The Nine Cloud Dream

Korea's prized literary masterpiece: a Buddhist journey questioning the illusions of human life - presented in a vivid new translation by PEN/Hemingway finalist Heinz Insu Fenkl.

Written in seventeenth-century Korea, this classic novel's wondrous story begins when a young monk living on a sacred Lotus Peak in China succumbs to the temptation of eight fairy maidens. For doubling his master's Buddhist teachings, the monk is forced to endure a strange punishment: reincarnation as the most ideal of men. On his journey through this new life full of material, martial, and sensual accomplishments beyond his wildest dreams, each success brings him closer and closer to comprehending the fundamental truths of the Buddha's teachings.