The 1919 novel about a young German man rebelling and trying to find himself – and then going to war – resonates strongly. “In Korea it has attained such cultural importance that critic Lee Dong-jin, host of the Red Book Room podcast, can make this pronouncement: ‘There are two kinds of people: those who read Demian, and those who don’t.’ Given the enduring presence of the book on their country’s school curricula, most Koreans fall into the former category.”