The Melancholy of Untold History: A Novel

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A beautifully crafted, enriching saga inspired by East Asian mythology, The Melancholy of Untold History is Minsoo Kangs debut novel, steeped in history like R.F. Kuangs Babel, epic in scope like Anthony Doerrs Cloud Cuckoo Land, and lyrically exciting like David Mitchells Cloud Atlas, interweaving four complex yet entertaining stories as they shape and create a nations literary narrative through the themes of love and grief.

A history professor mourning his wife. His young protgs search for a path forward. Four witty mountain gods with much to say and not enough time to listen. A gifted storyteller bringing a world into being out of thin air...

Famous for his dispelling of the national myth, the Historian understands the power of narrative. He has inspired another young professor to search for her own truths, while trying to understand the way fiction creates fact and how sometimes the past can only be understood by filling in holes with a new narrative. Which is exactly what he needs when his wife passes away to parse meaning out of a world that no longer makes sense.

Together the protg and the Historian find comfort in each other. Yet they know their time together is fleeting, as time usually is. Only the gods have an abundance of time, and yetthe two discovereven that might not be so clear cut. Part of their homelands myth tells of four gods who squabbled and argued and destroyed and rebuilt time and again.

Or did they

Because, of course, even the gods need mouthpieces on earth. And the one the Historian knows ofthe elusive Storytellermay have just been spinning tales for his own amusement and, ultimately, revenge. By fabricating the exploits of the gods, he could have set a course for certain events to unfold and a particular story to survive today.

Spanning 3,000 years and multiple voiceswith tales within tales woven expertly togetherThe Melancholy of Untold History reveals a people and its individuals who seek to confront the hardships of life through storytelling. Mixing the East Asian mythos with a postmodern approach to standard sci-fi/fantasy narrative tropes, Minsoo Kang has created a challenging, beautiful, sad, humorous, and ultimately unforgettable novel of love, grief, and myth-making.

Reviews

"A potent and epic blend of the mythic and the personal, The Melancholy of Untold History has the scope and yet intimacy of all great storytelling. A favorite read of the year." Jeff VanderMeer, the New York Times best-selling author of Annihilation "The Melancholy of Untold History is a delight. Kang's scholarly background has born extraordinary fruit: a debut novel only he could write about the ways we know ourselves and others, which is to say, story. And with, it should be said, an 'extraordinary fruit' plot as well." Alexander Chee, author ofHow to Write an Autobiographical Novel "A stupendous feat of erudite imagination and a convincing treatise on the timeless cultural value of storytelling... Kang presents a tri-fold puzzle with intriguing pieces that could stand alone, but bound together make a radiant whole...Remarkable are the promises of new starts, new endings, and new adventures." Booklist (starred review) "With his quietly magical debut, Kang delivers a book that only a history professor such as himself could write. The novel switches between a profoundly personal story of loss and a grand, mythic epic, poking at the varied ethics and aims of historicism as it goes." Bustle "This colorful debutnovel from historian Kang parallels a tale of modern love with a chronicle of a Scheherazade-like storyteller from the distant past... Kang delivers an impressive reimagining of Asian folk traditions, combined with a deeply touching modern love story... Much to admire." Publishers Weekly "The authors tone is both humorous and poignant, the stories-within-the-story are rich with adventure and detail, and the guiding philosophy will resonate with any reader who thinks about the difficulty of reconciling ones past memories with ones present reality. This is a unique and moving reading experience that I found enchanting." (Editor's Pick) Historical Novel Society "Minsoo Kangs first novel, The Melancholy of Untold History, is an enchanting and ingenious tale about storytellers and the nature of stories, awhirl with gods and myths and the lives of everyday people. Its clear prose and feast of narrative invention make it hard to put down. Highly recommended." Jeffrey Ford, author of Ahab's Return and Big Dark Hole and Other Stories Minsoo Kangs lucid prose and steadfast dedication to climbing the peaks of truth will easily enchant the readers of The Melancholy of Untold History, lulling them into a waking dream of stolen peaches, academic infighting, treacherous cavalry, and dragon farts.Surprise, joy, resignation, fear, laughter, kisses, catsall play their part in a tale as natural and complex as the course of a river, and as satisfyingly whole as requited love.Given Kangs Korean literary heritage, his training as a historian, and his globetrotting early life as a diplomats son, the inclusion of the bright star of Kangs fiction in the constellation of important genre works delivers a powerful, timely message: our imaginations many diverse viewpoints will inevitably be heard. Nisi Shawl, author of Everfair In these strange, difficult times when fiction writers (and readers!) must be wondering how invented stories can possibly compete with the twists and turns of contemporary reality, Minsoo Kang has written a novel that amply rises to the challenge. The Melancholy of Untold History is a fabulist narrative told by a modern-day historian, a two-thousand-year-old storyteller awaiting execution by a merciless emperor, and a panoply of potty-mouthed deities. Think Game of Thrones crossed with Moana crossed with office hours at an Ivory Tower university. If this sounds like nothing youve ever read before, then youre on the right track because this novel is like nothing youve ever read before. It is an exhilarating carnival ride that whirls between myth and love story, intellectual asides (the author is a historian) and the most colorful fart jokes ever written in English. The reader is meant to hold on tight and keep her wits about her. If she can do this, then she will be rewarded with golden dumplings from the diaper of a Sky Baby. And also a really good story. Yoojin Grace Wuertz, author of Everything Belongs to Us "The Melancholy of Untold Historymixes genres, traverses space and time, and ultimately limns the human soul as it asks us to consider what is a story, and does story make us human An epic feat of storytelling in itself, this book is a triumph." Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author of The Evening Hero "The Melancholy of Untold Historyreveals the mortal stakes of the stories we tell about who we are as a people: how our notions of history profoundly shape who we become. It performs this high-wire act by interspersing narratives of the storyteller and the historian, alternately luring us in with myths and challenging us with truths. Lofty in its ambition yet grounded in its clear-sightedness, Kangs debut novel is deft, sly, and compulsively readable." PhongNguyen, author of Bronze Drum Bold, witty, and provocative, The Melancholy of Untold Historyis a prismatic imaginative feat, taking us on a journey through three thousand years of love and deceit, victory and revenge. I laughed out loud when I wasnt crying, carried by Minsoo Kangs sharp and inventive prose that asks: Whats the cost of silence JiminHan, author of The Apology

Author Bio

Minsoo Kang is a fiction writer and a historian specializing in the intellectual history of modern Europe. Due to his father's occupation as a diplomat for South Korea, Kang has lived in Korea, Austria, New Zealand, Iran, Brunei, Germany, the United States, and other places for shorter periods. He served in the army of the Republic of Korea and earned his Ph.D. in European History at UCLA. Currently, he is a professor at the history department of the University of Missouri at St. Louis, and the author of a number of history books and short speculative fiction.