This anthology of short stories by some of modern Korea's best-known writers reflects a rich variety of style and content.

Manifest in these pages is a shared core experience of Korea's trajectory from inward-looking feudal Confucian state, to Japanese colony culminating in the Pacific War, to battleground of the Korean War, which inflicted horrific casualties and a scarred landscape while leaving a still festering legacy of fraternal hostility, to a modernizing society that is struggling with economic success and democratization.

While the intensity of these experiences and the relatively short period of time over which they occurred permeate these stories, one is most struck by the resiliency and vitality of their strong characters.