Chrysanthemum Fragrance (The Final Chapter)

Author: [Korean] Kim Hyeon-in
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: Kim Hyeon-in's concluding volume to his famous work The Fragrance of Chrysanthemums has recently been introduced and published by Nanhai Publishing Company. Kim Hyeon-in stated that the release of the concluding volume of The Fragrance of Chrysanthemums signifies the end of the protagonist Chengyu's love story. The Fragrance of Chrysanthemums and its concluding volume are Kim Hyeon-in's works most familiar to Chinese readers. The release of the film The Fragrance of Chrysanthemums further brought Kim Hyeon-in's work to a wider audience. In an interview, Kim Hyeon-in once revealed that the ending of The Fragrance of Chrysanthemums had always been a source of distress for him, as he hoped to give the protagonist a happy love story. Reporters, upon reviewing the newly published concluding volume of The Fragrance of Chrysanthemums, found that Kim Hyeon-in had finally arranged such an ending: Chengyu dies unexpectedly and meets his deceased wife in heaven. The concluding volume continues the previous plot: after Meishi's death, an almost perfect girl, Gyeong-eun, accidentally enters Chengyu's tranquil life. Faced with Gyeong-eun's bold and sincere confession, Chengyu finally decides to accept her. However, Chengyu himself also encounters an accident, destined to be separated from Meishi in this life and the next. Regarding this ending, Kim Hyeon-in wrote in the preface to The Fragrance of Chrysanthemums: Concluding Volume: "I resolved to write an ending for The Fragrance of Chrysanthemums because every time I think of Meishi, who stands alone in the constellation of Orion, I cannot help but feel a deep sense of sorrow. Could I take their love to that star? This question troubled me, keeping me awake for days on end." This book is the third and final volume of the tragic and beautiful The Fragrance of Chrysanthemums. It shows us the power of great love and teaches us why love never disappears once it enters the heart.