed around their lands, it was the people’s sacred guardian.

When the Seoul police inform Min that his girlfriend Yu-jin has committed suicide, he’s sure it can't be true. She was successful, ambitious, happy, just on the cusp of graduating from university and claiming the future she’d always dreamed of.

This is the story of a hen named Sprout. No longer content to lay eggs on command only to have them carted off to the market, she glimpses her future every morning through the barn doors, where the other animals roam free, and comes up with a plan to escape into the wild - and to hatch an egg of her own. An anthem for individuality and motherhood, The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly has captivated millions of fans in Korea, where it is a contemporary classic. Now the novel is making its way around the world.

로맨스 소설의 고전이자, 19세기 초 영국에서 유행한 고딕 소설로도 평가 받는, 여성 작가 샬럿 브론테의 대표작. 책은 가난한 고아 가정교사 제인 에어와 부유하지만 불행한 에드워드 로체스터의 사랑 이야기가 작품의 중심축을 이루고 이들의 사랑을 방해하는 장애물이 주된 갈등으로 작용한다. 작가는 자매들과 함께 다녔던 기숙 학교의 기억과, 비련으로 끝나고 만 사랑의 경험을 작품 속에 녹여낸다.

SF 그랜드 마스터 아서 C. 클라크가 단독으로 집필한 마지막 작품 서기 2110년, 인류는 발달한 과학기술 덕분에 의식주에 대한 걱정은 물론 전쟁과 내분까지 해소하며 새로운 황금기에 접어든다.

Elsa Park is a particle physicist at the top of her game, stationed at a neutrino observatory in the Antarctic, confident she's put enough distance between her ambitions and the family ghosts she's run from all her life. But it isn't long before her childhood imaginary friend—an achingly familiar, spectral woman in the snow—comes to claim her at last. Years ago, Elsa's now-catatonic mother had warned her that the women of their line were doomed to repeat the narrative lives of their ancestors from Korean myth and legend. But beyond these ghosts, Elsa also faces a more earthly fate.

In a race to stop an ancient evil from destroying the worlds as they know them, Sunny comes to a startling, heartbreaking realization: if she chooses love—everything will burn. Sunny Cho aspires to be the dullest, least interesting person in any given room, which can be challenging for a nine-tailed fox spirit. So she drifts from city to city—staying clear of any and all attachment—and keeps her fox buried deep inside her. It is better this way. She would rather live as half of herself than risk losing control of her terrible powers.

병자호란 때문에 힘들었던 우리 백성에게 희망을 준, 영웅 임경업을 주인공으로 한 군담소설이다. 무과에 일등으로 합격한 임경업은 어린 시절부터 열심히 병서를 읽으며 공부한다. 벼슬할 때는 맡은 일에 최선을 다하고, 함께 일한 군사와 백성들을 아껴 준다. 명나라에 사신으로 갔다가 호국(후금, 후에 청나라로 이름을 바꿈)을 도와주라는 부탁을 받고 전쟁에 나가 전쟁을 승리로 이끈다. 이 일로 임경업 장군의 이름이 널리 퍼지게 된다.

A greedy tiger roamed the forest looking for food. One day he came upon a rabbit. But the rabbit conitnued to outsmart the tiger and not get eaten. "Rabbits are dangerous," thought the tiger. "I must warn everyone about them."

Junie Kim just wants to fit in. So she keeps her head down and tries not to draw attention to herself. But when racist graffiti appears at her middle school, Junie must decide between staying silent or speaking out. Then Junie’s history teacher assigns a project and Junie decides to interview her grandparents, learning about their unbelievable experiences as kids during the Korean War. Junie comes to admire her grandma’s fierce determination to overcome impossible odds, and her grandpa’s unwavering compassion during wartime.

Elena Soo has always felt overshadowed. Whether by her more successful older sisters, her more popular twin brother, or her more outgoing best friend, everyone except Elena seems to know exactly who they are and what they want. But she is certain about one thing—she has no interest in going to prom. While the rest of the school is giddy over corsages and dresses, Elena would rather spend her time working to save the local community center. So when international K-pop superstar Robbie Choi shows up at her house to ask her to prom, Elena is more confused than ever.

After crashing their spacecraft in the middle of nowhere, a shapeshifting alien finds themself stranded on an unfamiliar planet and disabled by Earth’s gravity. To survive, they will need to practice walking. And what better way than to hunt for food? As they discover, humans are delicious. Intelligent, clever, and adaptable, the alien shifts their gender, appearance, and conduct to suit a prey’s sexual preference, then attacks at the pivotal moment of their encounter.

In a world where Saints are monsters and Wonderland is the dark forest where they lurk, it’s been five years since young witches and lovers Caro Rabbit and Iccadora Alice Sickle were both sentenced to that forest for a crime they didn’t commit—and four years since they shattered one another’s hearts, each willing to sacrifice the other for a chance at freedom. Now, Caro is a successful royal Saint-harvester, living the high life in the glittering capital and pretending not to know of the twisted monster experiments that her beloved Red Queen hides deep in the bowels of the palace.

Every Friday after school, 17-year-old Alice Choy and her little sister, Olivia, head to Myeongdong to sing karaoke. Back in San Francisco, when she still had friends and earthly possessions, Alice took regular singing lessons. But since their diplomat mom moved them to Seoul, her only musical outlet is vamping it up in a private karaoke booth to an audience of one: her loyal sister. Then a scout for Top10 Entertainment, one of the biggest K-pop companies, hears her and offers her a spot at their Star Academy.

맑고 청명한 스위스 산골, 그곳에서 자유분방하게 자라나는 알프스 소녀 하이디. 애니메이션 속 하이디는 알프스 공기만큼이나 싱그러운 아이로, 언제나 통통거리며 뛰어다닌다. 소설 『하이디』가 발표된 후 전 세계인들은 대자연을 만나기 위해 알프스를 찾았고, 『하이디』는 스위스를 대표하는 문학 작품이 되었다.

한중록은 혜경궁 홍씨가 사도세자와 결혼하여 뒤주에 갇혀 죽을 때까지의 비극적인 역사 사건을 그린 수필집이다. 초등학생들이 이해할 수 있도록 다소 어려운 궁중 용어를 쉬운 단어로 고르는 대신 정확하게 알게 하기 위해 그대로 쓰고 상세한 주석으로 이해를 높이고 있다. 또한, 책 후반에 사도세자의 죽음에 얽힌 임오화변에 대해 기술된 역사와 한중록의 내용과의 다른 점을 비교하게 하였다. 역사가들 사이에서도 설왕설래하는 비극의 역사 속 미스터리를 푸는 것도 또 하나의 재미를 줄 것이다.