THE SNOWY ROAD AND OTHER STORIES ...

THE SNOWY ROAD AND OTHER STORIES edited by Hyun-Jae Yee Salee, translated from the Korean by Hyun-Jae Yee Salee & Teresa Margadonna Hyun (White Pine Press: $12.; 167 pp., paperback original). The six authors represented in this anthology of have all won the Korean People’s Literary Award. Most of the tales focus on the daily battles for dignity Korean men and women were forced to wage during the Japanese occupation and the war that resulted in the partition of their country. In the title story, Chung-joon Yee draws a portrait of an urbanized young man trying to free himself from the filial obligations that tie him to his peasant origins. Jung-rae Cho’s “Echo, Echo” describes one family’s battle against the exterior forces that destroy their way of life, while “Winter Outing” by Wan-suh Park confirms the need for traditional hospitality and a sense of duty toward the less fortunate.