Table for One

By Yun Ko-eun

Translated by Lizze Buehler

(2010, trans. 2024)

Weatherhead Books on Asia

Columbia University Press
I first learned of Yun Ko-eun as the author of the satirical novel, The Disaster Tourist. Her most recently tanslated work is Table for One, a collection of short stories published in Korea in 2010. The date is critical, as the story “Table for One” is now regarded as a bellwether of a dramatic reversal in 21st century Korean Culture. In 2017, Koreans coined the term honjok by combining the words for “being alone” and “group” to describe a rising trend in individuals eating alone in restaurants and cafes, drinking alone in bars, joining group activities alone, etc. Rather than a cause for alarm, people who embrace the honjok lifestyle do so as a way to distance or shield themselves from the ubiquitous collectivist gaze that polices behavior in Korean society. The solitary diner is not a lone wolf or an outcast, they are enjoying the freedom of being alone and the pleasure of being with a person they enjoy–themselves. The protagonist in “Table for One” feels out of step with her new workmates and finds her anxiety about whether she will be invited to join the group for lunch each day. She considers being more persistent in making friends with her colleagues, but she does not want to be a tag-along, and staying in and eating at her desk is unacceptable.  Her prospects for joy and a sense of belonging are grim indeed until she finds a flyer promoting a curse of instruction for those who wish to develop skills in order to be confident existing as an individual. Other stories in the collection also address the role of the individual in society. “Sweet Escape” is about a plague of bedbugs and a neighborhood’s effort to avoid the inevitable. In “Roadkill,” a man who makes his living leasing, maintaining, and restocking vending machines finds himself snowbound in a massive hotel with no guests. In “Don’t Cry, Hongdo,” a girl in 4th grade rebels against her divorced mother’s vegan lifestyle while trying to arrange a love connection between her mom and her handsome new teacher. The stories are offbeat, unexpected, and occasionally anxiety-provoking while retaining a sense of humor or even whimsy. If you want to learn more about the writer, I recommend watching the Korea Society’s “Author Talks: Yun Ko-eun with Lizzie Buehler.”

“A woman with long, straight hair entered the restaurant. Huh? She’d come alone, but she didn’t head to a corner. She grabbed a chair in the middle of the room and asked, ‘Is it possible to order just one serving of pork belly? The woman ordered two servings and began to grill her meat as naturally as if someone were with her. The woman was visible from every seat and every corner of the building. She was sitting in the middle like a round, coal-burning heater from an old-fashioned elementary school classroom, like someone trying to expel heat throughout the entirety of the restaurant. I wasn’t the only person amazed by this woman. Couples filling secluded tables, and a group of office workers sitting in a line, also stared at the woman in her oblivious solitude. She really was just like one of those heaters, singular yet surrounded. The woman was exposed…”