A Moment's Grace ― Stories from Korea in Transition

A Moment's Grace: Stories from Korea in Transition presents short stories that depict the core of the process of Korea's modernization, from Liberation in 1945 to the Seoul Olympics in 1988. Modern Korea, in the broad sense, is considered to have begun with the fall of the Chosen dynasty, when the nation was ruled by a monarchy; in the twenty-first century the nation is a genuine democracy. Within that century of transformation is a shorter period, covered by these stories, that was a bridge between the modern era's beginnings and the society that we know today. During that period Korea moved from an agricultural society to an industrial one, from rule by a few to rule by the many, from poverty to wealth.

The stories presented in these pages provide a view of this process through the eyes of ordinary people as they were affected by the historical and social forces that formed modern Korea. A separate background chapter affords a description of these forces with the intention of providing the reader with a better understanding of both the stories and the culture that produced them.

The stories in this seminal collection are superbly translated by John Holstein and will be invaluable to students of Korean literature and society and of great interest to all lovers of literature.

JOHN HOLSTEIN has been a member of the faculty in the English Department at Sungkyunkwan University since 1982.