God – Disease – An Chang Joon

But violent vertigo seized her again; she puked some more instead. A thunderous slam rocked the cubicle. She realized with a start of terror that the man was beating his fists against the thin wall of the cubicle. “Do you fucking hear me,” he shouted. “That bird became undone for you.” The man was having trouble speaking, it seemed, rage rendering his words unintelligible. Strange squawking noises punctuated his speech. Jung-ha buried her head between her knees and screamed.

The last thing she saw was a large pair of avian feet desperately clawing at the gap between the floor and the cubicle. But when the teachers eventually found her, she was unconscious and alone in the bathroom. Later, she retraced her steps in her mother’s hallway. She aimed her flashlight at a shelf to see that the cup was missing. The pieces, likewise, were gone. What cup?

was the only thing her mother said when Jung-ha asked about it. The parents eventually arrived. Three mothers and a father. They sat in a circle around the dinner table and picked at the food. “So, Ms. Hwi,” one of them, the clear leader of the group, spoke. “We don’t mean to be overbearing.” But you are about to be anyway, Jung-ha thought. “Some of the other parents have said that there is a student with, well, I’m not sure what’s the right way to say this, but they have a condition?”

Jung-ha’s heart sank. From somewhere deep down, the same old anger stirred, but she was tired now. “Cerebral palsy,” Jung-ha answered dully. “Affects about two to three children out of a thousand.” It surprised her that she still remembered the statistics. “Yes, okay, so you are aware,” the parent answered. Relief washed over her face and Jung-ha hated her for it. She wanted to grab the parent by the collar and shake her.

What the hell do you know, she wanted to scream. And then the floor dropped out of her anger. Guilt clenched her throat shut and whispered in her ears.

(Provided by Cassidy Cataloguing Services, Inc.). Names: Joon, An Chang, author. Title:God-disease / An Chang Joon. Description: First edition. | Louisville, Kentucky : Sarabande Books, [2025] Identifiers: ISBN: 978-1-956046-33-5 (paperback) | 978-1-956046-34-2 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Identity (Philosophical concept)–Fiction. | Language and languages–Fiction. | Social norms–Psychological aspects–Fiction. | Names–Fiction. | Mind and body–Fiction. | Change– Fiction. | LCGFT: Short stories. Classification: LCC: PS3610.O64257 G64 2025 | DDC: 813/.6–dc23 Cover and interior by Danika Isdahl.

Printed in USA. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Sarabande Books is a nonprofit literary organization. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, supports Sarabande Books with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

OceanofPDF.com CONTENTS Introduction by Manuel Muñoz God-Disease Kuleshov Effect Separation Anxiety Autophagy Structural Failures Acknowledgments OceanofPDF.com INTRODUCTION “Now, I see places and people that I’ve never known,” says a character near the end of this astonishing collection, “and I think that I’d be able to love them.… At least love better than what I know now.” Such a statement, made with the characteristic straight-forwardness that marks the style holding these stories together, is one that yields even deeper rewards on second glance. God-Disease, by the debut writer an chang joon, takes us into the hearts of characters who are ill at ease in their own bodies and minds.

They seek solutions—or sometimes just the root of their problems— in their surroundings. Not only the physical landscapes (the municipalities of a new, contemporary Korea) but also the cultural notions that are passed down and maybe, for the first time, approached with serious doubt. What do these characters “know now”? More darkly, is love the right word for what we cannot see or know? Many of the stories in God-Disease proceed with a deliberate pacing that can turn to foreboding before long. In the title opener, a young woman arrives from the United States to help curate a beetle exhibit at a small Korean museum.

Her acculturation to her new surroundings lulls us, almost imperceptibly, to a psychic distress that charges her search for relief.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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• Unique ID: aedf61bd3c44b3e5
• File Extension: .pdf
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• Title: –
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• ISBN: 9781956046335, 9781956046342
• Pages: 133
• Language: English (en)

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