On Farewell Party by Joon Kim Cover Letter About the author Synopsis Manuscript A ) Cover Letter Hello , there ! I am Joon Kim , a 77 - year - old Korean writer living in Seoul , who published ' Landscapes Invisible , ' a literary novel concerning an American street Flamenco dancer , through Authhouse Publishing Company last year . Farewell Party is an autobiographical novel consisting of a dozen literary essays or so with Farewell as the central theme in a series - connected story . It is a fact - fiction showing an aged man , the main character in the book , parting from what he has been familiar with and has done , one chapter after another chapter , until the end of the novel . Very privately , I ' m worried that Jaden , my grandson living in LA , an eleven - year - old elementary schoolboy , is a bit immature in English expressions orally for his age . I hope that when Jaden became a young adult , he would be proud of his late grandfather as a challenging - spirited writer . I often thought of Jaden being too far away from me while writing Farewell Party . . I had Landscapes Invisible , a fact - fiction book published through AuthorHouse . It is now available at Amazon and Barnett & Nobles . I am a writer and flamenco performance planner , doctorate in international politics , living in Masan , South Korea , where I was born in 1944 . I have written eight literary books in Korean and one e - book in English and translated four English books into Korean . I worked for Kyung Nam Domin Daily in Korea as an editorial writer ( 1999 - 2001 ) . I produced and directed five flamenco - pansori performances ( 2005 - 2013 ) . I am the author of seven fact - fiction books in Korean about local painters and their artworks , in a series titled " Chang Dong in Blue , " published for 15 years from 2004 to 2019 . I would sincerely appreciate your concern about this manuscript of ‘ Farewell Party ’. Thank you . Joon KimSeuk Jeun West 4 gil 11 Masan , ChangWon City , KyungSang Nam Do , South Korea B ) About the Author : Joon Kim is the author of Landscapes Invisible , a literary book of fact - fiction now available at Amazon and Barnett & Nobles . He is a writer and flamenco performance planner , doctorate in international politics , lives in Masan , South Korea , where he was born in 1944 . Joon Kim has written eight literary books in Korean and one e - book in English and translated four English books into Korean . He worked for Kyung Nam Domin Daily in Kyung Nam Do as an editorial writer ( 1999 - 2001 ) . The author produced and directed five flamenco - pansori performances ( 2005 - 2013 ) . He is the author of seven fact - fiction books in Korean on local painters and their artworks , in a series titled " Chang Dong in Blue , " published for 15 years of 2004 - 2019 . C ) Synopsis An adult over 70 and two young musicians perform a farewell ritual toward an oak tree and a grave in the forest opposite them on a high mountain hill . In front of the oak tree , the aged man tells a long monologue farewell , followed by two young performers playing traditional Korean music . It is in the mountains where no one can reach , so no one is around . It is a scene of a breakup that took place in the mountain near his hometown of Korea . The following year , the aged man performs his farewell ceremony with a traditional Korean pansori singer in front of a tomb on the island ' s coast not far from his hometown . This time , an old Korean lyric song , Arirang , sung by her , follows his lengthy monologue . That is another ritual of separation he performed on the island . Furthermore , the workers who came with him by boat dig the grave , cremate the remains and sprinkle them in the sea . The aged man then has a farewell party with his friends at a cafe located in the city ' s old city center where he lives . To a friend of them , he whispered in a low voice : " from now on , I wish I could face the rest of my life like the Indian man of an American tribe ! When they were young , they ran through the plains , ' with both eyes that are stable horizontally . ' And when they got old , they went into the woods alone to silently return to the earth where their lives were initially part of it ! " Before having the city center ' s farewell party , he went to Tokyo , Japan , to see a flamenco dancer , whom he had met in Portland 20 years ago in her girlhood of 7 years old . Leaving the performance hall , he said to her , leaving her , " Happy to see you again here . You turn up a magic dancer , Esmeralda ! " And after that , unexpectedly , he participates in a parade of young demonstrations condemning the government ' s illegal elections on the street . Too old to participate in the young people ' s demonstration parade , he couldn ' t just see that his country was becoming an unfamiliar state like North Korea ' s socialist totalitarianism . He couldn ' t imagine that there would be no more freedom and democracy in his country . ' Farewell Party ' is an autobiographical novel consisting of a dozen or so literary essays in a series - connected story . Its composition resembles the musical work titled Pictures at an Exhibition by Mousorpsky , a Suite composed of ten pieces . Just as Mousorpsky , the composer , uses musical sounds expressing the ten paintings displayed in the exhibition hall , the author of ' Farewell Party ' lets an aged man , the main character , lead this fact - fiction with the main subject of farewell as the title of the story means . After the first and second stage of this novel , it shows mainly local painters who lived or have lived working in the downtown Chang - Dong of an old city in Korea . And also there appear together with them a few guitarists and amateur magicians . These are the characters whom the aged man as the main character meets in person or the characters that appear through his recollection . And the novel shows through the email letters coming in and going out two flamenco dancers as the main character ’ s friends The story begins showing a high mountain in Korea where an aged Korean in his 70 s does his farewell ritual in front of an old oak tree standing as a symbol for his grandparents and parents dead . There are three men , an American aspiring literary writer in his thirties , and two musicians in the scene invited by the aged man . As the aged man ’ s friend , the American has stayed in Masan , the main character ’ s hometown , for over a year , teaching English at a college located in this old town , This is an autobiographical story about farewell . Every chapter in the story expresses his farewell to what he has been familiar with or has done . The aged man also opens his farewell party in a café in his hometown to say goodbye to his friends . And finally , the author adds at the last part of this novel his conflicts in his mind caused by the fraud of general elections in his country . He is sure that the country faced a real social crisis due to that illegal election under the coronavirus pandemic atmosphere . Between the first and second chapters of the novel and the last one , there are a dozen chapters or more containing various characters in each chapter . It is an essay - turned novel supported by four memorable scenes like architecture supported by four struts . The first scene taking place in a deep mountain , expresses an strut , the second scene on a small island acts as another strut , and there is the third one in a city center café , meaning another strut . The aged man as the main character and an American in his 30 s as his friend were present in the three main scenes . And in the fourth scene , as the last one , there appear two cities , one , Masan of Korea , where the aged man lives , and the other , Jerez of Spain , where an old American lady , a retired nurse , stays . In conclusion , farewell is the central theme of the story . The main character of the book , reveals his mind to say goodbye to all things he loves - modern paintings and Spanish flamenco music , the items and elements destined to him , the places and something with which he has been familiar and has done . Characters : With an aged man as the main character put as the center of the story , there appear several characters such as an American man , a street guitarist , painters , an amateur magician , a cafe owner , a retired American nurse , etc . Periods : 2017 - 2021 Places : Masan , a city of Korea , Portland , LA , New York , Tokyo , Jerez and Cadiz in Spain