Togani

"Once again we have a combination of compelling subject matter and an appropriate literary style for the subject matter. The novel is based on a real case of what you might call a sexual reign of terror at an institute for special needs children in South Korea. The victims were primarily hearing- and speech-impaired children, some of whom also had psychological disabilities. The perpetrators were twin brothers, sons of the Christian minister who founded the ironically named ‘Home of Benevolence.’ The protagonist of the novel ends up at this school as a kind of temporary teacher by happenstance. On his very first day at the school he hears a girl screaming from the women’s bathroom. Gong Ji-young handles this potentially explosive subject matter by writing what you might call a novel of manners—a novel in which we see different elements of society interacting. Readers interested in how Korean society functions will find it interesting for that reason. We see, occasionally in the form of amusing anecdotes and dialogues, how the upper crust of this provincial city comes together to shield the twins when this pattern of sexual abuse becomes public. But there are a couple of elements to the narrative that are rare in modern Korean fiction. There’s a prolonged courtroom scene… Now, I know that many readers in the UK are happy with police procedurals— The Inspector Lynley Mysteries , Vera … we’re big fans of the Midsomer Murders over here and have recently become addicted to the American Law and Order show. In the climactic courtroom scene, one of the children is asked to identify which of the two identical twins assaulted her. In other words, the defense counsel is asking how she could know which of the identical twins was the perpetrator. The girl thinks about this, and signs a request to the judge: may she examine them closely? It’s granted. So she goes up to the two twins very closely and begins signing to them, and one of the men’s faces turns red. She points to him and says: he’s the one. This is very unusual. It’s an example of how, little by little, we see what we might think of as genre elements coming into Korean literary fiction. There are also two long letters, which of course reminds us of the epistolary novel—novels that take place primarily through letters. I think that’s what makes this novel so significant as a work of literature. It was also made into a film which was a huge success and returned the novel to bestseller lists. Many Korean citizens became outraged at the light sentences given to the two twins—six-month suspended sentences, with no jail time. So many Koreans demonstrated against this injustice that the Korean National Assembly passed a series of laws to strengthen the penalties. These laws did away with the statute of limitations on crimes involving the sexual abuse of minors, and relaxed the stringent requirements governing admissible evidence. As a result, they came to be known as the Togani Laws , after the title of the novel. So here we see not only literary success but the power of literature to effect change in national law. Yes. Some of what you will read may be disturbing. It’s dark. But if you are able to exercise empathy, to hear what’s being said, to feel what’s being felt, perhaps you will find some commonalities with your life. What you read won’t necessarily be cheerful, but the way the authors treat the material leaves us with hope by shedding light on places that have gone dark to the detriment of an understanding of, and compassion for, what our fellow citizens have experienced."