Silver Stallion: A Novel of Korea [Hardcover]

Ahn Junghyo (Author), Chong-Hyo An (Author), Junghyo Ahn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1990

In a mountain village in Korea, 1950, the memory of the Japanese occupation has just begun to fade when the farmers hear that the World Army, led by the great American General "Megado," has landed at Inchon.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The second novel by this popular Korean writer ( White Badge ) to be published here in the last six months offers an intimate, mournful perspective on the Korean War, as the harmony of a tiny village is destroyed by the arrival of friendly foreign troops. In 1950, the hamlet of Kumsan is much the same as it was a century earlier; a rich elder serves as the arbiter of propriety, children play together in gangs, men farm and women run the households. But when air raids begin and Western soldiers (called bengkos --big noses) set up camp, Kumsan's delicate structure collapses. The author keeps his scale small but faultlessly detailed, letting events unfold primarily through the eyes of Mansik, a young boy whose mother is raped by soldiers and then shunned by the other villagers; eventually, she seeks work in a prostitute shantytown to feed her children. Though his subjects--the casual devastation wrought by armies and the cruel hypocrisy that can seethe within small communities--are anything but new, the author handles them with passion and precision.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Korean

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 269 pages
• Publisher: Soho Press (January 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0939149303
• ISBN-13: 978-0939149308
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #810,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Korean War as seen through the eyes of a Korean boy., May 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Silver Stallion: A Novel of Korea (Hardcover)

If you're anything like me, then you grew up viewing the Korean War in 30-minute snippets of "dramedy" called M*A*S*H. The truth is that most Americans, and most other people as well, have not had the opportunity to see the war years from a Korean standpoint. In his fictional novel, Silver Stallion, Ahn Junghyo captures the intricate emotional travails of a rural Korean community that suddenly finds itself unable to hide from the pains of war. Intermixed with the personal drama of the lead character, a young boy named Mansik, Ahn Junghyo details the struggles that tore apart the traditional Korean social order of the 1950's. What makes this work such a powerful novel is the author's character-based writing style. He uses characters that are, at the same time, stereotypically familiar and uniquely human. Silver Stallion, as a work of literature, is compelling and engaging. As an historical tale, it is invaluable and crucial to understanding modern-day Korea. Ahn Junghyo's novel should not only be appreciated for its historical relevancy and practicality, but for its literary simplicity and genuine humanity.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Koreans' delimma with its past experience, June 9, 1999

By 

May Lee ([e-mail]) (Washington D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silver Stallion: A Novel of Korea (Hardcover)

The destructive magnitude of war on people is immeasurable. Lingering memories of the war often scar victims and survivors, especially children, for life. Ahn Junghyo, a renowned Korean writer, tactfully recaptures his own memory of the Korean War that broke out on June 25, 1950 in this heart wrenching and disturbing novel, Silver Stallion. Ahn tries to unravel the complexity of the war and fathom the impacts that the war has on Koreans. Kumsan, a remote and picturesque village, seems to have escaped from the outbreak of the war. The lives of the village people appear undisturbed and the children spend their carefree days running in the woods in search of the Legendary General and his silver stallion,unaware of arrival of the UN liberators and the communist enemies. The life as they know it shatters when two UN servicemen violate widow Ollye one evening. From that point onward, the entire village headed by the patriarch Old Hwang accompanies by other adults and children shuns Ollye and her children, Mansik and Nanhi; even though the villagers know she has been an unfortunate victim, conservative Confucian values continues to prevail. Ahn seems to tell us that Kumsan's rustic and purity has consequently been ruined in the hands of the western imperial powers. The plot thickens when an American military base--Omaha-stations at the Cucumber Island, whish is located across the river from Kumsan. Aside from the presence of the foreign personnel on the island,prostitution becomes rampant, attracting numerous poverty stricken and socially rejected women into selling their bodies for money. Conservative Kumsan villagers perceive the flourishing prostitution as an indicator of moral bankruptcy in Korea, and Old Hwang is especially outraged by this encroaching phenomenon. There is an ambiguous point of view of the island and the arrival of these unwelcome intruders. On one hand, both adults and children scavenge the garage piles in search of food and other material goods to supplement their measly diet. On the other hand, I think Ahn attempts to imply that the presence of the military base and the introduction of prostitution are extensions of the pervasive colonial imperialism that has begun to take a toll on the conventional Korean society. Ahn writes that the rapid changes taking place around Kumsan also have rippling effects on the children. This impact can be seen in two ways. First, instead of running freely in the wood or fighting against the nearby village boys in defending honor and bravery, Kusman boys engage in physical aggression against the other clan boys for food and territory on the Cucumber Island. Second, the conflict between Mansik and his playmate intensifies when Mansik verbally threatens Chandol and Jun to kill them for watching Ollye at nights. The fight between the boys extends beyond the usual fistfights; in this case, a firearm is involved which concerns with the matter of life and death. Perhaps the boys symbolize the oppressed Koreans in the sense that they want to defend itself against the invading foreign encroachment. Ahn provides a detail account of the ambivalent sentiment that Koreans felt at the outbreak of the war in 1950. The liberators advanced their imperial interests at the expense of the suffering of Korean people, completely unconcern with their welfare and well being. The legacy of the imperialist aggression left Koreans baffled with its war torn past. Most importantly, Ahn concludes the story with an open ending with Mansik looking forward to the uncertain future, as an assertion that Korea is as resilient as the child who will one day rebound and reconstruct itself as a proud nation.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Haunting and tragic - great translation by author, February 20, 2006

By 

B. Schemer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silver Stallion: A Novel of Korea (Paperback)

This was recommended to me by a Korean literary authority as one of the best translations of any Korean novel into English (it's translated by Mr. Junghyo). It's about South Korean children who live in a village near an American military base during the Korean War. The story is engaging from the start, shifting from the Huck Finnish adventures of the children to scenes of war, violence and prostitution; it is punctuated with extremely haunting, tragic (and occassionally beautiful) images. I highly recommend it -- it's better than "White Badge" (Mr. Junghyo's apparently better-known novel about Korean soldiers in the Vietnam War).