Elisa Shua Dusapin; trans. Aneesa Abbas Higgins
Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin, translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins, unfolds in the first-person voice of a nameless twenty-four-year-old woman who works at a run-down sea-side resort close to the demilitarized zone between north and south Korea. The narrator is of mixed race with a French father who disappeared before she was born and a Korean mother.
The narrator goes through the motions of cleaning guest rooms, cooking, and checking guests in and out. She has a boyfriend although she shows little interest in him. She has a binge and purge eating disorder which kicks in every time she has a meal with her mother. She resists her mother’s pressures to eat, to marry, and to consider cosmetic surgery, not necessarily in that order. Although she had an opportunity to continue her education after obtaining her degree from Seoul University, she opted to return to Sokcho. She leads a routine, humdrum existence and shows no ambition to move forward in her life. She is a loner and feels isolated. And then Kerrand, a French graphic artist, checks into the hotel and asks her to show him around the area.
Very little happens in the novel since most of the action occurs beneath the surface. Immersive descriptions of Sokcho, the surrounding area, and the bitterly cold temperatures serve as the backdrop. Descriptions of the chopping and gutting of fish, as well as elaborate preparations and consumption of meals pepper the narrative. Most of the novel consists of the narrator’s conversations and interactions with Kerrand. At times their conversations are comfortable; at other times, they are fraught with tension. Her interiority reflects the complexity of her emotions. She rummages through his belongings when cleaning his room to satisfy her curiosity about him and his art. She alternates between wanting to be with him and pushing him away. She weighs her words when speaking to him, but leaves a lot unsaid. The relationship doesn’t develop, and, eventually, Kerrand announces his departure.
The novel captures the young woman’s internal life as she explores her mixed heritage, resists her mother’s ongoing demands, bundles up to keep warm in freezing temperatures, observes a female hotel guest who has had cosmetic surgery, disengages from her boyfriend, and obsesses about Kerrand. The diction is economic and spare but packs an emotional punch. At one point, the narrator describes Koreans as living in limbo since the potential for war is omnipresent. The description is applicable to the narrator. She seems to be on the edge of a precipice, living in limbo, waiting, biding her time until something happens. Her voice, laced with melancholy and resignation, gives the novel its strength.