Bora Chung

En la obra de Bora Chung, lo cotidiano y lo sobrenatural se entrelazan para representar la ansiedad y los terrores que subyacen en la vida contemporánea. El original e inclasificable imaginario de la autora bebe en gran parte de las leyendas tradicionales de Corea reinterpretadas desde una perspectiva actual, como se aprecia en muchos relatos de la antologia Conejo maldito, a medio camino entre el realismo magico y la literatura del absurdo. En La zorra, su primera novela, la trama se situa en el corazon de la leyenda del zorro de nueve colas o gumiho, una criatura con multiples rostros y vidas que seduce a los hombres para terminar matandolos y devorando su higado. Kijun, un instructor de academia, conoce en un autobus nocturno a Jieun, una zorra de nueve colas que ha adoptado la apariencia de una hermosa mujer. Kijun no tarda en enamorarse perdidamente de ella, ciego a los extraños sucesos que empiezan a producirse a su alrededor. Pero cuando fuerzas desconocidas amenazan su relacion y se desvela la verdadera identidad de la zorra, Kijun se ve obligado a cuestionar la naturaleza de su amor y a replantearse la vida tal y como la habia entendido hasta entonces.Con su particular estilo y una maestria excepcional para invocar lo espeluznante, Bora Chung demuestra en La zorra su enorme talento para fusionar las atmosferas de la fantasia, la comedia romantica y el terror. Escrita en 2008 y ganadora del Digital Literature Awards, la edicion impresa no veria la luz hasta 2023 en Corea del Sur. Con su publicacion en castellano recuperamos los inicios de una autora convertida en un referente de la nueva narrativa fantastica.

En esta colección de relatos de Bora Chung –el segundo volumen publicado en Alpha Decay tras el éxito de 'Conejo maldito'– la desbordante imaginación de la autora nos arrastra a una espiral de horror

Amid a literal fog of war on a disputed planet, a woman is thrust into battle, forced to fight in her captors' war. With an empire at her back, ready to kill her at the slightest hesitation, this slaveturned- reluctant hero must battle through an unknown enemy, scientific abominations, and truly alien terrain to uncover the truth about her identity and that of her enslaved companions.Chung's noveltold in sparse, evocative prose and expertly translated by Anton Hurdraws on the real history of Korean soldiers who fought and died in a war against Russia on behalf of the Qing Dynasty. Red Sword combines stunning world-building with a thought-provoking challenge to readers: what does it mean to wield power over others?

A wildly original novel from a rising star of Korean literaturesurreal, chilling fables that take on the patriarchy, capitalism, and the reign of big tech with absurdist humor and a (sometimes literal) bite. From an author never before published in the United States, Cursed Bunny is unique and imaginative, blending horror, sci-fi, fairy tales, and speculative fiction into stories that defy categorization. By turns thought-provoking and stomach-turning, here monsters take the shapes of furry woodland creatures and danger lurks in unexpected corners of everyday apartment buildings. But in this unforgettable collection, translated by the acclaimed Anton Hur, Chungs absurd, haunting universe could be our own. The Head follows a woman haunted by her own bodily waste. The Embodiment takes us into a dystopian gynecology office where a pregnant woman is told that she must find a father for her baby or face horrific consequences. Another story follows a young monster, forced into underground fight rings without knowing his own power. The titular fable centers on a cursed lamp in the shape of a rabbit, fit for a childs bedroom but for its sinister capabilities. No two stories are alike, and readers will be torn whether to race through them or savor Chungs wit and frenetic energy on every page. Cursed Bunny is a book that screams to be read late into the night and passed on to the nearest set of hands the very next day. Like the work of Carmen Maria Machado and Aoko Matsuda, Chungs stories are so wonderfully, blisteringly strange and powerful that its almost impossible to put Cursed Bunny down. Kelly Link, bestselling author of Get In Trouble Finalist for the 2023 National Book Award in Translated Literature

From the acclaimed author and translator of the National Book Award Finalist, Cursed Bunny, a fresh, uncanny, and utterly profound collection of stories set in near and distant futures that reflect our deepest fearsand deepest desires. Bora Chungs inimitable blend of horror, absurdity, and dark humor reaches its peak in these tales of loss and discovery, dystopia and idealism, death and immortality. In a thrilling translation by the acclaimed Anton Hur, readers will experience a variety of possible fates for humanity, from total demise via a disease whose only symptom is casual cannibalism to a world in which even dreams can be monitored and used to convict people of crimes. In The Center for Immortality Research, a low-level employee runs herself ragged planning a fancy gala for donors only to be blamed for the chaos that ensues during the event in front of the mysterious celebrity benefactors hoping to live forever. In A Song for Sleep, an AI elevator in an apartment complex develops a tender, one-sided love for an elderly resident. Seed traverses the final frontier of capitalisms destruction of the planetbut nature always creeps back to life. If you havent yet experienced the fruits of Chungs singular imagination, Your Utopia is waiting.One of TIME Magazines 100 Must-Read Books of 2024, and Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction of 2024"Chung builds out her stories with imagination, absurdity and a dry sense of humor, all applied with X-Acto knife precision." Alexandra Kleeman, The New York Times Book Review

Os contos presentes em Coelho maldito, livro finalista do International Booker Prize, transitam entre realismo mágico, folclore, horror, ficção científica e fantasia, partindo de elementos insólitos

Equal parts bone-chilling, wryly funny and deeply political, The Midnight Timetable is a masterful work of literary horror from one of our times greatest imaginations.Truly nightmarish.Andrew Michael HurleyI inhaled Bora Chungs book of ghost stories and then slept with the light on!Avni DoshiUniquely brilliant and exquisitely dementedGerardo Samano CordovaIn a labyrinthine research facility, where those who open the wrong door might find its disappeared behind them or that the echoing footsteps theyre running from are their own, an unnamed protagonist begins their night shift under the watchful eye of the buildings enigmatic senior guard. Each evening, as the fluorescent lights flicker and the silence grows heavier, the guard shares another tale of cursed objects and lives unspooled by vengeance, sorrow or revelation. But these are not mere ghost stories. Theyre warnings. Lessons. Or, perhaps, confessions . . . As the nights stretch on and reality frays, our protagonist starts to suspect that the building itself is alive with malevolent intent and that the objects they guard arent just cursed. Theyre waiting. Watching.Electrifying. A feast of a book. Strange, hypnotic and audacious. Irenosen OkojieA fascinating novel of shifting realities centred by a steady, humane heart. Bora Chung is a master of concocting dreamscapes that linger. Marie-Helene BertinoThese ghost stories . . . mist off the page and leave the real world hazy and askew. Pemi Aguda

Sélectionné pour lInternational Booker Prize, Lapin maudit est un recueil de nouvelles coréennes qui défie les genres, brouillant les frontières entre le réalisme magique, lhorreur et la science-fict

Après le succès de Lapin maudit (Matin Calme, 2023), l’autrice star Bora Chung revient avec un roman composé de sept histoires fantastiques se déroulant dans un étrange institut de recherches spécial

Après le succès de Lapin maudit (Matin Calme, 2023), l’autrice star Bora Chung revient avec un roman composé de sept histoires fantastiques se déroulant dans un étrange institut de recherches spécial

Amid a literal fog of war on a disputed planet, a woman is thrust into battle, forced to fight in her captors war. With an empire at her back, ready to kill her at the slightest hesitation, this slaveturned- reluctant hero must battle through an unknown enemy, scientific abominations, and truly alien terrain to uncover the truth about her identity and that of her enslaved companions.Chungs noveltold in sparse, evocative prose and expertly translated by Anton Hurdraws on the real history of Korean soldiers who fought and died in a war against Russia on behalf of the Qing Dynasty. Red Sword combines stunning world-building with a thought-provoking challenge to readers: what does it mean to wield power over others?

By the internationally acclaimed author of Cursed Bunny, in another thrilling translation from the Korean by Anton Hur, Your Utopia is full of tales of loss and discovery, idealism and dystopia, death and immortality. "Nothing concentrates the mind like Chungs terrors, which will shrivel you to a bouillon cube of your most primal instincts" (Vulture), yet these stories are suffused with Chungs inimitable wry humor and surprisingly tender moments, toooften between unexpected subjects.Chungs writing is "haunting, funny, gross, terrifyingand yet when we reach the end, we just want more" (Alexander Chee). If you havent yet experienced the fruits of this singular imagination, Your Utopia is waiting.

Sélectionné pour lInternational Booker Prize, Lapin maudit est un recueil de nouvelles coréennes qui défie les genres, brouillant les frontières entre le réalisme magique, lhorreur et la science-fict

Winner of a PEN/Heim Grant.Cursed Bunny is a genre-defying collection of short stories by Korean author Bora Chung.Blurring the lines between magical realism, horror, and science-fiction, Chung uses elements of the fantastic and surreal to address the very real horrors and cruelties of patriarchy and capitalism in modern society.Anton Hur's translation skilfully captures the way Chung's prose effortlessly glides from being terrifying to wryly humorous.

La autora coreana Bora Chung utiliza elementos fantásticos y surrealistaspara desgranar los efectos del patriarcado y el capitalismo en la sociedadmoderna, más concretamente sobre las mujeres y su papel en el mundo actual. Valiendose de lo ilogico y lo escalofriante, y recogiendo elementos de las leyendas tradicionales de Corea, estos relatos deslizan, a modo de fabula siniestra, una cruel enseñanza sobre la oscuridad de la naturaleza humana. Publicada por primera vez en castellano, Bora Chung se erige como una nueva voz de la narrativa fantastica que expande los limites del genero con una personalidad arrolladora.