Cursed Bunny is a collection of short stories inspired by Russian and Slavic fairytales, blending magic and horror to teach some critical lessons. The Head” follows a woman haunted by her own bodily waste. “The Embodiment” takes us into a dystopian gynecology office where a pregnant woman is told that she must find a father for her baby or face horrific consequences. Another story follows a young monster, forced into underground fight rings without knowing his own power. The titular fable centers on a cursed lamp in the shape of a rabbit, fit for a child’s bedroom but for its sinister capabilities. And as her life proceeds, to parenthood and middle age, the Head constantly haunts her, finishing body all the time, until one day … Among Korean authors, Park Wan-Suh (also transliterated as Park Wan-So or Park Wan-Seo, 1931-2011). She showed me how to write about womanhood in modern society. She has a way of expressing the richness of human emotion, intricately woven into a powerful story of modern Korean history, war, loss and love. Well, if it is not another grim yet illuminating Asian literature. I was told how quirky this book would be, but my brain is still processing it the whole time (like wtf am I reading). In the ten short tales in this book, Chung masterfully combines elements of horror, fantasy, and magical realism to create a fresh and original take on 'genre-defying'.

These stories will make your eyes pop out with horror, make you shift uncomfortably and wonder at Bora Chung’s infinite creativity. There’s a craft to writing an awe inspiring short story and it’s definitely present here. Each story is perfect, they are unique and I highly doubt that there’s anyone writing short pieces of this standard and brain warping quality. The first story (actually 2nd in the original) Head (머리) won the 1998 Yonsei Literature Prize, and was the author’s (successful) attempt to write a fantastical story in the style of Eastern European authors, the author herself having translated Bruno Schulz into Korean. It begins with a woman about to flush the toilet when she sees a head popping out, calling out to her ‘Mother’ Bora Chung is quite impressive. The South Korean author has a PhD in Slavic literature and teaches Russian language and literature and science fiction studies at Yonsei University. She also translates Russian and Polish into Korean while having written three novels and story collections. Anton Hur is always great, having been awarded a PEN/Heim grant. The love of language from both of them certainly comes through in this collection.

RASCOE: But this one will have a happy ending because this is a great book. This is a beautiful book, and I don't say that lightly. So this will have a good ending.

Home Sweet Home (즐거운 나의 집) beings with a dispute about property tax between a young couple who own a small mixed-used building and one of their tenants, owners of a blood-sausage stew (순대국집) restaurant. But the building, which they were sold at a 복덕방, an old fashioned term for an estate-agent’s office which Hur romanises as bokdeokbang and also translates literally as fortune gainer, has secrets of its own. A girl whose brother feeds on her blood, robots that take revenge on their owner and a bunny lamp with a deadly curse. Those are some of the bizarre, twisted plot lines in "Cursed Bunny," Bora Chung's first collection of short stories to appear in English, which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. It was translated from Korean by Anton Hur. Author Bora Chung joins us now to talk about her collection. Welcome to the show. Okay, allllllllright. This one had potential. It is eerie, atmospheric, and unsettling. Confusing though. But I actually really enjoyed it........dammnit. I only want so little,” said the Head hastily, “I’m only asking that you keep dumping your body waste in the toilet so I can finish the rest of my body. Then I’ll go far away from here and live by my own means, so please, just keep using the toilet like you always have.”

Latest Posts

The first two stories will grab your attention and probably determine if you set the book aside or not. The first is about a haunted toilet ( The Head ) CHUNG: I was 28, and I was bleeding for two weeks. I couldn't stand up. And the first thing my mom said was, no, you're not going to go see a doctor because you're not married. So that felt really strange, but that was very Asian. That was very, very Korean. And I think that stigma is still very well alive to this day, unfortunately. And my own doctor was very kind. She was very friendly, for the record, and I got a prescription. And my ovarian cysts went away with time. But if you just refuse to go see a doctor, it could be very, very catastrophic. So this is something that is happening to your body. And it's like having a toothache. Nobody tells you, you can't go see a dentist because you're not married. If you are alive and have functioning organs, then you should take care of that. It should be very simple. But because the question of pregnancy is attached to it, society just dumps all kinds of weird meanings to your organs. And I thought, well, I'm going to write a story about it.