English teaching in caricature

Dave Franklin isn`t the first person to think the life of an expat in Korea would make for good source material, but he is among the first to write a novel about it.

Korea`s quirks, occasional expat weirdo and novel use of English are so easy to find humor in that they have become cliches. References to bad plumbing and dancing "event girls" are hardly original thinking, but Franklin writes with enough panache to pull it off.

Paul, an Australian looking to escape a failed relationship, comes to Korea to teach English. He finds himself teaching at English Toss hagwon - a name that is the butt of expat jokes on "Planet Andong" and not too far removed from a real hagwon that uses the same unfortunate word.

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Paul`s boss is incapable of speaking English or providing him with proper support, and has him working six days a week. Cut off from the locals by language and cultural barriers, he sees little to like in the people around him and little reason to find out more about them. The only outlet he has for his misanthropy is sarcastic responses in language too difficult for most Koreans to understand.

It`s a habit he likely picked up from pretentious British flatmate Billy, whose warped behavior constantly drives Paul to despair.

"Argumentative?" gasps Paul when Billy tells him why he hit 16 kids in one lesson. "They only know how to say things such as `It`s sunny` and `I like pizza.` They couldn`t be argumentative if their lives depended on it."

Paul`s attempts at participation in expat events are disastrous. Billy`s are nonexistent, and Paul`s few successful attempts in luring Billy out of the house inevitably end in disaster, leaving Billy all the more warped.

Only a mutual desire to get as far as possible from the world they left behind and a shared sense of hatred of everyone else around them seems to keep them together. The feel is of a Korean "Withnail and I," with Billy as Withnail gone horribly bad.

For a humorous character Billy`s dark side goes beyond what is necessary, and perhaps the bounds of taste. There is one passage of implied child abuse that the book could definitely have done without.

This is where the book will no doubt find its opponents. The main characters are both deeply flawed and could be taken by both EFL teachers and their critics as supporting bad stereotypes of foreigners. The main characters` misanthropy extends to a dislike for Korea and Koreans in general - Paul refers to them as "Dollies" after the cloned sheep - and the author does too little to distance himself from that standpoint.

It`s clear that Franklin has taught here. The idiosyncrasies, the isolation and the sense of powerlessness will be instantly recognizable to people who have taught English in Korea.

The plot meanders at first, pouring on EFL-in-Korea cliches to set the scene. Once it gets moving, however, it is both varied and deceptively simple. The subtlety used has its collateral damage - there are a lot of unresolved issues at the end of the book - but that seems fitting for a story about a teacher like Paul, who leaves abruptly having achieved far less than he intended.

The book explores the familiar comic territory of whether it is better to be a miserable wise man or a contented fool. But the book dwells too much on the wise man, who both overrates and overestimates his knowledge. The optimists are made to look stupid, but their characters are not really dwelt on.

There are references to British sit-coms, although knowledge of them isn`t essential to understand the book, and some of the characters would not be out of place in one. In the same way that the writers of "Father Ted" were not looking to represent Irish Catholics, Franklin does not seem to want us to view these people as particularly real or representative.

This is perhaps a ploy to make observations without aggravation, and might also be the reason for the extent of Billy`s evil. If it was, it was overdone.

Negatives aside, the writing has pace, and is hilarious in places - particularly the disastrous book-readings at expat haunt Popcorn.

An expose on Korean culture and EFL teaching this book is not. But as a simple black comedy, "English Toss" is worth reading.

By Paul Kerry



(paulkerry@heraldm.com)