[KS] New Translations from Univ Hawaii Press: 100°C / Togani

[Cheehyung Harrison Kim]

The Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA, is
delighted to announce two new translations from the University of Hawaii
Press.


*100°C: South Korea's 1987 Democracy Movement 백도씨
<https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/100c-south-koreas-1987-democracy-movement/>*
*Choi Kyu-sok 최규석*
A Graphic Novel
Translated by Madeline D. Collins, Gia Kim, Nguyen Thi Huong Ly, Jusun
Park, Brooke Shelton, Anna Toombs, and Theodore Jun Yoo
*Hawai‘i Studies on Korea Series*, January 2023
What does it take for ordinary citizens to risk everything to protest
living under a repressive government? What takes them beyond the brink, to
the “boiling point”? In his graphic novel *100°C*, celebrated webtoon and
comics artist Choi Kyu-sok sheds light on these questions by examining the
lives of one family caught up in the great social unrest that developed
under Chun Doo-hwan’s regime and culminated in the June 1987 Uprising.
Crucial to understanding the events of the summer of 1987 is the
recognition of both the political context and the dynamics of the
nationwide effort that included students, office workers, and religious and
labor groups—all of whom came together to demand a new constitution and
free elections. Choi’s is a measured yet powerful representation of a
pivotal moment in Korean history, when individuals questioned the status
quo, when parents joined their children to express their grievances and
agitate for democratic reforms, when an entire nation chose to move in a
new direction.

[image: image.png]


*Togani 도가니 <https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/togani/>*
Gong Ji-young 공지영
A Novel
Translated by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton
*Modern Korean Fiction Series,* April 2023
Atmospheric and fast-paced, this novel of manners set in a provincial South
Korean city leads readers through the silent corridors of a school for
hearing-impaired children and the city’s foggy back streets and murky
centers of power to a stirring courtroom climax. Gong Ji-young’s Togani
(also known as The Crucible), published in Korean in 2009, is based on a
historic case of child sexual abuse at a state-run institution. The novel
went on to sell nearly a million copies and, along with a 2011 film
adaptation directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, prompted the South Korean National
Assembly to pass the “Togani Laws” to provide greater legal protections for
children and vulnerable adults under state care and harsher penalties for
those convicted of their abuse. At a time when Korean popular culture
drives cultural production worldwide, Togani reminds us of the power of
fiction to effect meaningful societal change. A story of courage in the
face of corruption, Togani offers nuanced portraits of a failed young
businessman seeking a new life as a teacher and his counterpart, a young
woman committed to a career in human rights; a police officer of humble
origins who rose through the ranks as he turns a blind eye to the abuse of
students by the school’s administrators; and a hearing-impaired teenage
girl, a victim of that abuse, who cares deeply for the other children at
the school. The book testifies to the legacy of neo-Confucian class
conflict, gender disparity, and the vulnerability of those near the bottom
of the social ladder. It is a heart-wrenching and provocative work that
helped bring about change to a system it dared to challenge.

[image: image.png]
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