Korean Teachers

Winner of the Hankyoreh Literature Award, Seo Su-jin’s debut novel Korean Teachers follows four Korean language lecturers at Seoul’s prestigious H University over the course of an academic year. Readers will spend one season with each of the four protagonists—Seon-yi in the spring, Mi-ju in the summer, Ga-eun in the autumn, and Han-hee in the winter. As readers delve into the story of each woman, they watch them deal with a myriad of social and ethical challenges. From asserting themselves as modern-day career women braving sexism from both students and coworkers, to the shocking revelation that students, too, are treated unfairly as some are deemed to be more ‘desirable’ than others. Some of the teachers had to bow to these pressures, but what fate would befall those who fought against the grain?