Dd's Umbrella

From one of Korea's most celebrated contemporary writers, a novel about queer family-building and resistance in the aftermath of the Candlelight Revolution.

d, a nonbinary gig worker living in Seoul, briefly escapes the grasp of isolation when they meet dd, only to be ensnared by grief when dd dies in a car accident. As d grapples with personal loss, South Korea reckons with the aftermath of the Sewol ferry disaster that claimed over 300 lives.

This formally inventive novel is composed of two novellas: the first from d's perspective and the second from that of a writer contemplating a book they may never write. Both figures live on the margins--queer, working-class, and part of nontraditional family structures.

As protests over the Sewol ferry disaster and calls for the president's impeachment sweep Korea, the novel explores how progressive movements often sideline women and sexual minorities in pursuit of the 'greater cause'. dd's Umbrella is a meditative and off-centre novel about mourning and revolution.

About the author

Hwang Jungeun is one of the bright young things of Korean literature, having published three collections of short stories and four novels to date. One Hundred Shadows (2010), her first novel, was both a critical and commercial success; its mix of oblique fantasy, hard-edge social critique, and offbeat romance garnered the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award and the Korean Booksellers’ Award.e. yaewon translates from and into Korean. She has translated the work of Djuna Barnes, Samuel Beckett, Han Kang, Hwang Jungeun, Deborah Levy, and Ali Smith.

Product details

• Authors: Hwang Jungeun, Jungeun Hwang
• Assisted by: E. Yaewon (Translation), e.yaewon (Translation), Emily Yae Won (Translation), E. Yaewon (Translation)
• Publisher: External catalogues UK
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 29.01.2024
• EAN: 9781911284949
• ISBN: 978-1-911284-94-9
• Dimensions: 130 mm x 200 mm x 20 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Gift books, albums, perpetual calendars, postcard booklets; Guides; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), FICTION / Literary, Fiction in translation, Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary