Latest news with #loneliness
New York Times
41 minutes ago
- Politics
- New York Times
A Novel Highlights a Dark Korean History and a Shattered Family's
FLASHLIGHT, by Susan Choi Friends are God's apology, it's said, for relations. In Susan Choi's ambitious new novel, 'Flashlight,' we're dropped into a shattered Korean American family, and friends are few and far between. This is a novel about exile in its multiple forms, and it reads like a history of loneliness. Nearly every person has the detachment of a survivor. A similar detachment — a narrative austerity that is one of Choi's hallmarks — is present in the book itself, for good and sometimes ill. This novel begins, as do Francoise Sagan's 'Bonjour Tristesse' and Hemingway's 'The Old Man and the Sea,' on a beach. A father and his young daughter are out for a walk in the gloaming. He carries a flashlight. When they fail to return, search parties form. The girl is later found in the tide margin, hypothermic, barely alive, with little memory of what occurred. Her father, who can't swim, is gone — apparently drowned and carried out to sea. The girl's name is Louisa. She's 10 and precocious. Her father, an academic, is named Serk. That's what he goes by in America, at any rate. His impoverished Korean parents had named him Seok, and when he went with them as a child to Japan during World War II, so that they could find work, he was known in school as Hiroshi. He was a striver, and he loved being Hiroshi. 'Flashlight' spans decades, and four generations of Serk's family. The novel's abiding theme may be what one character wonders early on: if 'supernatural vengeance exists, for the person who tries to renounce his birthplace.' Serk's painfully split identities reflect the contested politics of the postwar era, with America and the Soviet Union (as well as Japan and China) jostling for advantage on the Korean Peninsula. Many writers are only partially conscious of the meanings in their work. Choi has set out to shine a flashlight, if you will, on a series of historical wrongs, the worst of them committed by North Korea. By the end of this novel, the author's research into these machinations, and some of their brutal human ramifications, including re-education camps, nearly swamps the book — the narrative begins to feel like reportage, like didactic historical exposé. It's hard to talk about the plot, and the resonances, of 'Flashlight' without dropping spoilers like a trail of seeds. But I will try to avoid them, out of deference to the reader but also to Choi, a major world writer who deserves the chance to reveal her cards slowly. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- General
- South China Morning Post
As loneliness epidemic spreads through South Korea, Seoul is spending millions to fight it
A growing epidemic of social isolation in South Korea has prompted its capital city to invest more than 450 billion won (US$330 million) in a sweeping five-year initiative aimed at reducing loneliness in the city. Advertisement The Seoul Metropolitan Government's efforts include the launch of a convenience store where locals can enjoy free instant noodles while talking about their feelings, as well as a 24-hour counselling hotline. Seoul is at the epicentre of the nation's social isolation epidemic, with people living alone now making up more than 35 per cent of all households in the capital, according to The Korea Herald. A recent Seoul Institute survey revealed that 62 per cent of single-person households reported experiencing loneliness, while 13.6 per cent were socially isolated. A separate 2023 study by the city estimated that about 130,000 people aged between 19 and 39 were living in near-total social withdrawal. According to a recent Seoul Institute survey, 62 per cent of single-person households have reported experiencing loneliness. Photo: Shutterstock Lonely deaths in South Korea – where someone dies by suicide or illness after living in social isolation – increased from 3,378 in 2021 to 3,661 in 2023, according to the South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How to Open a Hole
I don't know how the beetles got in. Landed like plums rolling off a cloud, soft erasers inside their mouths, my dreams were first to go. Siphoned out via bullet holes, like honeybees smoked out their hive, chorus of black lines, burned thick and dark, gilded grill marks, hexagon honey stuck to their eyes, there are six sides to loneliness. Ballistic blowfly, visions of parallel lives, you hide, what you hold. Blind to the brilliance, I died with my eyes at an angle to my skull. Said I'd be right back. Nevermore. Mounds of dirt, oh ants, no one I love, should find me here. Never had I felt the hardened wings of sudden flight, mid-run, door turned cold-angled cliff. Duck-duck, goose. Pluck a hole in the circle's skin. Black rip in a bag. This is where memories turn corners. Finger tucked around a crescent moon, light splits and splices the room, disconnects the dots, casts a constellation onto sheetrock. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Author John Green has advice for Gen Z to ‘shrink the empathy gap'
John Green is best known for his tear-jerking young adult novels. But beyond the emotionally charged lives of two teens bound by more than their illnesses in his bestseller, The Fault in Our Stars, Green has become widely recognized for giving his curious audience a crash course in everything from history and philosophy to science and current events. He's known to his over two million social media followers as an expert in centuries-old historical events, global health, and our modern technological landscape. Green is able to connect with a broad audience because of his uncanny ability to understand the dark and complex realities of people—particularly young ones. And he has a message for them. 'I worry a lot that young people are affected by the terrible disease of loneliness at a scale that we haven't seen before,' he tells Fortune. With the rise in social media came a decline in mental health, and a global pandemic that shut down schools and isolated kids as they were coming of age only worsened things. In one recent analysis, a fourth of people aged 15 to 18 reported feeling lonely, which can exacerbate mental health issues. Dubbed the 'anxious generation' by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, young adults today may be the loneliest group of all. With looming uncertainty about the future of work, AI, and the economy, Green has a simple lesson for young people. 'I think they should be reading more books,' Green says. 'But I'm biased. That's like asking a musician if people should listen to music.' Nonetheless, he sees reading as the most significant character development tool for young people. 'My case for books is that they shrink the empathy gap,' Green says, 'because when I read Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield isn't my friend or my spouse or my anything, [but] he is as close as I can come to being someone else.' Being socially isolated can block people from feeling empathy for others. In the latest annual World Happiness Report, a ranking of happiest countries in the world, the U.S. dropped out of the top 20, largely because of young Americans' discontent due to social isolation and worsening mental health. A key marker of happiness, per the report, is believing in the good of others. Lacking valuable social connections can make believing in the goodwill of others more challenging. Finding a way to bridge the empathy gap, as Green says, could encourage us to reach out to people, beyond the pages of a book. 'Through the process of imagining with clarity and sophistication what it's like to be someone else, we both learn what it's like to be ourselves, but we also learn what it's like to be one of the 8 billion other people on this planet,' Green says. This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Campaign to tackle loneliness backed by popular comedian to return to borough
A NUMBER of benches will be given a new purpose next month, as a campaign aimed to tackle loneliness backed by a popular comedian makes it return to the borough. The 'Say Hello' benches were inspired by the work of comedian John Bishop, who launched the Say Hello campaign in 2021 as part of the Month of Community initiative. The campaign aims to combat loneliness, strengthen communities, and encourage people to just say hello to each other. People are welcome to simply drop by for a chat, get advice, or take part in activities such as chess, gardening and walking tennis. Bishop, comedian and founder of the Say Hello initiative, said: 'It's brilliant to see that Dudley Council is once again encouraging people to say hello to each other with their friendly bench initiative. 'Making that first connection with someone can lead to amazing things, from new friendships and shared ideas to people helping out neighbours who might need it. 'Thanks to Dudley's friendly benches, saying hello is easier than ever - I'm sure this fantastic project will inspire the whole community to have a seat, enjoy a natter and get to know someone new!' The 13 benches across the borough part of the initiative will be located at: Abbey Street Park, Gornal Market Place, Dudley Dudley Street, Sedgley Foster Street, Stourbridge Gornal Library, Gornal Grange Park, Dudley Hagley Street, Halesowen High Street, Brierley Hill Long Lane Library, Halesowen Silver Jubilee Park, Coseley Stevens Park, Quarry Bank The Dell Stadium, Brierley Hill Vicar Street Gardens, Sedgley From Monday 9 June to Sunday 15 June, these benches will be adopted and decorated by local community groups to raise awareness of loneliness. Councillor Andrea Goddard, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health at Dudley Council, said: 'We've been part of the Say Hello campaign for the past four years, helping to connect people across the borough and raising awareness of the mental and physical health impacts of loneliness. 'People of all ages can feel lonely, and these benches are here to help them connect. "We're extremely grateful to the community groups for getting involved, adopting the benches, and giving people the opportunity to see a friendly face.'
