Author leaves behind novels that healed the pains of Korean history and people
By Chung Ah-young
Revered novelist and essayist Park Wan-sue was a true storyteller of her time, called “an active writer forever” who didn’t drop her pen until she died of gallbladder cancer at age 80 Saturday.
Born in 1931 in Gaepung-gun, Gyeonggi Province now in North Korea, the author, who celebrated the 40th anniversary of her literary debut last year, lost her father at an early age and was separated from her mother and brother during the Korean War (1950-53). She entered the Korean language and literature department at Seoul National University but had to drop out from the school in 1950 due to the outbreak of war.
The author began her writing career belatedly as a 40-year-old housewife in 1970 with her debut work “The Naked Tree.” Since her debut, she received numerous honors such as the Lee Sang Prize for Literature in 1981 and the Korean National Literature Award in 1990.
Her oeuvre is marked by eloquent words, which reflects realistic and sophisticated observations in human beings through her wisdom of age that is well melted in each and every sentence. She not only vividly portrays reality but also brings humor and attachment to life with delicate psychological descriptions.
The crafted storyteller strongly believed in her moral vision which lies in the family structure and was renowned for her trenchant critique in modern society and mores through her narratives that pierce her everyday life and observations.
Her oeuvre is marked by eloquent words, which reflects realistic and sophisticated observations in human beings through her wisdom of age that is well melted in each and every sentence. She not only vividly portrays reality but also brings humor and attachment to life with delicate psychological descriptions.
The crafted storyteller strongly believed in her moral vision which lies in the family structure and was renowned for her trenchant critique in modern society and mores through her narratives that pierce her everyday life and observations.
In the early days of her writing career, Park took her memories of the war as her fictional inspirations in her numerous works, believing the “healing power” of the literature would embrace both her personal trauma and the sufferings of the time.
Her trademark works such as “Warm Was the Winter That Year” and “Who Ate Up All the Shinga?” dealt with tragedy of families separated by the Korean War and the haunting pains.
In the 1970s and ’80s, she sharply criticized the hypocrisy and materialism of middle-class Koreans through her poignant eyes. Works such as “A Reeling Afternoon” and “Identical Apartments” describe selfishness, greed, snobbery and the absence of morality of the class, which are connected to social ills and the breakdown of family values.
Her trademark works such as “Warm Was the Winter That Year” and “Who Ate Up All the Shinga?” dealt with tragedy of families separated by the Korean War and the haunting pains.
In the 1970s and ’80s, she sharply criticized the hypocrisy and materialism of middle-class Koreans through her poignant eyes. Works such as “A Reeling Afternoon” and “Identical Apartments” describe selfishness, greed, snobbery and the absence of morality of the class, which are connected to social ills and the breakdown of family values.
In the 1980s, while addressing the absurdity of the middle class, the novelist focused on producing works that dealt with more feminist issues in a patriarchal society in line with social and political landscapes through such works as “The Dreaming Incubator,” “Bad Luck in the City” and “Are You Still Dreaming?”
In the mid-1980s, she became one of the representative writers who stood out in feminist literature.
But she went through a personal tragedy in 1988 when she lost both her husband and son. She briefly stopped writing after the shock of the sudden deaths of her loved ones. She converted to Catholicism and began releasing novels contemplatively looking at life away from the haunting trauma of the war through her biographic tales in the 1990s.
In the 2000s, she penned warmhearted novels such as “The House of the Man,” “The Lost Travel Bag,” “Kind Bokhee” and “Three Wishes” as well as prolific essays and tales that well reflect her experiences and observations of everyday life.
She led her idyllic life in a small village, Guri, Gyeonggi Province, where she moved to 13 years ago from Seoul. In her collection of essays, “The Road Not Taken Is More Beautiful,” which was published last year, she wrote her thoughts about death as if she predicted it.
“Lying on the grass, I feel a tiny movement deep under the soft and comfortable soil. Does this kind of vitality that can be made by the living creatures come from the soil or seed? I don’t think so. The soil and seed cannot be separable. The soil that embraces the seed feels soft and warm. If my body is laid to the soil, I don’t fear even death,” she wrote.
Park also showed her unwavering passion for her writing by saying that “I want to write as long as I can.” “As I get older, I cannot write as fast as I did in the past but now I write more carefully to leave a good sentence,” she wrote.
But she was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer last fall. Though she had undergone surgery in October, her condition worsened from the end of the last year and she passed away on Saturday.
The writer was also a million seller author whose “Who Ate Up All the Shinga?” sold more than 1 million copies in 1992. The novel is her representative work that portrays her wartime memories from her childhood in Gaepung in the 1930s to her experiences in Seoul devastated by the Korean War in the 1950s.
Mourning from the literary scene
Her funeral at the Samsung Medical Center in southern Seoul is filled with deep grief for the loss of a big novelist in the Korean literary history.
Fellow writers are mourning for the late novelist and delivering their condolences. “I didn’t imagine that she would pass away so suddenly. I was shocked in the morning of the day,” Park Beom-shin, a novelist, said.
He also said, “Park was my role model as a good writer for the entire life. Before she died, she had lived as a strong and active writer instead of being content with her social position and age.”
Veteran novelist Hwang Suk-young also said that although she made her literary debut at a late age, she successfully captured the change of Korean history and the forming process of the Korean middle class and the growth of citizens in Korean modern history. “In particular, she shone in the literature of the late age,” said Hwang.
Also, celebrated author and Twitter enthusiast Lee Oisoo delivered his deep condolence on his Twitter. Eun Hee-kyung, a female novelist, said, “I think she would keep a promise that she and I would go to theater and eat something delicious in spring. She was strong but she might have been fearful when she was sick.”
Park is survived by her four daughters. Her body will be laid to rest in the Catholic cemetery in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.
Park Wan-sue’s life at a glance
1931: Born in Gaepung, Gyeonggi Province, now in North Korea
1950: Graduates from Sookmyung Girls’ High School and enters the Korean language and literature department of Seoul National University but drops out due to the outbreak of the Korean War
1953: Marries Ho Young-jin
1970: Makes her debut on the literary scene with “The Naked Tree”
1971: Releases her first short story “Semo”
1977: Releases the novel “A Reeling Afternoon”
1980: Releases the serialized novel “Mama’s Stake 1”
1981: Releases the serialized novel “Mama’s Stake 2” and wins the Lee Sang Prize for Literature for the work
1988: Loses her husband and son 1989: Releases the novel “Are You Still Dreaming?”
1990: Wins the Korean National Literature Award for the novel “Illusions”
1991: Releases the serialized novel “Mama’s Stake 3”
1992: Releases the novel “Who Ate Up All the Shinga?”
1993: Wins the Modern Literature Awards for “Dreaming Incubator”
1998: Wins the Bo-Gwan Order of Culture Merit from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
1999: Wins the Manhae Literature Awards
2000: Releases the novel “Very Old Jokes”
2004: Releases the novel “The House of the Man”
2006: Releases the novel “The Lost Travel Bag”
2007: Releases the novel “Kind Bokhee”
2009: Releases the novel “Three Wishes”
2010: Releases a collection of essays “The Road Not Taken Is More Beautiful”
2011: Dies of gallbladder cancer
In the mid-1980s, she became one of the representative writers who stood out in feminist literature.
But she went through a personal tragedy in 1988 when she lost both her husband and son. She briefly stopped writing after the shock of the sudden deaths of her loved ones. She converted to Catholicism and began releasing novels contemplatively looking at life away from the haunting trauma of the war through her biographic tales in the 1990s.
In the 2000s, she penned warmhearted novels such as “The House of the Man,” “The Lost Travel Bag,” “Kind Bokhee” and “Three Wishes” as well as prolific essays and tales that well reflect her experiences and observations of everyday life.
She led her idyllic life in a small village, Guri, Gyeonggi Province, where she moved to 13 years ago from Seoul. In her collection of essays, “The Road Not Taken Is More Beautiful,” which was published last year, she wrote her thoughts about death as if she predicted it.
“Lying on the grass, I feel a tiny movement deep under the soft and comfortable soil. Does this kind of vitality that can be made by the living creatures come from the soil or seed? I don’t think so. The soil and seed cannot be separable. The soil that embraces the seed feels soft and warm. If my body is laid to the soil, I don’t fear even death,” she wrote.
Park also showed her unwavering passion for her writing by saying that “I want to write as long as I can.” “As I get older, I cannot write as fast as I did in the past but now I write more carefully to leave a good sentence,” she wrote.
But she was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer last fall. Though she had undergone surgery in October, her condition worsened from the end of the last year and she passed away on Saturday.
The writer was also a million seller author whose “Who Ate Up All the Shinga?” sold more than 1 million copies in 1992. The novel is her representative work that portrays her wartime memories from her childhood in Gaepung in the 1930s to her experiences in Seoul devastated by the Korean War in the 1950s.
Mourning from the literary scene
Her funeral at the Samsung Medical Center in southern Seoul is filled with deep grief for the loss of a big novelist in the Korean literary history.
Fellow writers are mourning for the late novelist and delivering their condolences. “I didn’t imagine that she would pass away so suddenly. I was shocked in the morning of the day,” Park Beom-shin, a novelist, said.
He also said, “Park was my role model as a good writer for the entire life. Before she died, she had lived as a strong and active writer instead of being content with her social position and age.”
Veteran novelist Hwang Suk-young also said that although she made her literary debut at a late age, she successfully captured the change of Korean history and the forming process of the Korean middle class and the growth of citizens in Korean modern history. “In particular, she shone in the literature of the late age,” said Hwang.
Also, celebrated author and Twitter enthusiast Lee Oisoo delivered his deep condolence on his Twitter. Eun Hee-kyung, a female novelist, said, “I think she would keep a promise that she and I would go to theater and eat something delicious in spring. She was strong but she might have been fearful when she was sick.”
Park is survived by her four daughters. Her body will be laid to rest in the Catholic cemetery in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.
Park Wan-sue’s life at a glance
1931: Born in Gaepung, Gyeonggi Province, now in North Korea
1950: Graduates from Sookmyung Girls’ High School and enters the Korean language and literature department of Seoul National University but drops out due to the outbreak of the Korean War
1953: Marries Ho Young-jin
1970: Makes her debut on the literary scene with “The Naked Tree”
1971: Releases her first short story “Semo”
1977: Releases the novel “A Reeling Afternoon”
1980: Releases the serialized novel “Mama’s Stake 1”
1981: Releases the serialized novel “Mama’s Stake 2” and wins the Lee Sang Prize for Literature for the work
1988: Loses her husband and son 1989: Releases the novel “Are You Still Dreaming?”
1990: Wins the Korean National Literature Award for the novel “Illusions”
1991: Releases the serialized novel “Mama’s Stake 3”
1992: Releases the novel “Who Ate Up All the Shinga?”
1993: Wins the Modern Literature Awards for “Dreaming Incubator”
1998: Wins the Bo-Gwan Order of Culture Merit from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
1999: Wins the Manhae Literature Awards
2000: Releases the novel “Very Old Jokes”
2004: Releases the novel “The House of the Man”
2006: Releases the novel “The Lost Travel Bag”
2007: Releases the novel “Kind Bokhee”
2009: Releases the novel “Three Wishes”
2010: Releases a collection of essays “The Road Not Taken Is More Beautiful”
2011: Dies of gallbladder cancer
Source:Korea Times
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