Kyong-ni, PARK. T’oji (Land). Translated from the Korean by Agnita Tennant. London: Taylor and Francis, 1996. 617 p. ISBN 9780710305084. £65.00.

This epic novel is about the Choi family’s collapse and recovery, from 1894 to the end of World War II. In a small village in Kyongsang-namdo, the southern part of Korea, a rich man named Chisu Choi is strangled by thieves because of the family’s fortune. As a result, the Choi family collapses and ends up running away in the middle of the night to Yong Jung, China, to avoid the Japanese authorities. In China, the Choi family earned enough money that they were able to return to Korea and buy back their old house and land.

The story is deeply emotional in depicting the miserable life of the colonial period, but it also has humorous tones. Moving through the end of the 19th century to the contemporary history of Korea, many people of various social classes appear in the story. The epic is more about the Korean history and society than the main characters’ lives. The Choi family’s history also represents the collapse and recovery of the Korean nation.

The author, Park Kyong-ni (the pseudonym of Park Kum-yi), was born in 1926 and died in 2008. She is one of the best-known Korean woman writers. She received the Woltan Literature Award for Land and was posthumously awarded the Gold Crown Order of Cultural Merit by the South Korean government in 2008. Her first work was a short story called “Kyesan” (“Calculation”), written in 1955. “Kim yakkuk ŭi ttaldŭl” (“The Curse of Kim’s Daughters”) is another popular work by her; similar to Land, it describes both the story of the Kim family and Korean history.

Park Kyong-ni started to write Land in 1969 and finished it in 1994. The book was written in Korean, and has been translated into English, German, and Japanese. Compared to the book in the original Korean, which has five parts in 16 volumes, the English version of the book is heavily edited. It only includes the first part of the novel and some brief episodes from the larger story, which makes it a bit difficult for readers to appreciate the sweeping narrative and full scope of the original work. In addition, the translator could have handled the Korean language and culture better. For example, more explanation of the language in the original Korean edition could have been provided for readers without a background in this language. Also, the translator could have included a brief timeline of Korean history in a preface in order to help readers understand the background.

Despite these shortcomings in translation, I recommend this book to readers interested in the real life of Koreans in the turbulent period of Japanese colonization because I found the portrayal of Korean history to be accurate and the characters believable. Because of its enormous popularity, this epic has been adapted three times as a television series in Korea, in 1979, 1984, and 2004. Although English subtitles are not available, the most recent television series (2004) is available online (http://tv.sbs.co.kr/toji/). Thus, I would also recommend the original books and most recent television series (2004) for readers who understand Korean.