Books, Arts & Manners: The Tough and the Tender

The Innocent By Richard E. Kim

Houghton, $6.95 There are three things radically wrong with Richard E. Kim’s second novel, The Innocent. First, it has the presumption to portray the South Korean military leaders of a coup d’etat as decent, patriotic men battling terrible odds to save their country from corruption, chaos and the divisive terror of Communism from the North. Second, it presents a subtly definitive picture of the confirmed liberal’s emotional rather than truly moral orientation to life and dares to postulate the dangerous extremes to which such orientation can lead. Third, this novel seems to some minds an unpardonable departure from Mr. Kim’s first novel about his war-torn country, which was warmly if not reverently received in all the right places, was a best-seller for over twenty weeks, and was translated into more than ten foreign languages.

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Christopher Nichols

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The Innocent By Richard E. Kim

Houghton, $6.95 There are three things radically wrong with Richard E. Kim’s second novel, The Innocent. First, it has the presumption to portray the South Korean military leaders of a coup d’etat as decent, patriotic men battling terrible odds to save their country from corruption, chaos and the divisive terror of Communism from the North. Second, it presents a subtly definitive picture of the confirmed liberal’s emotional rather than truly moral orientation to life and dares to postulate the dangerous extremes to which such orientation can lead. Third, this novel seems to some minds an unpardonable departure from Mr. Kim’s first novel about his war-torn country, which was warmly if not reverently received in all the right places, was a best-seller for over twenty weeks, and was translated into more than ten foreign languages.