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I only want so little,” said the Head hastily, “I’m only asking that you keep dumping your body waste in the toilet so I can finish the rest of my body.
The South Korean author has a PhD in Slavic literature and teaches Russian language and literature and science fiction studies at Yonsei University. I am not going to lie to you: there are unsettling, creepy and even sickening things, scenes, characters and events in Bora Chung's stories but the book is so absorbing that, to my amazement, I did not mind them most of the time. Chung’s pieces directly or indirectly comment on the pressures of living in a patriarchal culture, the exploitation of others that’s part and parcel of a particularly vicious phase of capitalism, as well as the restrictions of family and the terrible secrets they can harbour. Had some giant trapped inside the cave of the night sky struck their chains against some unimaginably large wall to create the stars?
I was told how quirky this book would be, but my brain is still processing it the whole time (like wtf am I reading). But the grotesque is always in service of the themes Chung explores - womanhood, capitalism, patriarchy, gaslighting, and others. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it, but for me it was a little uneven, and though some of the stories are powerful and moving, others are rather difficult to comprehend.
The opening story in Cursed Bunny is about a woman who spends her life being followed by a malformed head that emerges from her toilet.
These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Some of the stories were quite thought-provoking, but often the messages they were trying to convey were a bit too obvious for my liking. I could also understand how, in a situation where there was a single person who could kill you but also save you, all your survival instincts would be used towards satisfying that person. The first thing that stands out about Cursed Bunny is Bora Chung’s fluency in the language of the grotesque. She goes to great lengths to satisfy someone and is betrayed in the end for it, having merely been a pawn in the game.
It is published by Honford Star whose mission is to publish the best literature from East Asia, be it classic or contemporary . Anton Hur’s translation skillfully captures the way Chung’s prose effortlessly glides from being terrifying to wryly humorous. The title of the second story (third originally), Embodiment (몸하다) raises some translation issues as in Korean 몸 means body, but the verb 몸하다 - “to body”- can also mean to menstruate, which Hur deftly explains in the form of a dictionary entry style epigraph.I also don't know if it's the translation (done by Anton Hur) or Chung's writing style, but the repetition within the text and the constant use of the passive voice was very irritating to me. Anton Hur's translation skilfully captures the way Chung's prose effortlessly glides from being terrifying to wryly humorous. I don't generally enjoy short story collections as I like to spend a lot of time with fictional characters and get to know and love (or despise) them. These sharp social critiques and eerie stories are so well balanced and so much fun, I certainly will be thinking about them for a long time to come.
Apesar desses muito gêneros agradarem de forma diferente diferentes leitores, Bora Chung consegue realizar ótimos trabalhos em cada um. It comes to a crescendo in “The Embodiment,” where a woman becomes mysteriously pregnant without any sexual activity. The first two stories will grab your attention and probably determine if you set the book aside or not. Surreal and grotesque, with gestures towards supernatural, fabular and weird fiction, this is a mixed bag of stories.Anyone who loved Cursed Bunny would likely get a lot out of Kristen Roupenian’s You Know You Want This, and vice versa. We are experiencing delays with deliveries to many countries, but in most cases local services have now resumed.
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