A beautifully crafted enriching saga inspired by East Asian mythology The Melancholy of
Untold History is Minsoo Kang’s debut novel steeped in history like R.F. Kuang’s Babel epic
in scope like Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land and lyrically exciting like David Mitchell’s
Cloud Atlas interweaving four complex yet entertaining stories as they shape and create a
nation’s literary narrative through the themes of love and grief. A history professor mourning
his wife. His young protégé’s 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 protégé 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 yet—the two discover—even that might
not be so clear cut. Part of their homeland’s 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 of—the elusive Storyteller—may 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 voices—with tales within tales woven expertly
together— The 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.
