2020/12 One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun

[Aleksandra]

This is a thread for our December 2020 Book Club reading, One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun.

[Books on Asia]

Still waiting for my copy to arrive, but really look forward to reading it.

[Henk]

I also ordered it and am still waiting for it.

[Aleksandra]

I will start on it this weekend.

If needed, perhaps we can extend the discussion onto January? Who knows how long deliveries may take during covid and before the holiday break...

[Henk]

That is a good point Aleksandra.

[Books on Asia]

Yes, busy with festivities around the New Year, this may be a reasonable thing to do.

[Carol]

I won't get to it until January, but am looking forward to the discussion, whether I'm late or on time.

[Books on Asia]

My book will arrive on Dec 23.

[Bill]

After setting it down a couple of times for days as I read other books, I got back to it this evening and finished it.

I liked the market, the shops, and the characters, even their sad backstories. What I didn't care for was the shadows. The shadows weren't given any meaning by the author, and weren't essential to the plot. It's as if the author took two shorter works (one of which was about shadows) and pieced them together to make something long enough to call a novel.

I wish it had all been about Mujae and Eungyo and their jobs and relationship, and the shadows had been left behind.

[Aleksandra]

Carol wrote: "I won't get to it until January, but am looking forward to the discussion, whether I'm late or on time."

Books on Asia wrote: "My book will arrive on Dec 23."

I think we should allow more time for our Korean reads anyway, it looks like most of us don't have copies at hand when we start reading, especially because the group is relatively new :)

[Aleksandra]

Bill wrote: "After setting it down a couple of times for days as I read other books, I got back to it this evening and finished it.

I liked the market, the shops, and the characters, even their sad backstories..."

I was also puzzled by the role of shadows in the narrative, but I figured that maybe there is something to them which I am not getting.

So far, I found one reading which claims that shadows symbolize social injustices:

Hwang does not stop at giving a general commentary on the injustice of eviction or the rights of the tenants. What she focuses on are the shadows of these social minorities. These shadows reinforce social violence and threaten to swallow their owners in the end. In short, the shadows are a symbol of all injustice in society.

Could any member of society, however, claim to be free of shadows? Everybody has shadows. As long as injustice exists, all of us are minorities of a sort. Nobody can remain untouched by the problems of society.

It is possible, though, that the author of the quote has amended the content of the book with their own meanings and the entire supernatural part of the book should be taken as is.

I look forward to more interpretations, also as others read, because the relation of shadows and injustice is still not clear to me.

[Betty]

The book was in today's mail delivery. Just a thought now, paragraphs two and three in Han Kang's Introduction give agency to the shadow, drawing up out of the body what might be a soul, as what may happen at physical death, when the body and its surroundings cannot mutually coexist.

[Em]

I finished this yesterday and found it to be a short but enjoyable read. I know people (for whatever reason) like to throw around 'magical realism' pretty freely when it comes to Asian literature, but this is one of the (rare?) novels where I feel like the label actually fits. The role of the shadows is never explained because, in the world of the novel, it's a common and accepted occurrence. It seems strange to us as readers because the setting is otherwise realistic, but the characters themselves seem to feel no need to go into detail describing a basic fact of life. Personally, I liked it that way.

I can see the shadows and their 'rising' as metaphors for mental illness, or perhaps more specifically an individual succumbing to certain mental/emotional states– depression, disillusionment, disconnect from the rest of society, and the like. Such feelings could certainly be attributed to social injustice and oppression in some cases and it would make sense that minorities would spend more time thinking about and dealing with their shadows than more privileged people. But the idea of the shadows standing for social injustice itself doesn't quite fit the impression I get from the novel. The various interactions described between people and their rising shadows seems, to me, to indicate something akin to depression more than anything else.

I really see the link between mental illness/depression and shadows in how the characters discuss their shadows rising. It's not something that's offered up freely in normal everyday conversation, but once the topic's been broached characters do end up sharing their personal experiences. The existence of shadows is treated as common knowledge, but there's no indication that they're openly discussed in their society– accounts are told in quiet, personal conversations and treated with a certain solemnity by the other characters. I know enough about how mental health is treated in Korean society to be able to see the parallels there.

A minor thing: I really appreciated the short translator's note on the term 'fox rain' (yeowoo-bi) at the beginning of the novel and I wish that similar notes were more common. While I don't think that translators should be expected to educate readers about every cultural minutiae involved in translation, I personally like when certain words or phrases are preserved in a way that conveys the author's intent without having to overly localize the translation.

[Books on Asia]

I just finished the book. The introduction in my copy (Tilted Axis Press) by Han Kang, July 2016 says "This is a world in which those living on the edges of society, at the very bottom of the social scale, are being brought to the limits of what they can endure. When they reach this point, their shadows rise up, startlingly sudden, and start calling them away from their lives."

I didn't have any problem with the shadows. I was very intrigued by them at the beginning of the book and I liked the end, but the middle seemed to dwell a bit on what to me is merely life, as opposed to injustices. "Progress" has been around a long time and people are constantly being moved on and made redundant. Many of us "privileged" have been such victims. While it seems people who are not living on the margins should have an easier time, it never seems easy when it is happening to them. Anyone can fall into the abyss of depression, anxiety, etc. These characters don't, so I feel they are more resilient than others, even stronger. Most seem happy, but just plodding on with what life has given them and making the best of it.

[Alwynne]

I really liked this, the translation seemed very smoothly done, and apart from the slightly abrupt beginning I was completely caught up in Hwang's story, I thought it was a very innovative approach to social critique. I see your point 'Books' about life, but I thought the argument being made was that life could be otherwise, the problems encountered were related to a system in which simple human connection and emotions are overridden by profit, tied to the relentless form of capitalism that is so prevalent in countries like Korea and mine for that matter And yes, I agree with you Emily, the shadows did seem to operate to open up dialogues about things that were repressed or otherwise unspoken, making the cultural mythological. I thought overall it was a very impressive piece.

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Betty]

Jung Yewon's translation makes for a vivid reading regarding the descriptions in the text yet portrays the diaphanous shadows. The characters, especially Eungyo, conveys a delicate portrait, aware and flowing at the same time. Mr. Yeo seamlessly finds a different location in the old market buildings, as does Mujae happily setting out in the dilapidated car. They live in the present and change with the circumstances.

[Henk]

I didn’t really click with this book. The dialogue felt very toddler like for lack of another term, with 6 repetitions in one conversation (especially when it comes to enigmatic whorls). The last part was enjoyable and had some profound exposure to the plight of people at the fringe of (Korean) society.
But I found the lack of explanation on the supernatural shadows and whorl annoying, since it didn’t seem to be used storywise in reaching a resolution to the book.