North Station
$12.95
by Bae Suah
October 10, 2017
stories | pb | 212 pgs
5.5" x 8.5"
978-1-940953-65-6
“Bae dissolves conventional linear narrative, as though it were impossible for cause and effect to exist concurrently with such repression.”
—Joanna Walsh, The National
From the author nominated for the Best Translated Book Award and the PEN Translation Prize
A writer struggles to come to terms with the death of her beloved mentor; the staging of an experimental play goes awry; time freezes for two lovers on a platform, waiting for the train that will take one of them away; a woman living in a foreign country discovers she has been issued with the wrong ID.
Emotionally haunting, intellectually stimulating, the seven stories in North Station represent the range and power of Bae Suah’s distinctive voice and style, which delights in digressions, multiple storylines, and sudden ruptures of societal norms. Heavily influenced by the German authors she’s read and translated, Bae’s stories combine elements of Korean and European storytelling in a way that’s unforgettable and mesmerizing. (Read an Excerpt)
Translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith
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About the Author: Bae Suah, one of the most highly acclaimed contemporary Korean authors, has published more than a dozen short story collections and novels, and has won a number of prestigious awards. She has also translated several books from the German, including works by W. G. Sebald, Franz Kafka, and Jenny Erpenbeck. Her novel Nowhere to Be Found was longlisted for the PEN Translation Prize and the Best Translated Book Awards.
About the Translator: Deborah Smith has translated two other books by Bae Suah (Recitation and A Greater Music), and won the Man Booker International Prize for her translation of Han Kang's The Vegetarian. She is the founder of Tilted Axis Press.
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“Bae Suah offers the chance to unknow—to see the everyday afresh and be defamiliarized with what we believe we know—which is no small offering.”
—Sophie Hughes, Music & Literature
