Jungeun Hwang

books

Savage Alice
Munhakdongne Publishers, Janet Hong translates

English partial and report in a few weeks.

Hwang Jungeun’s Savage Alice, is an uncanny, haunting, and terrifyingly beautiful novel that tells the story of Alicia, a homeless crossdresser, who lives in the center of a large city—presumably Seoul. Even though he is “dressed perfectly” in a navy blue, close-fitting jacket and miniskirt, he smells so badly that the people near him feel offended and anxious. Every night, Alicia comes back to his home village situated in the southwestern suburb of Komori. What does he do there? Nothing. Nothing that is, except remember. Looking up at an immense and luminous forest of high-rise apartment buildings, he dreams. More precisely, he immerses himself in memories from his childhood, a time when he lived with his family in the same village, an expanse of empty lots and rice fields dotted with houses.