Mirror Nation

Don Mee Choi

Mirror Nation
Format
Hardback
Publisher
Wave Books
Country
United States
Published
2 April 2024
Pages
152
ISBN
9798891060005

Mirror Nation

Don Mee Choi

Elegiac and haunting, Mirror Nation by Don Mee Choi completes the KOR-US trilogy, along with Hardly War (Wave Books, 2016) and the National Book Awardwinning DMZ Colony (Wave Books, 2020).

Much like Proust's madeleine, a spinning Mercedez Benz ring outside Choi's Berlin window prompts a memory of her father on the Glienicker Bridge between Berlin and Potsdam, which in turn becomes catalyst for delving into the violent colonial and neocolonial contemporary history of South Korea, with particular attention to the horrors of the Gwangju Uprising of May 1980. Here, photographs, news footage, and cultural artifacts co-mingle with a poetry of grief that is both personal and collective. Inspired by W. G. Sebald and Walter Benjamin as well as Choi's DAAD Artists residency in Berlin, Mirror Nation is a sorrowful reflection on the ways in which a place can hold a "magnetic field of memory," proving that history doesn't merely repeat itself; history is ever present, chiming the hours in a chorus against empire.

This item is not currently in-stock. It can be ordered online and is expected to ship in approx 4 weeks

Our stock data is updated periodically, and availability may change throughout the day for in-demand items. Please call the relevant shop for the most current stock information. Prices are subject to change without notice.

Sign in or become a Readings Member to add this title to a wishlist.