Why should a certain type of human be considered “lesser” than another, because this first type of human has functioning ovaries and a uterus? There’s no logic to it. And the situation is absurd and illogical. It will vary, according to people’s experiences, but if you try to criticize current society and the state of things in a realistic manner, it runs the risk of turning into a statement-not fiction. Jaeyon Yoo: What drew you to the fantastic and surreal elements in this collection, especially in addressing the horrors and cruelties of modern society?īora Chung: Especially for the minority or the marginalized, I think the fantastic or the unreal is a better approach for telling their stories. Hur expertly captures the tone of Chung’s prose, which is deceptively simple some stories almost sound like the ones you read in childhood-making them all the more haunting.Ĭhung’s wry, dark humor and passion for activism shone in our Zoom conversation, where we (surprisingly) laughed our way through topics such as the absurdity of misogyny, urban legends, and why a cursed fetish can’t be ugly.

She highlights the struggles of the oppressed, using fantastical elements to expose systems of patriarchy, capitalism, and corruption. Chung has a way of revealing humanity’s deep cruelty with an absurd twist, tweaking the ordinary and destabilizing the setting around me. But after finishing the ten stories, I wasn’t certain that reading Cursed Bunny amidst other people provided any comfort. Anticipating that I would be too scared if I read it by myself, I sought out public reading spaces.

Translated by Anton Hur, the South Korean short story collection melds together speculative fiction, horror, absurdism, folklore, and bitingly-acute observations of contemporary Korean society. I refused to read Cursed Bunny while I was alone.

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