Wiri
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Description
Book Introduction
Kim Eom-ji's language of liberation has grown significantly
It's breaking down the cliché of a 'good story'.
_Jeong Yong-jun (novelist)
The eternally young scars of Korean novels,
Kim Eom-ji's new novel collection, her first in 10 years
Since her literary debut in 2010 with Literature and Society, Kim Eom-ji has established herself as a unique name by publishing experimental and avant-garde works at the forefront of Korean literature for the past 15 years.
He is publishing his second collection of short stories, "Weiri," after 10 years.
His writing style, with its frequent alternations and wide semantic gaps, raised questions even among professional readers about what a novel really is.
However, the reason why it is difficult to change this to a 'poetry-like novel' is the same as why something with a small mass and wide margins and rests cannot simply be called poetry.
As an existentialist sculptor of Korean novels, Kim Eom-ji strips away all the falsehoods that are supposed to be present in novels but whose basis is vague, leaving indelible scars on beliefs and customs that have been repeated without awareness.
Like new flesh sprouting from it, the realm and possibilities of novels and humanity will expand to the fullest extent through Kim Eom-ji.
Because shaping attitudes and movements beyond fixed essence is what will ensure true change and a transition to freedom.
I remembered the things that Y said were scary.
Things related to this house, the silence inside, something passing by the window, an unidentifiable bursting sound.
And her parents, y likened her own parents to rotten flesh.
It must be cut out.
Without anesthesia.
Things I can't shake off, the anger inside me, the dream of an elevator going up and down at high speed, you who comforts nothing, the you that y spoke of, was me.
You don't say anything.
What did I say when y said that?
I said a lot, so why?
Did you do it?
I'll talk a lot from now on.
Did you do it?
_From "Summer 2"
The beginning of 『Weiri』 is the sentence “I want to live more simply” (from “Summer”).
When the emotions and images triggered by this near-final monologue flow smoothly into the confession of oneself, croaking and crying in the café, the narrative, which skillfully crosses boundaries, treating oneself as the other and the other as oneself, shines.
Kim Eom-ji skillfully explains her writing style and format to a reader who has just opened the book in just two pages.
In this way, the relationship between the two characters, ‘I’ and ‘you’, is the beginning of the journey of becoming human for Kim Eom-ji.
The protagonist of "Summer 2" stares at the belongings of his departed lover.
He is mulling over his lover's last words, that he said nothing and offered no comfort, and the reason for their breakup, which he could not understand even with those words.
Then, little by little, things that were important to your lover come to mind, and only then can you reflect on them, and this becomes the source of a resonance deep within you.
However, Kim Eom-ji knows the truth that simple self-sufficiency like 'just reflecting' is not enough.
"Summer 3," which depicts a sudden reunion after a breakup, focuses on the extremely human limitations of feelings that are difficult to convey, such as hesitation being replaced by lamentation even in a moment long awaited.
By paradoxically reminding us of how mercilessly the painful realization that “even if L’s suffering and my depression were not the slightest bit different but completely identical, we would not be able to confirm it” tears humanity apart.
It's breaking down the cliché of a 'good story'.
_Jeong Yong-jun (novelist)
The eternally young scars of Korean novels,
Kim Eom-ji's new novel collection, her first in 10 years
Since her literary debut in 2010 with Literature and Society, Kim Eom-ji has established herself as a unique name by publishing experimental and avant-garde works at the forefront of Korean literature for the past 15 years.
He is publishing his second collection of short stories, "Weiri," after 10 years.
His writing style, with its frequent alternations and wide semantic gaps, raised questions even among professional readers about what a novel really is.
However, the reason why it is difficult to change this to a 'poetry-like novel' is the same as why something with a small mass and wide margins and rests cannot simply be called poetry.
As an existentialist sculptor of Korean novels, Kim Eom-ji strips away all the falsehoods that are supposed to be present in novels but whose basis is vague, leaving indelible scars on beliefs and customs that have been repeated without awareness.
Like new flesh sprouting from it, the realm and possibilities of novels and humanity will expand to the fullest extent through Kim Eom-ji.
Because shaping attitudes and movements beyond fixed essence is what will ensure true change and a transition to freedom.
I remembered the things that Y said were scary.
Things related to this house, the silence inside, something passing by the window, an unidentifiable bursting sound.
And her parents, y likened her own parents to rotten flesh.
It must be cut out.
Without anesthesia.
Things I can't shake off, the anger inside me, the dream of an elevator going up and down at high speed, you who comforts nothing, the you that y spoke of, was me.
You don't say anything.
What did I say when y said that?
I said a lot, so why?
Did you do it?
I'll talk a lot from now on.
Did you do it?
_From "Summer 2"
The beginning of 『Weiri』 is the sentence “I want to live more simply” (from “Summer”).
When the emotions and images triggered by this near-final monologue flow smoothly into the confession of oneself, croaking and crying in the café, the narrative, which skillfully crosses boundaries, treating oneself as the other and the other as oneself, shines.
Kim Eom-ji skillfully explains her writing style and format to a reader who has just opened the book in just two pages.
In this way, the relationship between the two characters, ‘I’ and ‘you’, is the beginning of the journey of becoming human for Kim Eom-ji.
The protagonist of "Summer 2" stares at the belongings of his departed lover.
He is mulling over his lover's last words, that he said nothing and offered no comfort, and the reason for their breakup, which he could not understand even with those words.
Then, little by little, things that were important to your lover come to mind, and only then can you reflect on them, and this becomes the source of a resonance deep within you.
However, Kim Eom-ji knows the truth that simple self-sufficiency like 'just reflecting' is not enough.
"Summer 3," which depicts a sudden reunion after a breakup, focuses on the extremely human limitations of feelings that are difficult to convey, such as hesitation being replaced by lamentation even in a moment long awaited.
By paradoxically reminding us of how mercilessly the painful realization that “even if L’s suffering and my depression were not the slightest bit different but completely identical, we would not be able to confirm it” tears humanity apart.
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
summer
Summer 2
Summer 3
lyrics
Transformation
Prediction 5
rainy street
Yves Saint Laurent Cliff
Wiri
Author's Note
Summer 2
Summer 3
lyrics
Transformation
Prediction 5
rainy street
Yves Saint Laurent Cliff
Wiri
Author's Note
Into the book
I don't want to explain why.
Everything.
I think I need something more.
I have to figure out what I need, and it's not easy.
I think I need a vacation.
I could even consider this life as a long vacation since I was getting enough rest at A's house.
But I.
I want a more vacation-like vacation.
--- p.22 From "Summer"
My your me.
y and I have had conversations like that.
What am I to you?
What are you to me again?
At that time, y and I were sitting at the end of the bed.
The room was dark, but everything was visible.
y touches my brow bone.
I swept y's hair back.
We slowly examined each other's eyes, nose, mouth, hands, feet, fingers, and toes.
The hands and feet are similar in appearance, although they are different sizes.
Were we siblings in a past life?
If not that, then the intestines of a sperm whale.
You are the heart, I am the liver.
Wasn't it something like that?
--- pp.30-31 from "Summer 2"
Even if there was fierce sincerity exchanged, nothing would change.
Even if L says everything he wants to say, I won't understand.
If I say everything I want to say, L will be angry.
L will talk about his pain.
I will tell you about my depression.
Even if L's suffering and my depression were not at all different and were completely the same, we would not be able to confirm it.
--- pp.79-77 From "Summer 3"
Yesterday afternoon, I received a call from a woman asking me to make cold noodle broth and sliced beef.
There was a specific request to put steamed chives under the beef slices, and there was also talk of a sauce to dip the chives and beef in.
There are ingredients in the second compartment of the refrigerator.
Was the woman at the funeral when she sent that text message?
--- p.93 From "Lyrics"
The wind breaks the branches of the trees and snaps the flags of all nations in the air.
In an instant, a thin, strong rope wraps around the woman's and my neck.
Soon we fall in the same direction.
In front of me stands a sofa with a full stomach.
Is that sofa looking down at me right now?
Don't think too much about anything.
A woman on the street is talking, clutching her own neck.
--- p.103 From "Metamorphosis"
Whenever he went out on business trips, A felt good.
For A, the office was a place where it was difficult to sit for more than three hours.
Some days, the afternoon work was harder than the morning work.
And some days, the morning work was harder than the afternoon work.
A, who left the office, looked up at the sky and thought for a moment about what to write about the clouds.
--- pp.112-113 From "Foreknowledge 5"
Impatience is at its worst just before falling asleep.
Exhale for this second, inhale for this second. It's not easy to resolve, but it's not easy.
Nothing is easy.
Because I know myself well, I also know that there are many things I need to fix.
So I broke my self-harming habit and my compulsive puzzle-solving habit.
I also stopped crying whenever I wanted.
The puffy eyelids that were there have now completely healed.
I'm trying not to go out into the rain, and I'm not going out.
That street is just a rainy street, and I'm just going to get rained on, but I decided not to go on a rainy street to block out anything suspicious.
But I'm still confused and my head feels like it's going to explode.
A started pulling out his own hair.
--- pp.166-167 From "Rainy Street"
What will people end up becoming?
My girlfriend talks to the air.
People.
Finally.
what.
E thinks to himself.
People become people.
People don't go to heaven or hell.
E knows that those are not the words she wants to hear.
--- p.190 From “Yves Saint Laurent’s Cliff”
Y adds that it could be a perfect vacation.
"What's a perfect vacation?" asks the girlfriend.
What is it?
Y is worried.
Completely out of the ordinary.
Y answers.
The girlfriend snickers.
I don't want a full vacation.
My girlfriend says.
So what do you want? asks Y.
I want to become completely immaterial.
The girlfriend answers.
What does that mean?
Y asks.
Don't you know about immaterial things? The girlfriend asks Y.
I know, but what does that mean?
Y writes be substance in his note.
The girlfriend looks down at Y's notes.
Everything.
I think I need something more.
I have to figure out what I need, and it's not easy.
I think I need a vacation.
I could even consider this life as a long vacation since I was getting enough rest at A's house.
But I.
I want a more vacation-like vacation.
--- p.22 From "Summer"
My your me.
y and I have had conversations like that.
What am I to you?
What are you to me again?
At that time, y and I were sitting at the end of the bed.
The room was dark, but everything was visible.
y touches my brow bone.
I swept y's hair back.
We slowly examined each other's eyes, nose, mouth, hands, feet, fingers, and toes.
The hands and feet are similar in appearance, although they are different sizes.
Were we siblings in a past life?
If not that, then the intestines of a sperm whale.
You are the heart, I am the liver.
Wasn't it something like that?
--- pp.30-31 from "Summer 2"
Even if there was fierce sincerity exchanged, nothing would change.
Even if L says everything he wants to say, I won't understand.
If I say everything I want to say, L will be angry.
L will talk about his pain.
I will tell you about my depression.
Even if L's suffering and my depression were not at all different and were completely the same, we would not be able to confirm it.
--- pp.79-77 From "Summer 3"
Yesterday afternoon, I received a call from a woman asking me to make cold noodle broth and sliced beef.
There was a specific request to put steamed chives under the beef slices, and there was also talk of a sauce to dip the chives and beef in.
There are ingredients in the second compartment of the refrigerator.
Was the woman at the funeral when she sent that text message?
--- p.93 From "Lyrics"
The wind breaks the branches of the trees and snaps the flags of all nations in the air.
In an instant, a thin, strong rope wraps around the woman's and my neck.
Soon we fall in the same direction.
In front of me stands a sofa with a full stomach.
Is that sofa looking down at me right now?
Don't think too much about anything.
A woman on the street is talking, clutching her own neck.
--- p.103 From "Metamorphosis"
Whenever he went out on business trips, A felt good.
For A, the office was a place where it was difficult to sit for more than three hours.
Some days, the afternoon work was harder than the morning work.
And some days, the morning work was harder than the afternoon work.
A, who left the office, looked up at the sky and thought for a moment about what to write about the clouds.
--- pp.112-113 From "Foreknowledge 5"
Impatience is at its worst just before falling asleep.
Exhale for this second, inhale for this second. It's not easy to resolve, but it's not easy.
Nothing is easy.
Because I know myself well, I also know that there are many things I need to fix.
So I broke my self-harming habit and my compulsive puzzle-solving habit.
I also stopped crying whenever I wanted.
The puffy eyelids that were there have now completely healed.
I'm trying not to go out into the rain, and I'm not going out.
That street is just a rainy street, and I'm just going to get rained on, but I decided not to go on a rainy street to block out anything suspicious.
But I'm still confused and my head feels like it's going to explode.
A started pulling out his own hair.
--- pp.166-167 From "Rainy Street"
What will people end up becoming?
My girlfriend talks to the air.
People.
Finally.
what.
E thinks to himself.
People become people.
People don't go to heaven or hell.
E knows that those are not the words she wants to hear.
--- p.190 From “Yves Saint Laurent’s Cliff”
Y adds that it could be a perfect vacation.
"What's a perfect vacation?" asks the girlfriend.
What is it?
Y is worried.
Completely out of the ordinary.
Y answers.
The girlfriend snickers.
I don't want a full vacation.
My girlfriend says.
So what do you want? asks Y.
I want to become completely immaterial.
The girlfriend answers.
What does that mean?
Y asks.
Don't you know about immaterial things? The girlfriend asks Y.
I know, but what does that mean?
Y writes be substance in his note.
The girlfriend looks down at Y's notes.
--- p.218 From "Weili"
Publisher's Review
“Where the windshield used to be, only the frame is left clean.”
Like a sculptor's knife that only points to the essence,
To establish humanity by cutting down falsehoods
The pinnacle of minimalist style
I think I need something.
A tool that can easily cut thin lines.
I think I need to transform into something.
Something greater than a rope around your neck.
I know I can't transform into anything.
All I could do was lie on the street and struggle with my face looking like it was going to explode.
_From "Metamorphosis"
Therefore, change may require a determination to transcend humanity.
However, it is clear that this ‘transformation’ cannot be achieved through mere words.
However, just as the housekeeper narrator of "Lyrics" shakes off her work and steps out the front door to watch the comical commotion of the landlords, Kim Eom-ji's message is that humans have the potential to overcome the curse-like past that repeats itself in the present and future and lead a life in a new possible world.
“Yeji 5,” which was nominated for the Munji Literary Award with the comment that “it may open a new horizon of ethics and make us dream of a possible world of yeji” (Woo Chan-je), is the story of a person who gets through the day by thinking of clouds in an oppressive and violent work environment.
This atmosphere causes people to develop an obsession with repeatedly recording “what they did right and what they did wrong.”
But for those who feel their “ears opening,” a future of liberation begins to open, where they realize that “misunderstanding can become a structure” and throw away the noose.
B said he had already practiced the popular belief that if you can do forty-four laps in place without falling in the fog on a rainy street, you can transcend time and space.
How can you do forty-four laps without falling over?
"Where did you want to go that you had to circle forty-four times?" Kyungseon asked B.
I wanted to go anywhere.
B answered.
I want to go back too.
I should look back too.
The election said.
_From "Rainy Street"
Those who long for liberation like that head to the 'rainy streets'.
Most people are reluctant to even approach the 800-meter-long street where the rain never stops, but those who long for “the hope of going crazy” willingly take the step.
A, who sometimes feels her eyes tear up and her heart dries up, and Gyeongseon, who is trying to control her lingering anger after her divorce, meet at a suspicious workshop called '22nd Century Breathing' and walk together.
Towards the 'rainy street' where people slap each other, scream and shout, and where the belief that time and space can be transcended runs rampant.
There is something that comes to those who seek faith like that.
The protagonist of "Yves Saint Laurent Cliff" buys a Yves Saint Laurent card wallet as a birthday present for his girlfriend.
But when I met her, she was completely immersed in depression.
The conversation between the two who do not understand each other slips endlessly without properly meeting, but as they part ways at dawn and walk along the riverside, a pink 'voice' suddenly comes to the protagonist.
“Are you desperate right now?” A voice that dwells in those who desperately seek center at the dead end of humanity.
There is no sign of life in the hall, as if there is no one there.
The shards of glass scattered on the floor sparkle and shimmer in the candlelight.
It's like a fire floor, not a glass floor.
Y wants to show his girlfriend what he is seeing now.
Y thinks it wouldn't be a bad idea to sit here until daybreak.
Do you want to come here? Be careful.
Y calls his girlfriend's name.
Where the windshield used to be, only the frame is left clean.
_From "Weiri"
The protagonist of the title piece, "Wiri," which closes the collection of short stories, is waiting for his girlfriend while planning a summer vacation to "Wiri Island."
The girlfriend who came to the cafe suddenly declared a breakup, saying, “I came to see you once before we break up,” and the atmosphere inside the cafe with the two male customers gradually became strange.
At that moment, the rain falling outside turns to hail, and a gust of wind blows, causing a power outage and creating a thick crack in the windshield… … Like a window that has been shattered and only the frame remains, Kim Eom-ji’s novel possesses both the pathos of blowing away the self-deceptive comfort within humans with wind and rain, and the topos for the new humanity to be reborn.
He's really arrogant.
I'll only go to unmanned motels.
A said.
Thirty-four and thirty-three brothers laughing.
It's not that they don't hire part-time workers because it's an unmanned motel.
Every time I went there, I saw someone sitting there guarding it.
A man named Hyung said.
No, then it's not unmanned! A shouted.
So, in the end, they are people.
My brother said.
People are at the top of the food chain.
My brother said.
Don't like the top too much.
If you fall, you'll get hit in the head first.
A said.
_From "Summer"
For readers curious about how Korean literature is renewing itself today, "Wiri" is an essential textbook.
Meanwhile, for those who lose interest in the world for no reason and often find themselves in tears, those who desperately wonder if looking up at the sky will bring faith, those who are exhausted and no longer want to explain anything to anyone, and those who just want to drop everything and run around on a rainy street, Kim Eom-ji's novels will be by your side as a life companion.
Because these novels resemble the way people live.
Just like the dialogue in a movie that you listen to without context when you're lonely, the sentences in "Wee-ri" are a direct imitation of people in cafes, bars, and on the streets.
Therefore, for readers who want to change the future or simply enjoy the present, 『Weiri』 is the perfect friend.
In this way, Kim Eom-ji's novels are not literature for literature's sake, but rather literature solely for humanity, fiercely renewing themselves in the present tense.
Like a sculptor's knife that only points to the essence,
To establish humanity by cutting down falsehoods
The pinnacle of minimalist style
I think I need something.
A tool that can easily cut thin lines.
I think I need to transform into something.
Something greater than a rope around your neck.
I know I can't transform into anything.
All I could do was lie on the street and struggle with my face looking like it was going to explode.
_From "Metamorphosis"
Therefore, change may require a determination to transcend humanity.
However, it is clear that this ‘transformation’ cannot be achieved through mere words.
However, just as the housekeeper narrator of "Lyrics" shakes off her work and steps out the front door to watch the comical commotion of the landlords, Kim Eom-ji's message is that humans have the potential to overcome the curse-like past that repeats itself in the present and future and lead a life in a new possible world.
“Yeji 5,” which was nominated for the Munji Literary Award with the comment that “it may open a new horizon of ethics and make us dream of a possible world of yeji” (Woo Chan-je), is the story of a person who gets through the day by thinking of clouds in an oppressive and violent work environment.
This atmosphere causes people to develop an obsession with repeatedly recording “what they did right and what they did wrong.”
But for those who feel their “ears opening,” a future of liberation begins to open, where they realize that “misunderstanding can become a structure” and throw away the noose.
B said he had already practiced the popular belief that if you can do forty-four laps in place without falling in the fog on a rainy street, you can transcend time and space.
How can you do forty-four laps without falling over?
"Where did you want to go that you had to circle forty-four times?" Kyungseon asked B.
I wanted to go anywhere.
B answered.
I want to go back too.
I should look back too.
The election said.
_From "Rainy Street"
Those who long for liberation like that head to the 'rainy streets'.
Most people are reluctant to even approach the 800-meter-long street where the rain never stops, but those who long for “the hope of going crazy” willingly take the step.
A, who sometimes feels her eyes tear up and her heart dries up, and Gyeongseon, who is trying to control her lingering anger after her divorce, meet at a suspicious workshop called '22nd Century Breathing' and walk together.
Towards the 'rainy street' where people slap each other, scream and shout, and where the belief that time and space can be transcended runs rampant.
There is something that comes to those who seek faith like that.
The protagonist of "Yves Saint Laurent Cliff" buys a Yves Saint Laurent card wallet as a birthday present for his girlfriend.
But when I met her, she was completely immersed in depression.
The conversation between the two who do not understand each other slips endlessly without properly meeting, but as they part ways at dawn and walk along the riverside, a pink 'voice' suddenly comes to the protagonist.
“Are you desperate right now?” A voice that dwells in those who desperately seek center at the dead end of humanity.
There is no sign of life in the hall, as if there is no one there.
The shards of glass scattered on the floor sparkle and shimmer in the candlelight.
It's like a fire floor, not a glass floor.
Y wants to show his girlfriend what he is seeing now.
Y thinks it wouldn't be a bad idea to sit here until daybreak.
Do you want to come here? Be careful.
Y calls his girlfriend's name.
Where the windshield used to be, only the frame is left clean.
_From "Weiri"
The protagonist of the title piece, "Wiri," which closes the collection of short stories, is waiting for his girlfriend while planning a summer vacation to "Wiri Island."
The girlfriend who came to the cafe suddenly declared a breakup, saying, “I came to see you once before we break up,” and the atmosphere inside the cafe with the two male customers gradually became strange.
At that moment, the rain falling outside turns to hail, and a gust of wind blows, causing a power outage and creating a thick crack in the windshield… … Like a window that has been shattered and only the frame remains, Kim Eom-ji’s novel possesses both the pathos of blowing away the self-deceptive comfort within humans with wind and rain, and the topos for the new humanity to be reborn.
He's really arrogant.
I'll only go to unmanned motels.
A said.
Thirty-four and thirty-three brothers laughing.
It's not that they don't hire part-time workers because it's an unmanned motel.
Every time I went there, I saw someone sitting there guarding it.
A man named Hyung said.
No, then it's not unmanned! A shouted.
So, in the end, they are people.
My brother said.
People are at the top of the food chain.
My brother said.
Don't like the top too much.
If you fall, you'll get hit in the head first.
A said.
_From "Summer"
For readers curious about how Korean literature is renewing itself today, "Wiri" is an essential textbook.
Meanwhile, for those who lose interest in the world for no reason and often find themselves in tears, those who desperately wonder if looking up at the sky will bring faith, those who are exhausted and no longer want to explain anything to anyone, and those who just want to drop everything and run around on a rainy street, Kim Eom-ji's novels will be by your side as a life companion.
Because these novels resemble the way people live.
Just like the dialogue in a movie that you listen to without context when you're lonely, the sentences in "Wee-ri" are a direct imitation of people in cafes, bars, and on the streets.
Therefore, for readers who want to change the future or simply enjoy the present, 『Weiri』 is the perfect friend.
In this way, Kim Eom-ji's novels are not literature for literature's sake, but rather literature solely for humanity, fiercely renewing themselves in the present tense.
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: November 14, 2025
- Page count, weight, size: 236 pages | 270g | 124*200*15mm
- ISBN13: 9791141602888
- ISBN10: 1141602881
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