![]() ![]() While the topic may not be completely new, Kim Soom’s One Left scores over other titles because of its authenticity. To my knowledge, Bracht is the first author without Korean heritage to address the subject before her came English language titles by Chang-Rae Lee ( A Gesture Life, 1999) and Nora Okja Keller ( Comfort Woman, 1998) and probably others too. That title also is mostly set in a Manchurian comfort station. It is unfortunate that during the time it took to translate and find a publisher, Mary Lynn Bracht’s fine White Chrysanthemum (2018) hit the bookshops. Sure, the title doesn’t have the mass appeal of a Please Look After Mother or the latest K-noir, but it deserves a readership. ![]() It is also a little surprising that it took so long to find a publisher for its English translation. When the issue of comfort women has been with us since the Pacific War, to re-emerge in 1991 when Kim Haksun came forward as the first to announce herself as victim, it is astonishing that we had to wait until 2016 for what is, according to Bonnie Oh’s introduction (p ix), “the first Korean novel devoted exclusively to the subject”. ![]()
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