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My Very Last Possession and Other Stories
An anthology of ten short stories by one of Korea's foremost living writers. Pak Wanso is the author of five novels, including The Naked Tree, and of several best-selling volumes of short prose. Her works have sold millions of copies in Korea, where the public and critics alike have applauded Pak as a masterful realist. The literary world of Pak depicts the trials of the Korean War and the subsequent three decades of upheaval during which Korea was transformed from a military dictatorship and an agriculturally based society to an urban industrialized, albeit troubled, democracy. Pak offers a searching woman's perspective on radical changes in Korean family structures and social values, exposing the cruelty and hypocrisy of Korea's Confucian traditions, which have subjugated women for centuries. Her realistic prose also portrays the dehumanizing impacts of the capitalist market order that characterizes Korea today. With rich insight, Pak presents moral ambiguities inherent in Korea's society today and encourages her readers to question the injustices that prevail in the more impersonal and often alienated world emerging in a "globalized" Korea.
Hardcover
First published September 7, 1998
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About the author
Park Wan-suh
113 books82 followersSee 박완서
Park Wan Suh (also Park Wan-seo, Park Wan-so, Park Wansuh, Park Kee-pah and Pak Wan-so, Pak Wanso) was born in 1931 in Gaepung-gun in what is now Hwanghaebuk-do in North Korea.Park entered Seoul National University, the most prestigious in Korea, but dropped out almost immediately after attending classes due to the outbreak of the Korean War and the death of her brother. During the war, Park was separated from her mother and elder brother by the North Korea army, which moved them to North Korea. She lived in the village of Achui, in Guri, outside Seoul until her death. Park died on the morning of January 22, 2011, suffering from cancer.
(from Wikipedia)
Park Wan Suh (also Park Wan-seo, Park Wan-so, Park Wansuh, Park Kee-pah and Pak Wan-so, Pak Wanso) was born in 1931 in Gaepung-gun in what is now Hwanghaebuk-do in North Korea.Park entered Seoul National University, the most prestigious in Korea, but dropped out almost immediately after attending classes due to the outbreak of the Korean War and the death of her brother. During the war, Park was separated from her mother and elder brother by the North Korea army, which moved them to North Korea. She lived in the village of Achui, in Guri, outside Seoul until her death. Park died on the morning of January 22, 2011, suffering from cancer.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 24, 2024
Read “Identical apartments” and “A certain barbarity” from this collection of short stories.
It’s eye-opening to me that these short stories were released in 1999, and how the the essence of it and the descriptions of Korean society are ever-present in Korea as how I see and experience it now.
“Barbarians are not living in the jungle but swaggering down city streets with a dog wearing ribbons in their arms. Barbarians are wearing not grass skirts around their waists but suits fitted by first-class tailors. They are relieving themselves in flush toilets and riding escalators to coffee shops.”
Chol’s mom (and family) gets a new toilet that is not a squat toilet which everyone in their street has. This is because a Japanese cousin is coming over to stay at their place, and they, therefore, buy a bidet toilet which also symbolises possessing a higher status (than everyone else), and being more civilised. Consequently, the behaviour and attitude of Chol’s mom change. She doesn’t swear anymore, and behaves elegantly, and patient. She learns Japanese because the Japanese cousin who brought his “Japanese” dog with him can only understand Japanese. The narrator, who’s been suffering from constipation for a long time now, finds it frustrating that Chol’s mom and other children in the street are saying Japanese words. Thus, his constipation persists.
The Japanese cousin eventually goes back to Japan and leaves his dog behind because Chol’s mom apparently became attached to the dog. The narrator hears nothing from Chol’s family and mom for a few days, not even Chol’s mom speaking Japanese to the dog. Then, when he goes to the outhouse/squat toilet) to relieve himself, he hears Chol’s mom cursing and the dog yelping. He feels “a knot of indigestion dissolving inside him” and he eventually gets to relieve himself after a long time. The true, natural state of Chol’s mom has returned, and he feels satisfied. His wife calls the behaviour of Chol’s mom “barbaric” as she hears her abusing the dog. Whereas, Chol’s mom called her neighbours “barbaric” due to still having an outhouse. However, the narrator finds it more barbaric that Chol’s mom pretended to be someone (kind and patient) that she is not; to pretend that she is not “barbaric” made her indeed “barbaric”
“But I'd prefer to understand Chol’s mother by believing that the target of her cruelty is not just Botchang, but herself as well. Beneath the shrill yelps of that dog I think I can make out the groans of her own dull pain.”
I don’t have the energy anymore to write about “Identical apartments” but I have to write a paper about it anyway, so good luck to exam season me :)))
It’s eye-opening to me that these short stories were released in 1999, and how the the essence of it and the descriptions of Korean society are ever-present in Korea as how I see and experience it now.
“Barbarians are not living in the jungle but swaggering down city streets with a dog wearing ribbons in their arms. Barbarians are wearing not grass skirts around their waists but suits fitted by first-class tailors. They are relieving themselves in flush toilets and riding escalators to coffee shops.”
Chol’s mom (and family) gets a new toilet that is not a squat toilet which everyone in their street has. This is because a Japanese cousin is coming over to stay at their place, and they, therefore, buy a bidet toilet which also symbolises possessing a higher status (than everyone else), and being more civilised. Consequently, the behaviour and attitude of Chol’s mom change. She doesn’t swear anymore, and behaves elegantly, and patient. She learns Japanese because the Japanese cousin who brought his “Japanese” dog with him can only understand Japanese. The narrator, who’s been suffering from constipation for a long time now, finds it frustrating that Chol’s mom and other children in the street are saying Japanese words. Thus, his constipation persists.
The Japanese cousin eventually goes back to Japan and leaves his dog behind because Chol’s mom apparently became attached to the dog. The narrator hears nothing from Chol’s family and mom for a few days, not even Chol’s mom speaking Japanese to the dog. Then, when he goes to the outhouse/squat toilet) to relieve himself, he hears Chol’s mom cursing and the dog yelping. He feels “a knot of indigestion dissolving inside him” and he eventually gets to relieve himself after a long time. The true, natural state of Chol’s mom has returned, and he feels satisfied. His wife calls the behaviour of Chol’s mom “barbaric” as she hears her abusing the dog. Whereas, Chol’s mom called her neighbours “barbaric” due to still having an outhouse. However, the narrator finds it more barbaric that Chol’s mom pretended to be someone (kind and patient) that she is not; to pretend that she is not “barbaric” made her indeed “barbaric”
“But I'd prefer to understand Chol’s mother by believing that the target of her cruelty is not just Botchang, but herself as well. Beneath the shrill yelps of that dog I think I can make out the groans of her own dull pain.”
I don’t have the energy anymore to write about “Identical apartments” but I have to write a paper about it anyway, so good luck to exam season me :)))
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June 9, 2023The title story is incredibly beautiful and heartrending. Unimaginable insight into an aging consciousness and one's coping mechanisms. The rest is interesting enough but rather unimaginative, invoking almost identical themes throughout of the generation gap between the Korean War-era and the modern. Nevertheless, I strongly recommend it, if not just for My Very Last Possession itself.
August 30, 2023
An anthology of ten short stories by one of Korea's foremost living writers, Pak Wanseo. Each story depicts the lives of Koreans facing the tragic division and industrial revolution. Also, it portrays women's value in a patriotic society and how family can be a fortress of altruistic love and a prison of injustice at the same time. Since it has a classic writing style, the translation feels hard to read for me. But I enjoyed the experience, especially ‘Farewell at Kimpo’ and ‘My Very Last Possession’
"But to the eyes of the young, how dark must this same world have appeared to make them try to light the way with their own bodies?"
"But to the eyes of the young, how dark must this same world have appeared to make them try to light the way with their own bodies?"
September 6, 2024
Since I couldn't find the story on its own, I decided to mark this volume as the one I've read, since the short narration is part of it.
Title: "She knows, I know, and Heaven Knows" (English), "지 알고 내 알고 하늘이 알건만" (Korean)
Title: "She knows, I know, and Heaven Knows" (English), "지 알고 내 알고 하늘이 알건만" (Korean)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews