- Overview
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Kang Heejin’s novel Ghost of the Owl revolves around the theme of effects of collectivism and the destruction of individuality under the absolute power in an isolated society. While illustrating the irony of the world in which one has to prove one's existence through absence, Kang’s work leads the readers to look into the deep-rooted evils of society.
- Book Intro
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The protagonist of the novel is an English teacher in an elementary school, who is transferred to a branch school in Pungdo Island in the Southern Coast. Though the island is secluded, it has recently become a tourist spot frequented by many travelers. It was after a TV program covered the island that it has undergone significant changes. To make use of this opportunity, people in Pungdo Island agree to work together to regain the reputation and glory the island once had through anchovy harvest and develop a strategy of utilizing English education and social networking service. Supported by the district office, they embark on the Pungdo Island restoration project. They make considerable efforts to attract more tourists by means of social networking technologies. Those who visit the island are impressed by the fact that the islanders, regardless of their age, all have iPads and use social networking service. They are also surprised to find out that high quality English education is available for students attending the branch school. The school has even been selected as a model school through the efforts made by migrant women from the Philippines who have settled in the island for marriage.
However, the social networking service that has revived the island now puts it at great risk. To make a long story short, one fisherman has reported about the past history of the island to a major daily newspaper. The report is about the community leader who has led the fisheries industry in the island from the 50s to the 80s. The leader Haeng, referred to as a Lord, has killed lepers living in the Jalpori village on the outskirts of Pungdo Island with bamboo spears and scythes. The protagonist becomes aware that the islanders have tried to conceal the dishonorable event while worshiping Haeng as a Lord who has revitalized the island. Witnessing what people’s insanity, their survival extinct has brought about, the protagonist begins to wonder about the driving force of the island and gets closer to the truth... What secrets would Pungdo Island, the island of wind, have?
Ghost of the Owl deserves to be classified as a satirical novel about Korean society in the 21st century in that it deals with the multiple issues of Korean society against the backdrop of a small secluded island, creating a grotesque atmosphere. In crises, the limitless survival instinct of a group suppresses an individual’s free will, making them live a hollow life as a ghost.
- About the Author
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Kang Heejin
Author Kang Heejin (M) used to be a playwright writing dramas for KBS. With the novel, Ghost, he won the Grand Prize at the 7th Segye Literary Award hosted by The Segye Times in 2011. He continues to write stories about the lives of aliens in the Korean society. He has a particular interest in North Korean defectors, so he wrote two novels about them, Ghost and Poppy. He also wrote Graves of the Owl, a novel about crimes against humanity that took place at an isolated island, Carnival, a story about a Philippine woman who married a Korean farmer and was later brutally murdered, and the history novel, Yi Sin, which is a reinterpretation of the Manchu war of 1636 with a focus on characters from Korean history. He is currently working on a story about homosexuals, to be titled Dream & Dream.
