Richard E. Kim
Lost Names
Scenes from a Korean Boyhood
$18.95, £11.50 paperback
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978-0-520-21424-8
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196 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches,
June 1998, Available worldwide
Categories: Literary Studies; Asian Literature; History; Japan
June 1998, Available worldwide
Categories: Literary Studies; Asian Literature; History; Japan
"The author's clear, evocative narrative describes a terrifying experience—foreign occupation. Its homely detail demonstrates how pervasive nationality is, and how painful any attempt to destroy it."—The New Yorker
"Lost Names is not a poem of hate, but a poem of love. . . . It is elegaic. It rises to moments of considerable dramatic power, but its finest moments, as when we see the cemeteries full of Koreans apologizing to their ancestors for having lost their names, are lyrical."—Edward Seidensticker, New York Times Book Review
"This memorable document of courage and endurance is written with clarity and vigor, pierced with moments of poignant love and the blazing resentment of the young."—Saturday Review
"Lost Names is not a poem of hate, but a poem of love. . . . It is elegaic. It rises to moments of considerable dramatic power, but its finest moments, as when we see the cemeteries full of Koreans apologizing to their ancestors for having lost their names, are lyrical."—Edward Seidensticker, New York Times Book Review
"This memorable document of courage and endurance is written with clarity and vigor, pierced with moments of poignant love and the blazing resentment of the young."—Saturday Review
In this classic tale, Richard Kim paints seven vivid scenes from a boyhood and early adolescence in Korea at the height of the Japanese occupation, 1932 to 1945. Taking its title from the grim fact that the occupiers forced the Koreans to renounce their own names and adopt Japanese names instead, the book follows one Korean family through the Japanese occupation to the surrender of the Japanese empire. Lost Names is at once a loving memory of family and a vivid portrayal of life in a time of anguish.
Go to Education about Asia for a book review and interview with the author.