Atmospheric and fast-paced, this novel of manners set in a provincial South Korean city leads readers through the silent corridors of a school for hearing-impaired children and the city's foggy back streets and murky centers of power to a stirring courtroom climax. Gong Ji-young's Togani (The Crucible), published in Korean in 2009, is based on a historic case of child sexual abuse at a state-run institution. The novel went on to sell nearly a million copies and, along with a 2011 film adaptation directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, prompted the South Korean National Assembly to pass the "Togani Laws" to provide greater legal protections for children and vulnerable adults under state care and harsher penalties for those convicted of their abuse. At a time when Korean popular culture drives cultural production worldwide, Togani reminds us of the power of fiction to effect meaningful societal change. A story of courage in the face of corruption, Togani offers nuanced portraits of a failed young businessman seeking a new life as a teacher and his counterpart, a young woman committed to a career in human rights; a police officer of humble origins who rose through the ranks as he turns a blind eye to the abuse of students by the school's administrators; and a hearing-impaired teenage girl, a victim of that abuse, who cares deeply for the other children at the school. The book testifies to the legacy of neo-Confucian class conflict, gender disparity, and the vulnerability of those near the bottom of the social ladder. It is a heart-wrenching and provocative work that helped bring about change to a system it dared to challenge.

Togani (Modern Korean Fiction)

GONG, Ji-young

Literature & Fiction

University of Hawaii Press

An amazing novel about forgiving and being forgiven, about loving and being loved, and about happiness - that can be found in a truly unlikely place. Yujeung - beautiful, bright, wealthy - is lying in her hospital bed, recovering from her third suicide attempt, when she receives a visit that will change her life. Her no-nonsense aunt, a nun, appears and suggests yujeung accompany her on a charitable visit to death row. At first, yujeung is resistant. But something compels her to go to the prison, and there she meets yunsu, a convicted murderer who will soon be put to death. Though repulsed by his crimes, yujeung is struck by the depth of his suffering. She returns to visit him the next week. And the next. During their much-anticipated hour-long encounters, yujeung and yunsu slowly reveal to each other the dark secrets of their pasts, the hidden traumas that have shaped their lives and they form a deep bond. But yunsu's hands are always in cuffs, the prison officers are permanently in t

Our Happy Time

Short Books Ltd

NOS JOURS HEUREUX

Genre Fiction

PICQUIER

Nuestros tiempos felices

Contemporary

LA ESFERA DE LOS LIBROS, S.L.

Dining Table of Poet

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Books by GONG, Ji-young