Waxen wings

The short story has been the genre of choice for writers of literary fiction in modern Korea and it continues to thrive in the new millennium. Waxen Wings: The Acta Koreana Anthology of Short Fiction from Korea offers a diverse sampling from a century of modern Korean short fiction, beginning with stories from two early masters (Yi Hyos k and Ch'ae Manshik) and ending with works by four of the most imaginative contemporary writers (Kim Y ngha, Ha S ngnan, P'y n Hyey ng, and Kim Chunghy k). In between are the two writers who are primarily responsible for the visibility enjoyed by Korean women fiction writers today (O Ch ngh i and Pak Wans ), and a writer, Kim W nil, who has made it his lifework to address the territorial and spiritual division of the Korean peninsula. The title of the anthology, from Ha S ngnan's 1999 story, suggests the transcendental qualities of the finest Korean short fiction.