Surfacing Sadness: A Centennial of Korean-American Literature 1903-2003

This book is published to commemorate the centennial of the first landing of Korean immigrants in America in 1903. An anthology of poems, essays and short stories by thirty-seven Korean-American writers, Surfacing Sadness is the first serious effort to bring together the Korean-American literary experiences to join mainstream American literature. The book primarily contains translations of Korean-American literary works, although some poems and short stories were originally published in English. In the book, readers will find the Korean-American literary voice that has many nuances--sorrow, nostalgia, pathos, anger, frustration, and, of course, hope and desire. Writers whose works are included in this anthology cannot distance themselves from their mother tongue or the culture that has shaped their craft. Despite the fact that language barrier has by and large hampered the majority of Korean-American immigrant authors to write their works in English--therefore, making it difficult for them to enter the mainstream American literary scene--their literary voices deserve to be heard, and their art deserves to be recognized. All that does not glitter may be gold.