Of Tales and Enigmas [Paperback]

Minsoo Kang (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 19, 2006

A beautiful lady who can only be seen from far away, a machine that generates an entire civilization, a king who loves the hidden life of an inanimate statue, a city that appears once a year across a great chasm, an ancient Korean king assassinated in the dark of the night, a ghost that haunts soldiers on the DMZ - these are just some of the marvels you will encounter in these stories from the transcultural and metafictional imagination of Minsoo Kang. In diverse narratives grouped under the titles of Tales from a Lost History, Fables of the Dream World, and Stories from an Imaginary Homeland, Kang explores the nature and possibilities of storytelling itself as he spins out variations on an episodic theme, reinterprets an old myth, and struggles with a past that seeks a voice in the present. The result is a marvelously surrealistic landscape where histories, ideas, and legends freely intermingle and dance to the music of wonder and longing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The 15 exquisitely crafted stories in Kang's first collection will delight fans of literary fantasy. The five tales in the section "Tales from a Lost History" exemplify Kang's theory, as stated in "The Beautiful and Useful Machine," that humanity emerged from prehistory by recording myths, memories and activities. Five shorter pieces, in "Fables of the Dream World," approach the mythic dimension lurking in the human subconscious, while the five "Stories from an Imaginary Homeland" seem drawn from Kang's own dark experiences in the South Korean army. Each tale hinges on some sudden remembrance whose significance only occurs to its narrator after contact with a traumatic event. Most are multilayered, subtly emphasizing the role of the storyteller who alone can make sense of, and thus heal, the damage caused by human wickedness. Poignant and revealing, nostalgic and concealing, Kang's paradoxical short fiction handsomely bears out D.H. Lawrence's equally enigmatic advice: "Never trust the artist. Trust the tale." (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Prime (August 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809557967
• ISBN-13: 978-0809557967
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,122,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Minsoo Kang is a historian specializing in the intellectual and cultural history of Western Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and a fiction writer. Due to his father's occupation as a diplomat for South Korea, Kang has lived in Korea, Austria, New Zealand, Iran, Brunei, Germany, United States, and other places for shorter periods. He served in the army of the Republic of Korea and earned his Ph.D. in European History at UCLA. He is current an associate professor at the history department of University of Missouri - St. Louis. With the publication of his book on the history of automata - Sublime Dreams of Living Machines (2011: Harvard University Press) - he is currently working on understanding automata from the perspective of gender theory, and a novel about automata. His short story 'A Fearful Symmetry' from his book of stories - Of Tales and Enigmas (2007: Prime Books) - was included in the 2007 'Year's Best Fantasy and Horror' collection.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb book! Mysterious, illuminating, entertaining, October 9, 2006

By 

B. Schemer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Of Tales and Enigmas (Paperback)

Minsoo Kang's stories are wonderful, contemplative and alluring tales and I highly recommend this book -- which looks on the surface to be in the fantasy/science fiction category -- to anybody who likes intelligent fiction. Kang has a raconteur's gusto for telling a good tale and is also a historian, disciplined and dedicated to ferreting meaning out of past events. As a result his is a book of stories about stories about unreal places and events -- a smorgasbord for the imagination but one that lucidly guides the reader through its metafictional space. You'll see what I mean. Along the way you'll encounter situations and characters that have, like "real" myths, the power to bore into your subconscious and linger there -- like the king who makes love to a statue until his "seed" brings it to life and an unexpectedly poignant, forgive me, climax. The book jacket mentions Italo Calvino and Borges as pretty obvious comparisons, but I was reminded more of Oscar Wilde while reading the book. You will want to discuss/share these stories with a friend -- they are truly thought provoking.

5.0 out of 5 stars A magical and mentally thrilling collection of stories!, February 5, 2007

By 

C. Raia (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Of Tales and Enigmas (Paperback)

Minsoo Kang is part philosopher part troubadour - telling tales of "history, controversy and geomancy" that take the reader to worlds that feel at once mythical and familiar. His characters are caught in elusive parables with plots that flicker between the heroic and the ironic - a monk who renounces a beautiful girl only to be seduced by his own vanity, a golden emperor trapped in a fantastic world of the utterly mundane, seekers on a journey to the nonexistent center of the universe . . . Kang's stories disturb the mind and enchant the emotions with their poetic scholarship and soulful metaphysics. I would especially recommend this book for literature study at the high-school or college level - Kang's multi-disciplinary style of narrative has many layers to explore. Or better yet - give it as a gift to a good friend. It's a totally original travel destination for the brain they will deeply appreciate.