Stories Told to the Moon

A collection of 26 novellas colored with humor, irony, and a sympathetic attitude toward a person and their problems.

Our sense of the fragility of human existence, the relentless, short span of time allotted to each of us on Earth, and the impossibility of penetrating another person’s inner world—and truly understanding it completely—all of this we feel in the plots of the 26 novellas included in this book. Each story is colored by humor, ironic but sympathetic treatment of a person and their problems, and gives hope that many things in our lives can be changed for the better if we listen to ourselves more carefully.

Shin Kyung-sook was born in 1963 into a peasant family. Her childhood coincided with the so-called “economic miracle” of South Korea that occurred after the devastating Korean War of 1950–53. From a young age, she worked at a factory, where she witnessed a workers’ uprising that shook South Korea. As a young woman, the future writer herself took part in protests and rallies and lived through an era of terrible political upheavals and repression. In her works, the author often portrays the generation traumatized by those events.

Shin Kyung-sook is a bright representative of contemporary South Korean literature. Her writing, full of lyricism and subtle psychological insight, is highly praised by South Korean and foreign critics, and this recognition is reflected in the fact that she became the first woman in the world to receive the prestigious award—the Asian Booker (Man Asian Literary Prize).