November 30 2025, 15:12

Cursed Bunny

Author: Bora Chung

First published: 2017

Ten short stories. ~5,000 each

There’s a transition that happens if you read the stories in order. It starts with what feels like horrific folk tales, where women are fighting their bodies, families and the cultural norms of South Korea. The tone changes around halfway, becoming more mixed, and the genres open up to include sci-fi and fantasy.

The prose style is simple and clear. I’m never sure with translated works how much of that is down to the translator. I think I was stung by the stories of Raymond Carver’s editor changing the voice in the short stories into what we read today. Having never translated anything, I’m guessing the aim is to be as faithful to the author’s original text as possible. Translators are not editors.

The longest story, Scars, is a mysterious tale about a young boy chained in a cave for a monster to feed on. He escapes and, having seemingly taken on some of the powers of the monster, is made to fight as a slave for a cruel master. It reads like fantasy mixed with a fairy tale. The battles are written in brutal detail, and the ending is haunting. (Spoiler: all of her endings are haunting.)

Her style inspired me to write something fresh for the first time in months, so she must have gotten under my skin. Short stories don’t have to be ‘publishable’, whatever that means. They can be sketches, ideas, drafts; they can be complete-for-now and available to be developed further, if that’s what the story wants.

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