Clay Walls

byKim Ronyoung, David Cho (Introducer)

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Clay Walls tells the story of Haesu and Chun, immigrants who fled Japanese-occupied Korea for Los Angeles in the decade prior to World War II, and their American-born children. First published in 1986, it offers a portrait of what being Korean in the USA meant in the first half of the twentieth century, exploring themes of immigration, racism and generational trauma, and depicting the early decades of Los Angeles’s Koreatown. Through three sections representing the perspectives of mother, father and daughter, what resonates the most is the voice of a woman and her self-determination, through national identity, marriage and motherhood.
Clay Walls is a story about immigration and colonial trauma, and it is also a story about marriage, class, and patriarchy ... A beautifully written work of American literature that is both absorbing and deeply felt
Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko and Free Food for Millionaires

About Kim Ronyoung

Kim Ronyoung was the pen name of Gloria Hahn (1926–1987), a Korean American writer born and raised in Los Angeles’s Koreatown. After her children graduated, Kim earned a BA in Far Eastern art and culture at San Francisco State University. She was a docent at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and wrote many poems, short stories and essays. Her first and only novel, Clay Walls, was the first major novel focusing on the experiences of Korean immigrants and Korean Americans in the United States. It was published in 1987, shortly before her death. Kim passed away on February 3 1987, at the age of sixty, after a lengthy battle with breast cancer.
Details
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • ISBN: 9780143138242
  • Length: 272 pages
  • Price: £14.99