موعد مع أخي

by Yi Mun-Yol, طاهر البربري (Translator)

An Appointment with My Brother is a story of the author's imagined meeting with his stepbrother, his father's son from his second marriage in North Korea after his defection during the Korean War. The narrator, the protagonist of the story, uses his connections and money to arrange his younger brother's visit to Yenji, in the Korean autonomous district in China, to have a meeting with him there. The protagonist had originally intended to arrange a meeting with his father, but after learning that that his father had passed away while the Korean-Chinese who had been commissioned with the task was trying to make it happen, decided to meet his brother instead of his father. [back cover]

Genres: Fiction, Asia, Novella, Literature, Novels

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Yi Mun-yol (born May 18, 1948) is a South Korean writer.

Yi Mun-yol was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1948, but the outbreak of the Korean War and his father's defection to North Korea forced his family to move about until they settled in Yeongyang, Gyeongsangbuk-do, the ancestral seat of his family. The fact that his father defected dramatically affected his life, as he was seen and treated as "the son of a political offender," and was "passed around among relatives[.] After dropping out of the College of Education of Seoul National University in 1970, Yi Mun-yol made his literary debut through the annual literary contests of the Daegu Maeil Newspaper in 1977, and the Dong-A Ilbo in 1979. On being awarded the prestigious "Today's Writer Award" for The Son of Man in 1979, Yi emerged as the most noteworthy writer of the time. The Son of Man explores the theme of the complex relationship between God and humanity in light of the finite nature of human existence inadvertently cast in infinite universe, through the eyes of the protagonist who is doubtful of the Christian Weltanschauung. From 1994 to 1997, he taught Korean language and literature at Sejong University. Since 1999, he has also served as the head of Buak Literary Center, a residential program for budding writers. He is currently a chair professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

(from Wikipedia)

Associated Names:
* Yi Mun-Yol
* 이문열 (Korean Profile)

Reviews

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Meeting with My Brother: A Novella" is a semi-autobiographical novel about the restrictions mainstream society placed on one of many families during the Korean War. Narrator Yi described the aftermath of his father's defection to the North during the war.

Yi's father, an intellectual, was a member of the Korean Worker's Party. By defecting, his family was stigmatized. It was guilt by association. Yi's mother constantly moved with her children, living in the shadows to keep them safe. Yi became depressed and dropped out of school. Eventually, he overcame educational setbacks and embarked upon an academic career.

Believing that his father was alive after forty years of non-communication, Yi engaged Mr. Kim to arrange a meeting in the northern tip of China by bribing the necessary officials. He wanted to address his pent- up feelings toward his father. Before the scheduled date, his father died and Yi's half brother agreed to be smuggled across the border in his stead. The confrontational discourse between these separated brothers opened a window into perceptions of their father, cultural differences and feelings of social alienation. The ebb and flow of their emotions was palpable.

"Meeting with My Brother: A Novella by Mun-Yol Yi addresses the divisiveness of war. A family weakened by political and social issues will experience waves of repercussions for decades. This emotionally charged tome tells of brothers separated by war and their misconceptions as cultures clash. Kudos to Mun-Yol Yi.

Thank you Columbia University Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "Meeting with My Brother: A Novella".

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps that is what reunification is, only on a grander scale and all at once: meeting a brother whose face you've never seen.

이문열 (Yi Mun-yol) is perhaps my favourite South Korean author from the post-war generation, based on his classic My Twisted Hero, his first novel, The Son of Man, which was one of my favourite reads of 2016 (my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) and the excellent The Poet (see https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).

He was born in Seoul in 1948. His father, an intellectual, was jailed by the Japanese for his activism and politically was a member of the Korean Worker's Party. When, during the Korean war, Seoul was re-captured by the American and Southern forces in 1950 his father fled, leaving the family behind, to the North, where he lived out the rest of his life. His family were later to hear in the mid 1950s that, due to his ongoing Southern connections, the elder To had been purged, and had presumed he was dead, only to receive a smuggled letter from him in the mid 1980s, that he had survived, although imprisoned for many years, and had started a new family with 5 children from his new, second, wife.

Yi Mun-yol's family suffered similarly: "because of a guilt-by-assocation system, we were restricted from being part of mainstream society". This history impacted Yi's fiction in two clear ways. Firstly, the concept of the outsider or wanderer and the themes of estrangement and division is endemic to his themes, albeit usually any references to his own situation are purely implicit or metaphorical. Second, and my his own admission: "the resulting fright led me to remain mute or compliant to the political circumstances of the early 1980s - that has been a big burden on me."

아우와의 만남 published in 1994, was his attempt to address this history more directly. The novella is fictional but highly autobiographical. The South Korean first person narrator Professor Yi, has a very similar family background to the author. Through a broker he attempts to arrange a meeting (illegal in both South and North) with his father in a Chinese city near the border with North Korea. Before the meeting can be fixed, word comes that his father has died, but the broker offers to arrange instead a meeting with one of his half-brothers from the North. As the novella opens he is waiting for this brother to arrive and the book is set over the following days describing the conversations that follow their meeting.

[It should be noted that Yi Mun-Yol himself didn't have such a meeting, this is his attempt to come to terms with his situation by imagining such an encounter and its consequences.]

The novella was originally translated (as Appointment with My Brother) in 2002 by Suh Ji-Moon. It has been re-ranslated as Meeting with My Brother by Heinz Insu Fenkl with his student Yoosup Chang. Fenkl's aim in retranslation, which was done in very close collaboration with the author, seems to have been twofold:

- to add (written by Yi Mun-Yol himself and then translated by Fenkl) some small glosses and one whole new passage of 5 pages, the latter describing the events of 1948 causing his father to flee North, to add context for non-Korean readers; and

- to bring out the entomology particularly of family names that is key to the story, particularly to the connection between the two families of the elder Yi.

There is also a very personal and poignant connection for Fenkl with his own novel Memories of My Ghost Brother based on his own upbringing in South Korea, son of a Korean mother and German-American US army father, and his own separation from his half-brother.

As the opening quote suggests, as well as exploring the personal, Yi's novella also explcitly sees the meeting with a half-brother as a metaphor for Korean reunification. And this is a warts-and-all rather than starry-eyed, view of the difficulties involved in each encounter, as well as a balanced critique of both societies. Towards the novel's end Professor Yi addresses his brother, albeit in his mind rather than verbally:

You know the present is not ideal, but don't let that make you impatient for an unrealistic future. Don't be tempted by a revolution without thinking through the consequences. The time will come.

Overall, rather less literary than Yi Mun-Yol's other works due to the more direct and autobiographical nature of the story and the more overt, albeit even-handed, politics. But vital to understand his other - wonderful - works. 3 stars.

[Evelina | AvalinahsBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

How I read this: Free ebook copy received through NetGalley

This was stunning. Made me incredibly emotional, and I couldn't even believe it - I am a foreigner who has never been even in the same continent, much less the country this is about, but it made me feel so many things so deeply. The author is incredibly talented, to be able to bring the emotion of separation of family, deep regret and longing so well through cultural, historical, political barriers (and a lot of that is also thanks to the amazing translators). This story will speak to anyone who has a heart. What's most heart-breaking is that the story is in big part based on the history of the author himself - I can't imagine the pain of people who have been separated for lifetimes, and persecuted for merely having a family connection "on the other side", even if they haven't seen them for decades. I feel like I'll carry this book in my heart for quite a while yet.

I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.

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[Zak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apart from a few beautiful lines which alluded to the fraught, complex relationship between North and South Korea, the writing in this semi-autobiographical novella seemed very 'textbook' most of the time, almost like reading a journalist's report. As a result, the anticipated exchange between the half-brothers didn't really move me. Perhaps only someone who has undergone a heart-wrenching separation from family would grasp its poignancy. The 'surprising turn' mentioned in the synopsis didn't really surprise me.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meeting with My Brother is a semi-autobiographical novella based on author Mun-Yol Yi's experience. Yi is a professor in South Korea. In the story, his father (as in real life) left South Korea on the heels of the Communist defeat and went to live in North Korea. His family that was left behind suffered terribly under the legal persecution of families who had a member who defected to the north.

Despite a childhood of extreme hardship and poverty, and constant moves to avoid retaliatory acts against them, Yi grew up to become a professor. His life now is a pleasant, somewhat affluent one. He decides to try to contact the father who abandoned him when he was a child. However, in the course of negotiating this meeting, his father dies. Instead, Yi decides to meet his half-brother, son of the family Yi's father formed in North Korea.

The meeting is intense. Both brothers come with baggage and resentments about each other. However, the connection they feel overwhelms their other feelings.

The heart of this book is the meeting between half-brothers, but there are also long sections commenting on the issue of reunification. I found the political discussions interesting but dryer than the emotional heart of the novel. I also felt at a disadvantage knowing only a little of Korean history. The book made me curious to learn more about the Koreas and the relationship between them.

On the whole, this was an emotionally powerful work that also seemed significant politically. I want to thank NetGalley, Columbia University Press and Mun-Yol Yi for the opportunity to read this fascinating work.

[Lalola La · Rating 4 out of 5]

حبيت اولا انه رواية مترجمة عن مؤلف كوري جنوبي ..لاني بحب كوريا جدا ومهتمة بثقافتها
الكتاب بيوضح الخلافات بين الشمال والجنوب ، وازاي ان الاهل ده في حتة و ده في حتة
وتقريبا كعادة الكوريين بيحبوا الروابط الاسرية ، والاهل و اللمة
فالكتاب كان مؤثر جدا .. واتعلمت شوية عن الثقافات بتاعتهم بزيادة عن الي اعرفه
اتمنى ان النوع من الترجمات ده يزيد
:D :D

[Muhammad Galal · Rating 2 out of 5]

موعد مع أخيه ، أخيه من أبيه، الذي يقطن في كوريا الشمالية و الراوي يقطن في كوريا الجنوبية، عيوب العمل المترجم واضحة عيوبه من حيث غياب الحياة في النص، العمل إنساني و يحكي مشاكل ما بعد الانفصال، و الفارق في مستوى معيشة الأفراد(أخوين) في الكوريتين، مع بعض الشئون الأسرية التي لم ترقَ إلى حد التعقيد، أكرر لعل الترجمة أنقصت كثيرًا من بريق العمل، عمل مقبول، نجمتان من أصل خمسة.

[E.P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Korea is divided and families are torn apart. What would it really be like to finally find the family you've never met? Would there be any common ground, or are the divisions between the two countries two great even for blood to overcome? Such are the questions explored in "Meeting with My Brother," the novella by Yi Mun-Yol, appearing here in a new translation by Heinz Insu Fenkl and Yoosup Chang.

I frankly acknowledge that my knowledge of Korean literature should be measured in negative numbers, and that my knowledge of Korean history and culture, my teenage study of Tae Kwon Do notwithstanding, is little better. So I was curious to see how much I would be able to get out of this story, especially as the reader is warned in the introduction that Yi's work "cannot be engaged superficially for the sake of entertainment or distraction," that Yi is noted for his "unusual use of language, particularly his method of layering thematic and psychological qualities under what appeared, on the surface, to be a rather straightforward and expository style," and that Yi has a "deep engagement with [Korean] tradition" that can be challenging even for contemporary Koreans, let alone Westerners.

Duly warned, I entered into the story with no little trepidation, but in fact on first read what stood out most strongly for me was Yi's "straightforward and expository style." Although this is not a story a Westerner would have written, it is at least on the surface level quite accessible to uninitiated readers like me. In fact, I would recommend it for anyone looking to dip a toe into Korean literature and not knowing where to start.

The plot is ostensibly simple, although it becomes more complicated under examination. A middle-aged professor from Seoul discovers that his father, who left the family during the war to join the North, is still alive and has a whole second family. It might be possible to set up a meeting in China, next to the North Korean border, but arranging it takes so long that the narrator's father passes away before the meeting can take place. Instead, the narrator meets with his half-brother. Initially, both men are suspicious, even hostile, towards each other, but then they discover common bonds of brotherhood.

In another writer's hands, the story could turn sappy, but Yi keeps the narrative controlled, almost dry, which only serves to heighten the emotions of the characters. Both of them are ambivalent about their families, their countries, and their current position vis-a-vis each other, and both find themselves at first concealing the truth from each other, and then letting it pour out as they perform a memorial service in their father's honor, before becoming estranged once again. And in truth, how else could a meeting like that go? The sorrow of the divided families/divided country of Korea is too profound to be aired out and resolved in a few short hours. Reconciliation and reunification are not going to happen overnight, either on the national or the personal level, something that is gently stressed by the appearance of the character Mr. Reunification, a dreamer who can't win over others to his cause. Even if there were to be a will, there would have to be a practical way to bring it about, and the other characters, looking at the examples from the Eastern Bloc/post-Soviet space (the novella was originally written in the mid-90s), are skeptical that reunification can happen quickly and easily. The business of practical arrangements and day-to-day living features in every aspect of the narrative, on every level, so that Professor Yi's too-short and unsatisfactory meeting with his brother stands in for the whole messy business of the two Koreas. "A Meeting with My Brother" is not tragic, but it has a gentle melancholy to it that is never, like the real life situation that inspired it, fully resolved. In the end, a beautiful story about the strengths and limits of family bonds.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

[Nader Mohamed · Rating 3 out of 5]

هل يمكن للحدود والمسافات بل واختلاف النشأة والثقافات بل حتى مع وجود العداءات والتواترات أن تهزم سلطان الفطرة وقوى العاطفة عند الإنسان؟ وهل يمكن أن تنقلب نظرتك لشخص من الضغينة والحقد إلى المحبة والتآلف فقط لأنه ذاق نفس العذاب الذي ذقته؟ وهل تفرّق الأوطان يفرّق _بالضروة_ بين الشعوب؟

في هذه النوفيلا تجد حكاية واقعية عن مأساة الانفصال والحرب الدائرة بين الكوريتين، وصرخات دعوات التوحد ولمّ الشمل بين التأييد والرفض.

بطلنا يخطط للقاء أبيه قبل أن يدركه الموت؛ وأين أبوه؟

الأب أستاذ اقتصاد من كوريا الجنوبية يرتد عن نظام بلاده ويفر إلى الدولة المعادية (كوريا الشمالية) حاملًا معه شيوعيته الجديدة، ومخلفًا وراءه زوجة وثلاثة أبناء ليذوقوا من بعده الويلات.. ثم يتخذ له زوجة أخرى من كوريا الشمالية ويكّون أسرة جديدة لم يسلموا معه من عذابات أيضًا!

إن مجرد لقاء الابن بابيه يحمل تبعات كثيرة، وإنه من الخطورة والصعوبة بمكان، وبمثابة تهديد لأمن كل منهما وحياته وتحدٍ لإرادة الدولتين، ولن يتم إلا في ظروف صعبة في وجود وسيط... ولكن كل هذا التعقيدات حالت دون لقائه، فقد سبق القضاء على الأب ومات قبل أن تموت الحواجز المانعة.. من أجل ذلك اقترح الوسيط أن يقابل الابن أخاه غير الشقيق (ابن أبيه من زوجته الثانية)؛ إذ ليس باستطاعته أن يرد إليه ماله، فوافق على مضض بعد تفكير.. فكيف كان لقاء الأخ بأخيه غير الشقيق، وما مشاعر كليهما نحو الآخر في البداية والوسط والنهاية من حوارين أولهما طويل بفيض بالمشاعر الباردة والصراعات النفسية الدفينة، والثاني قصير سيده التهاب المشاعر وتحرك الدموع في المآقي..

على صعيد آخر نجد حوارين آخريين للبطل، أحدهما مع داعٍ متحمس لتحقيق اتحاد بين الكوريتين فلا يترك مجلسًا إلا نادى به ولا فرصة إلا أكّد على ضرورته، فهما إخوان دم وحضارة حتى صاروا ينادونه بإتحاد! وآخر تاجر آثار يرى معوقات سياسية كبيرة وفواصل اقتصادية أكبر تحُول دون الوحدة، إذ كيف تحصل وحدة بين دولة غنية وأخرى فقيرة.. وقد ظهر العداء واضحًا بين الشخصين، أما البطل فلم ترجح كفته تجاه أحدهما.

أول تجربة لي مع الأدب الكوري، رواية عادية متوسطة تنتهي في جلسة واحدة، لكن فيها الكثير من ملامح المجتمع الكوري وبعض الظواهر فيه، كما بها تنديد للرأسمالية والإمبريالية، لا يمكن قراءتها بمعزل عن تاريخ الدولتين، وتحوي طرفًا من سيرة الكاتب.. الأسلوب بسيط تقليدي يتخذ شكل الراوي الذاتي، والترجمة بدت متواضعة لكن ما يميزها أن المترجم كوري متعلم العربية بخلاف العادة.

يبقى سؤال/ تحققت الوحدة بين الإخوة رغم كل الأسباب المعيقة والمسافات البعيدة وتجمعت القلوب والتقت الأرواح وإن تباعدت الأجساد لأنهم عانوا الألم نفسه ولنفس السبب في مكانين مختلفين، فهل يمكن أن تتحد الكوريتين أيضًا؟

التقويم: ثلاث نجمات.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although a relatively short novella, this is a multi-layered and complex tale which although on the surface simply a story of half-brothers meeting for the first time encompasses decades of history and explores what it means to live in a divided nation. The author is an acclaimed writer in his native South Korea but I hadn't come across him before and found the comprehensive introduction not just illuminating but pretty much essential to appreciating the book. The narrator of the story hoped to be able to arrange a meeting with his estranged father who had defected to North Korea during the Korean War. The meeting takes so long to arrange that his father dies before it can take place but the fixer offers a meeting with the son of his father's new family in his stead. The meeting between these two men forms the core of the narrative and is both moving and engaging. Both brothers have suffered and been viewed with suspicion throughout their lives due to the father’s defection and are initially suspicious and resentful of each other, But as they talk the bonds of brotherhood seem to conquer the political divide and each learns from their conversations during their meeting. This small personal drama reflects the greater political and social drama of the divide between North and South Korea and the viability of possible reunification. In fact the narrator meets a man called “Mr Reunification” whose passion it is to promote such a possibility. Millions of Korean families are still separated, just like the two brothers, and without sentimentality the author manages to make their predicament – and the predicament of the whole country – compelling and haunting. The political made personal in a convincing and memorable way.

[Reem · Rating 4 out of 5]

الرواية قليلة الصفحات كما هو واضح بالطبع.
كما هو مكتوب في غلافها الخلفي فإنها تتحدث عن لقاء خيالي بين الراوي الذي يعيش في كوريا الجنوبية وأخيه لوالده الذي يعيش في كوريا الشمالية في فترة ليست بعيدة عن انفصال الكوريتين.
الترجمة كانت جيدة، والأسلوب كان بسيطًا. برغم اعتباري لهذه الرواية كوجبة خفيفة إلا أن ما أعجبني فيها العرض.
كيف عرض الكاتب وجهه نظر مؤيدي الوحدة ورافضيها، وكيف يمكن أن يرى الإخوة بعضهما البعض في ظل ظروف سياسية ما. كيف يمكن للسياسة أن تؤثر في مشاعر البشر تجاه بعضهم البعض!

[Amr Ahmed Mansoor · Rating 4 out of 5]

يمثل الكتاب معاناة الكوريتين بعد الانفصال
ايضا يسقط المعاناة لا ع الشكل السياسي و الاقتصادي فقط انما علي الشكل الاجتماعي
اسلوب جميل و طريقة سلسة سهلة
كما ان الكاتب لم يطيل في الوصف

[Hoda Marmar · Rating 5 out of 5]

روعة! يا ريت اقرا روايات تانية للكاتب 3>

[Aliaa Mohamed · Rating 2 out of 5]

الترجمة جافة

[Tonstant Weader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yi Mun-yŏl is one of Korea’s most respected authors. When he was a child, his father abandoned the family, defecting to North Korea. This shamed the family and left them impoverished as they were widely shunned as the family of a traitor. He quit school, contemplated suicide, and found his salvation in writing. In Meeting with My Brother, the main character is also named Yi, also the son of a defector, also the product of an impoverished struggle as the son of a traitor, also a man saved by writing, also famed throughout the world for his writing.

Yi Mun-yŏl thought for many years his father had died in one of the many North Korean purges, however after more than 30 years silence, he received a letter from his father telling him he had five siblings. In the novel, the fictional Professor Yi discovers his father is alive and travels to China where it borders North Korea in order to see his father who can be relatively easily brought across the border. Sadly, Kim, the man arranging it all was too slow and his father died, but Kim offers to arrange a meeting with his brother instead. The fictional Yi is surprised to learn he has siblings, two brothers and a sister, but agrees that he would like to meet him.

This is a quiet novel. It’s about the meeting between the South Korean and North Korean brothers, but also about the two countries and unification. There is even a character that Professor Yi calls Mr. Reunification who is there to proselytize. Yi is a subtle writer, planting quiet hints of revelations to come. Mr. Reunification and then a smuggler/tourist who personify a couple political positions toward unification as the brothers personify North and South Korea.

Unification is this dream/nightmare that haunts the Koreas. Families divided for decades dream of coming back together. Yet, those in the South fear the ideology and those in the North fear they will exploited. German unified but not without difficulty. Yemen unified and is now at war. The conversations are small, the story is small and yet, the themes are huge.

Meeting with My Brother will be released April 4th. I received an advance e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.


★★★★
http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpres...

[Juman]

بأسلوب الجمل البسيطة والسرد الذاتي رُسم واقع صريح بكل ايجابياته وسلبياته عن تأثير الانفصال (انفصال الكوريتين) على الشخصيات والاماكن، غلب على الرواية الأسلوب التحليلي والتوثيقي والتاريخ المعلوماتي حول قضية انفصال الكوريتين حيث لا تستطيع ان تقرأ هذه الرو��ية بمعزل عن تاريخ البلدين (شكر خاص للمترجم طاهر البربري على التفصيل الدقيق بهذا الجانب)،
كتبت بأسلوب صريح وواضح ومباشر وهذا يشمل عنوان الرواية "موعد مع أخي" الذي ينضح بساطة،
موعد للأسى والحزن والدهشة والتأمل والغضب والفرح،
في هذا الموعد تعرفتُ على الكثير من التفاصيل الشيقة عن الحياة الكورية وطقوسها وطعامها واحداث تاريخية وسياسية واماكن سياحية.
لا استطيع ان اقول بأنني سعيدة لقراءتها لأنني اشعر بالحزن بسبب تعمقي بالتفاصيل وتركيزي على مشاعر واحاسيس الشخصيات ولكنني بالتأكيد اوصي بقراءتها.

[モーリー · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick read in many senses. It's short and the story moves along. I heard a lot about it before finally reading it myself but I came away with the feeling of "it was okay." Not amazing and not bad either. I wonder if a lot of people praised it just because it's about a meeting of north and south. I don't know. I wouldn't dissuade anyone from reading this novella but wouldn't have them go out of their way either, especially if they were looking for a single example of contemporary Korean literature. I'd recommend Han Kang or Shin Kyung-sook to them instead I think.

[Eugenia Kim]

Review at http://bookoblate.blogspot.com/2011/1...

[Souzeau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a book of action. Informative. Suited my mood.

[Jitse · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There's a traditional ceremony called mangje (망제), ”˜Mourning from Afar.' When an ancestor's burial site can't be found because of war or a natural disaster, we get as close as we can to the burial site and make offerings in that direction."

Yi Mun-yol paints a personal picture of the two opposing political convictions separated by the 38th parallel. Political positions that swiftly crumble upon conversion. The complexities of half a family in the North and half in the South. The political circumstances Yi depicts feel somewhat dated three decades since publication, but the unresolved longing and emotional impact remain and ring true sharp as ever.

There is no moral to Yi's story, only the awareness that this is what Korea has come to: half brothers, living in their respective half countries, who have inherited a situation that neither one wants and that weakens them both, and binds them by keeping them apart.

It’s a one-sit read for everyone who is interested in a story away from the regular North-South narrative and food for thought for anyone who dismisses or embraces reunification too easily.

[Moray Teale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meeting With My Brother is a compelling story on two deliberately related themes as Yi Mun-Yol describes his first encounter with a younger brother he has never met. Towards the end of the Korean War Yi's father, an ardent supporter of the communist regime, fled into North Korea, leaving behind his wife and children in the hope that they would soon be reunited. As Korea remained divided this never came to pass and in trying to trace his father Yi discovers that he has remarried and raised a second family. It's a deeply personal narrative as Yi discovers that his father has recently died and is given the opportunity to meet one of his unknown siblings. The meeting is difficult and thought the narrative is restrained Yi manages to evoke the discomfort, the resentments, the misunderstandings and the uncertainty as two men bound by blood, but little else, jockey for understanding. It's an uncomfortable read but an affective one. Their culture, experience and politics are very different and they struggle to bridge religious and ideological gaps.

Alongside this exploration of the meaning of family runs a wider theme, that of the desirability and viability of a reunited Korea. This is addressed most directly in Yi's conversation with and about a pro-unificationist known as "Mr Unification". Interactions between this idealist and other more wary characters reveal the many challenges facing any plans for a united Korea. Mr Unifications calls on ties blood and a shared land and history, in short that a single "people" should have a single nation.

Yi's reservations about easy reunification based on such a romanticisation of a semi-historical, semi-mythological past are clear scepticism and caution and the practical difficulties and ideological tensions are openly discussed but they are most profoundly illustrated through his discussions with his brother. During these fraught exchanges there are some fascinating insights into Confucian and clan observations and rituals in South Korea and their equivalents (or lack thereof) in the North. The intricacies of family etiquette, particularly regarding the sons' relative responsibilities in honouring their dead father can occasionally be overwhelming but the confusion is actually a powerful support for the story as Yi's brother is equally unfamiliar with them and it becomes clear that a lack of an equally shared tradition shared ground causes suspicion and resentment. There is certainly a possibility for accord but the differences and challenges are starkly revealed.

Meeting With My Brother is a thoroughly realistic, personal and clear-sighted story. Yi is honest and clear about the the problems that dog both halves of Korea, from the economic problems of parts of North Korea to the corruption and exploitation in South Korea, openly admitting to his own collusion in the latter. It is a really admirable explication of the problems facing Koreans now and in the future and the emotional toll of unification on the small scale of two individuals powerfully illustrates the stakes.

Thank you to Columbia University Press and Netgalley for providing a free advance copy of this work.

[Victoria Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dans la série « je comble mes lacunes lentement mais sûrement », je viens de découvrir Yi Mun-yol, célèbre écrivain coréen maintes fois primé, dont je n'avais absolument... jamais entendu parler ! Shame on me !

Tout d'abord et simplement pour le plaisir graphique, voici son nom en coréen :

이문열

Je trouve ces caractères de toute beauté comme le roman que je viens de terminer :

Il s'agit d'une novella, mais je crois qu'un classement dans les essais aurait été tout aussi pertinent. En effet, le voyage de ce professeur vivant en Corée du Sud et qui rend visite à son frère (qu'il n'a jamais vu auparavant) en Corée du Nord n'est ici que le prétexte à la transmission d'une culture (ou de deux, mais... les choses ne sont pas si simples) et à une réflexion sur la place de l'être humain tangible dans nos conceptions idéologiques.

L'écriture limpide de Yi Mun-yol permet à des gens comme moi, n'ayant aucune connaissance de la Corée, de découvrir tout en douceur ce pays et ses traditions. Le passage expliquant la composition des prénoms des enfants d'une famille est superbe. Plus tard dans le livre, la confrontation des rituels funéraires du Nord et du Sud est aussi fort intéressante.

Mais, ce qui fait la beauté de ce livre est ailleurs, dans sa portée universelle. Ce qui est dit ici à propos des deux Corées pourrait s'appliquer en de multiples autres lieux du monde et dans de très nombreuses familles également.

Lors des retrouvailles, les frères cherchent d'abord à montrer qu'ils ont « réussi », qu'ils n'ont rien à envier à l'autre. Puis, vient ensuite la rivalité de l'appartenance (de qui le père était-il plus le père ?). C'est ensuite un échange de « clichés » sur leurs pays respectifs qui se produit, avant que la carapace ne commence à se fendiller et laisse voir une sensibilité commune.

Mais, personne ne baisse sa garde et chacun repart de son côté... sans se retourner ? Pour ces deux-là, c'est impossible, mais ce ne sera pas le cas d'une autre soeur. Peut-être a-t-elle simplement manqué de temps ou n'a-t-elle juste pas été « mise en présence » de son frère...

C'est ce que je retiens de cette fabuleuse lecture : derrière chaque pensée, derrière chaque idée, plaçons un être humain bien concret pour voir si elle tient toujours.

[Maxine · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the Korean War, Yi’s father had deserted his family in South Korea and defected to the North. Now, years later, as the two countries contemplate reunification, Yi has learned not only of his father’s death but that he had another family in North Korea. He decides to meet his half-brother. At first, the meeting seems unlikely to accomplish anything because of shared distrust but, slowly, as the two trade stories of their lives, interestingly often mirroring each other, they begin to realize that although there are clearly differences, perhaps much of what they thought they knew or were taught about each other was not the whole truth.

Meeting with My Brother was written by South Korean author Yi Mun-Yol in 1994 and translated by Heinz Insu Fenkl with Yoosap Chang. The novella is both a semiautobiographical account of Yi’s own life – his father defected to the North after the war - and an examination of the differences and similarities between the two nations and the effects that reunification might have on both sides. Today, as the US and N Korea seem to be facing off in a deadly game of chicken, this book gives a fascinating, and surprisingly nuanced and sympathetic view of North Korea questioning many of the stereotypes of both the North and the South.

Meeting with MY Brother is short and the pacing is slow but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a very interesting read. Not only did I enjoy it but of all the books I have read this year, it may be the most important. It has made me question most of what I though I knew about North Korea and, in his nuanced portrayal of a country painted black by the western press, it provides hope that a peaceful solution to the rising conflict can be reached. I cannot recommend it highly enough to anyone who is interested to see a different view of Korea than that portrayed in western media.

Thanks to Netgalley and Columbia University Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Meeting with My Brother, two brothers who have never met because of the early 1950s Korean War, make furtive arrangements through a go-between to do so in a town near the Chinese border. The son from the South is in a travelers' group; the one from the North is visiting an Uncle. The translation flows very well; the reader can appreciate the feelings of characters from each side of the divide and some issues such as reunification and preservation of Korean culture from before the division. In essence, the psychological portraits of the two men in response to the broken family and their overturned preconceptions make for good reading. The excellent introduction provides a valuable background to this semi-autobiographical novella and its author.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first experience of Korean literature and, although a slim volume, I found it quite a challenging read as it contains a lot of detail about the history and politics of Korea, notably the separation of North and South Korea and prospects for reunification. There are a lot of allegorical features with characters representing particular aspects of ideological thought, such as Mr Reunification. Similarly the two brothers really represent the two parts of the divided nation. Only a small portion of the book covers the narrator’s meeting with his half-brother and, for me, these were the most successful aspects of the book with some interesting details of Korean tradition and rituals. The other parts I found quite dry. At times I felt the book verged on political essay rather than novel. What does comes across from the two brothers’ sharing of their experiences is that the people of each part of the divided Korea have suffered as a consequence of war, retribution (the law of “guilt by association”) and economic collapse. Ultimately, grief over their father’s death and this commonality of experience brings (albeit limited) reconciliation between the divided families.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of NetGalley and Columbia University Press
Review to follow closer to publication.

Find this and other reviews on my blog: https://whatcathyreadnext.wordpress.com/

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yi Mun-Yol's 'Meeting with My Brother' is a slim little thing. Weighing it at just 92 pages under the best of circumstances, it's a featherweight of a novella that attempts to punch above its weight.

Set in the early 90's, 'Meeting with My Brother' follows the life of a fictional Professor Yi as he reunites with his half-brother Yi Hyeok following news of his father's death in North Korea.
The movement is slow as tension builds between the conflicting, and eventually colliding, histories of both families.

Using both Yi's as proxies for their respective nations, author Yi explores the human component amidst the political, social, and economic turmoil that reunification promises. It carries within it the whisper of Tolstoy's voice as the author weaves political critique, local customs and costume, and socioeconomic worries into its fabric.

'Meeting with My Brother' treads quietly, but quickly through the aforementioned ideas. It is almost a miracle that any single element could be addressed in the abbreviated length of the work- which is the book's weakness. Without time to sufficiently develop in the strong reader an urgency for the reuniting of family, any true heartbreak for the protagonist's position, the story attempts to punch above it's class. Much like the two Korea's histories, it fails to rise to a climax and bring resolution to the reader.

-RW

[فاطمة م.نور · Rating 4 out of 5]

رغم الحديث الكبير عن الكوريتين اقتصاديا وسياسيا لكنني أحببتها، لأنني أفهم ولو قليلا عن الثقافة التي تحدث عنها، وكذلك أسلوب المؤلف جيد وإنساني، يأتي الحديث على لسان الشخصيات حيا ومعبرا عن آراءها، لا ميتا لملء الصفحات فقط، والترجمة جميلة أيضا
مقطع لقاء الأخوين من الرواية، تمنيت لو كنت أجيد الكورية لأقرأه أو أني سمعته بطريقة ما، لأني أردت أن أعرف أي أسلوب يستخدمان؟ الرسمي أم الغير رسمي؟ وكذلك بالنسبة لحوارهما الأخير

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I picked this novella up on a whim as part of trying to learn more about Korean history, and it's excellent. Although sold as fiction, it has a very autobiographical feel and there's a lot to unpack about family, abandonment, political conviction, and ideology.

[V.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley, review to come.

[Krystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a revelation about life in Korea! This book managed to capture the emotional aftermath of social and political conflict on family relations. Such brilliant insight is a rare gem!