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Updated: 2026-08-06
- Posted by METRIC on 2026-08-06
- Updated by METRIC on 2026-08-06
Description 작품 소개
"Have you eaten?"
It is the most mundane of daily greetings, yet simultaneously the most sacred inquiry about life itself. Letter of Apology is a epistolary novel composed of 50 letters that explores the boundaries of love and violence, grace and burden, life and death—all through the quintessential Korean motif of 'a meal' (bap).
The novel is structured into two symmetrical halves that run in delicate parallel. In Part 1, the narrator politely reports the quiet routines of a weary life—a memo taped to the refrigerator, a red circle marked on a calendar, reheating frozen rice, and another failed attempt at life. Yet beneath this surface politeness flows a piercing accusation: "Why on earth did you give birth to me?" This is both a child's resentment toward their parents and a human being's lawsuit filed against God—a desperate petition against inherited poverty and debt.
In Part 2, the world that had remained silent finally breaks its silence. Standing like penguins enduring a blizzard, the parents write back. Instead of offering eloquent excuses, they respond with a crude yet heavy note: "Have you eaten?" This single sentence serves as a parent's defense, and a rugged verdict handed down by God to humanity.
Although questions are asked, the answers never quite align. These letters, starting with untargeted resentment and ending with earnest concern, appear like parallel lines that will never meet. Yet, in the ruins where the grand constructs of human and God, child and parent have collapsed, one thing ultimately remains: a cooling bowl of rice.
Letter of Apology 'cooks' the fine line between affection and hostility through the most worldly material: food. It sharply captures the tragic human condition—where we hurt the ones who are safest to hurt—and the uniquely Korean sentiment of hiding unspeakable love behind the simple phrase, "Did you eat?" Written in the coldest room, yet radiating the warmest heat, this novel poses a quiet, haunting question to the world: Have you taken care of your meals?
Author Bio 작가 소개
There are no expectations.