Deep Blue Night
By In-ho Choi
1993
First Published
3.56
Average Rating
83
Number of Pages
Better known as a novelist, Choe In-ho has also written strikingly original shorter fictions, of which the stories reprinted here are good examples. "Deep Blue Night" is an autobiographical story that is both contemporary in being structured about a highway journey and yet traditional in its themes of exile, wandering, and retrospection. Of interest to an English-speaking audience are the California setting and the protagonist's observations on American and Korean-American life. "The Popular Tree" is one of a trio of stories, Strange Folk, that are reminiscent of Choe's signature stories The Boozer and Another Man's Room, which likewise blur the boundaries between fantasy and reality. It may be read as a coming-of-age story, a fable of hero worship and shattered illusions, or an example of magical realism, with its blend of vivid detail and playful metaphysical speculation.
Avg Rating
3.56
Number of Ratings
43
5 STARS
21%
4 STARS
26%
3 STARS
47%
2 STARS
2%
1 STARS
5%
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Author
In-ho Choi
Author · 3 books
Choi In-ho was born in 1945 in Seoul and graduated from English literature from Yonsei University. He first came to public notice when three of his stories were selected in competitions sponsored by the Hanguk ilbo and Chosun ilbo newspapers and the journal Sasanggye (World of Thought), in 1963, 1967, and 1968. In 1982 he received the sixth Yi Sang Literature Prize.
