PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Heinz Insu Fenkl is a writer, editor, translator, and folklorist. His first novel, Memories of My Ghost Brother, was a a PEN/Hemingway finalist. He is an associate professor of English at SUNY New Paltz. He also serves on the editorial board of AZALEA- The Journal of Korean Literature & Culture, and is a consulting editor for Words Without Borders. His fiction has been published in The New Yorker, and his story collection, Skull Water, is forthcoming from Graywolf Press. Kim Man-Jung (1637-1692) is generally accepted as the author of The Nine Cloud Dream (Kuunmong), often considered the greatest classic Korean novel. He is said to have composed it in exile as a comfort to his mother. A member of the yangban (ruling class) literari, Kim Man-Jung rose to become the head of the Confucian Academy. His other works include The Record of Lady Sa's Journey South (Sassi Namjeongg).
Man-Jung's tale is a hypnotic journey, a scholarly, instructive Buddhist bildungsroman set across Tang dynasty China, and in Insu Fenkl's skilled translation, a glimpse into the rich crossroads of religions and society therein. --Publishers Weekly
