MY FATHER'S LIBERATION
by Jeong Ji-A
Description
“Father died. Slammed his head into a telephone pole. A very serious man had seriously come to the end of a seriously lived life by seriously slamming his head against a telephone pole. [...] Goddamn it.”
Following her father’s sudden death (bumping himself onto a telephone pole), Ari Ko returns to her hometown to host a three-day funeral.
Ari was once close to her father, but as she grew older, she found it increasingly difficult to understand him. Her father, a former communist partisan who fought in the Korean War, lived by the principle of "Serve the People," a belief that only brought troubles to their doorstep.
However, as friends and comrades recounts her father’s life during the funeral—his glorious days as a partisan, his fake treachery to protect his people, his tangled relationship with his family—Ari realizes that there are a lot about her father she didn’t know.
Ten years in the making, this semi-autobiographical novel has sold over 300,000 copies and received praise from the former Korean president, Moon. Jeong Ji-A, in honor of her partisan parents, brings to light Korea's overlooked history and the unsung partisan fighters.
"My parents were socialists. After South Korea forcibly established a government ruling only the South with the support of the United States, they both cried out for national unification and class liberation, infiltrating Jirisan to start an armed struggle. Ultimately failing, they served long prison sentences before returning to farm in the capitalist society of South Korea. Did my parents ever feel wronged? I believe they never felt wronged or defeated. They simply did what they could at the time, quietly living through their destined days.
They never let frustration, anger, or sadness dominate their lives. " -- Jeong Ji-A, from exclusive preface for Complex Chinese edition
More Information
Rights Information
- World English (HaperVia)
- Complex Chinese (Solo)
- Simplified Chinese (Thinkingdom)
- Japanese (Kawade Shobo Shinsha)
- Vietnamese (AZ)
- French (Zulma)
- Russian (Eksmo)
Marketing Information
Endorsements
“MY FATHER'S LIBERATION by Jung Jiah is the story of a failed revolutionary, but at the same time a very funny and poignant tale of a man who lived as best he could by his principles to the end of his life. Overflowing tragedy spills over into comedy as Korea's ongoing national division between North and South is both mourned and sent up in this hilarious and intimate portrait of a recently dead father, showing us that the monsters of the Red Scare of yesteryear were never more than our neighbors, our friends, and our highly flawed parents. Jung's keen ear for dialect and dialogue encapsulates in this thin volume the whole of the life of a passionate man and the impact of his decisions on his country, his family, and history itself.” -- Anton Hur, translator and author
"Space is also crucial in the novel. While the funeral home serves as the primary narrative setting, the story extends to Pannei Valley and Gurye. People gather to mourn Ko Sang-wook, expressing gratitude, regret, resentment, and anger, blending these emotions in a melting pot, a setup reflecting the ideological conflicts still needing careful navigation today. The novel's rich tapestry of events unfolds through the compressed and expanded settings of time and space." -- Lu Hong-Jin, from Translator's Note
Author Biography
Jeong Ji-A (b. 1965) received her PhD in Creative Writing at Chung-Ang University. She won numerous awards, such as Lee Hyo-seok Literary Award and Kim Yu-jeong Literary Award. Her previous published works include short stories collection and a novel, THE PARTISAN’S DAUGHTER, which is considered a precursor of MY FATHER’S LIBERATION.
The Grayhawk Agency
Founded in 2008 by Gray Tan, we are a leading literary agency in Asia, representing over 200 foreign publishers and agents in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. We also represent a select list of Asian authors in film/tv and translation, whose works have been licensed in over 30 countries and to production companies in Asia, Europe, and Hollywood.
View all titlesBibliographic Information
- Publisher Changbi
- Publication Date September 2022
- Orginal LanguageKorean
- ISBN/Identifier 9788936438838
- Publication Country or regionSouth Korea
- FormatPaperback
- Pages268
- ReadershipGeneral
- Publish StatusPublished
- Original Language Title아버지의 해방일지
- Original Language Authors정지아
- Copyright Year2022
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