The Old Garden - by Hwang Sok-Yong (Paperback)

About the Book

English translation copyright date 2009.

Book Synopsis

As South Korea violently changed from a military dictatorship to a democratic state, an idealistic activist and a brazen painter shared a brief love affair that would impact the rest of their lives.

Drifting to an old house in the countryside where they once sought refuge, Hyun Woo finds Yoon Hee's letters, diaries, and paintings that document the extraordinary life of the woman he loved and lost. He recalls the circumstances that brought him to Yoon Hee and the lifetime they spent apart. As his world shrank in prison, hers expanded as she fought off the loneliness of his absence and witnessed the dramatic events of their country's recent history, the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany, and the harsh natural landscape of Siberia. He also learns that she has left him a living legacy that will help him find his way again.

Hyun Woo is fleeing authorities for his participation in the Kwangju Uprising and for promoting democracy in South Korea when he meets and falls in love with Yoon Hee. Their idyllic time together is cut short when Hyun Woo is captured and thrown in prison. Nearly two decades later, he is released to find Korea aggressively modernized, democratic in name, but filled with inequality and corruption. His former comrades are old and jaded, and Yoon Hee, never allowed to see him during his imprisonment, has died.

Internationally acclaimed author Hwang Sok-yong presents a tragic love story as two parallel lives. Set against the backdrop of the end of the Cold War and South Korea's political revolution of the eighties, The Old Garden is a tale of faith--in one's country, to one's ideals, and in one's heart.

Review Quotes

"Hwang Sok-yong has given contemporary world literature a beautiful gift. Written in a voice that is utterly humanistic, The Old Garden combines multiple narratives that resonate on the levels of the historical, political, and aesthetic. Hwang's masterful command of the novelistic form is evident in his ability to be simultaneously intimate and worldly. Without a doubt, The Old Garden will be seen as the definitive novel of Korea's Gwangju generation." --Jeff Shroeder, guitarist for the Smashing Pumpkins and English PhD candidate at UCLA

"Hwang Sok-yong is undoubtedly the most powerful voice of the novel in East Asia." -Nobel laureate Kenzaburō Ōe

"The Old Garden vividly depicts the tumult of Korean history and the individuals caught in its demands. Hwang Sok-yong, one of South Korea's most important modern writers, poignantly shows us that history is also a story of how individuals live, love, and sacrifice in the tumult of time." -Krys Lee, author of Drifting House

"Hwang Sok-yong is the most committed, politically active writer of all those who have been translated from the Korean in recent years." -Liberation

"Hwang Sok-yong is one of South Korea's preeminent authors." -Der Spiegel

About the Author

HWANG SOK-YONG is one of the contemporary masters of Korean literature. His work, which grapples with the troubled history of his divided country, has resulted in his imprisonment, his exile, and the rare achievement of a wide international readership. Hwang's novels in English includeThe Old Garden, a tragic love story set against the backdrop of the end of the Cold War and South Korea's political revolution of the eighties; The Guest, based on the true account of a violent clash between Communist and Christian neighbors in a Korean village town; and The Shadow of Arms, inspired by his experience as a Korean soldier in the Vietnam War. Some of his recent bestsellers in Korea, where Hwang is among that country's most popular writers, includeBaridegi (Princess Bari) and Gaebapbaragibyeol (The Evening Star), a coming of age novel that Hwang wrote as a blog.