One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun
Translated by Jung Yewon
Erewhon Books is pleased to announce the publication of International Bestseller, One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun, translated by Jung Yewon, arriving August 20, 2024!
Han Kang's Human Acts meets Yōko Ogawa's The Memory Police in this understated South Korean novella in translation: a restrained yet emotional magical realist examination of futility in a capitalist society written in response to the 2009 Yongsan Disaster.
In a Seoul slum marked for demolition, residents' shadows have begun to rise. No one knows how or why-but, they warn each other, do not follow your shadow if it wanders away.
As the landscape of their lives is torn apart, building by building, electronics-repair-shop employees Eungyo and Mujae can only watch as their community begins to fade. Their growing connection with one another provides solace, but against an uncaring ruling class and the inevitability of the rising shadows, their relationship may not be enough.
Winner of the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award and the Korean Bookseller's Award, One Hundred Shadows is a tender working-class perspective with subtle and affecting social commentary. This edition features an introduction by Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Vegetarian, Han Kang, a historical note about the Yongsan tragedy that inspired One Hundred Shadows, and an exclusive interview with the author.
"Jung Yewon's flawless translation breathes an eerie afterlife into a capitalist ghost story." -Anton Hur, International Booker Prize finalist for the translation of Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung
"Eloquent, dreamlike and haunting, One Hundred Shadows is both strange and beautiful. This story will linger in your mind long after the last page." -June Hur, Edgar Award-winning author of The Red Palace
"Ghostly . . . A mysterious place of pilgrimage." -Sofia Samatar, World Fantasy Award-winning author of A Stranger in Olondria
"Deceptively delicate . . . Hwang Jungeun's social critique devastates with its artful subtlety and fantastical glimmers that haunt the novel with compassionate, mournful beauty." -Angela Mi Young Hur, author of Folklorn