Jan 28: Concerning My Daughter by Kim Hye-jin
January 28, Saturday
Friendly discussion about the novel, Concerning My Daughter written by Kim Hye-jin and translated from the Korean by Jamie Chung. Published by Restless Books.
Discussion hosted by Aruni Kashyap.
Remember to:
Get yourself a copy of the book! (Click here to purchase the book online)
About the book
When a widowed, aging mother allows Green, her thirty-something daughter, to move into her apartment, all she wants for her is a stable and quiet existence like her own. Ideally, a steady income and, most importantly, a good husband with whom to start a family. But when Green turns up with her long-term girlfriend in tow, her mother is enraged and unwilling to welcome their relationship into her home. Having centered her life on her husband and child, her daughter’s definition of family is not one she can accept. Green’s involvement in a campus protest against unfair dismissals of gay colleagues throws her into deeper shambles. Meanwhile, the nursing home where she works insists that she lower her standard of care for Jen, an elderly dementia patient who traveled the world as a successful diplomat, chose not to have children, and has no family. Outraged, Green’s mother begins to reconsider the unfair consequences of choosing one’s own path.
Kim Hye-jin taps into the complexities of mother-daughter dynamics while unearthing the mechanisms of violence that target LGBTQ communities in traditional societies. Elegantly translated from the Korean by Jamie Chang, Concerning My Daughter shines a light on all facets of familial love and conflict.
About the author and the translator
Kim Hye-jin was born in Daegu, Korea, in 1983. In 2012, her story ‘Chicken Run’ won Dong-A Ilbo’s Spring Literary Award. She won the Joongang Novel Prize for Joongang Station, the Shin Dong-yup Prize for Literature for Concerning My Daughter and the Daesun Literary Award in 2020 for Worker No.9.
Jamie Chang is a literary translator. She has translated Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo. She lives in Korea with her wife and dog.
About the host
Aruni Kashyap is a writer, translator (from and into Assamese) and academic. He is the author of His Father’s Disease, a collection of stories, The House With a Thousand Stories, novel and There is No Good Time for Bad News, a poetry collection. He is also Associate Professor of English at the University of Georgia (Athens) and the Director of Creative Writing Program.
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