Women has been always favorite for all.
“It
was a fight in which there was no victor,” Park Kyung-ni (1926-2008)
wrote in the preface of her famous novel “Toji” (“The Land”). “Just like
the army that burns its bridges, only by shouldering despair was I able
to take a step forward.”
Park was one of the most prominent
Korean novelists and “Toji,” a 16-volume epic saga set in the turbulent
late 19th and early 20th centuries, is a must-read for those interested
in the Far East. The words in the preface show the agony and torment she
went through to complete it.
Writing a novel is an extraordinary
accomplishment in any environment, but attempting to convey the pains
at the turn of the 20th century in Korea and life under Japanese rule
was an especially difficult task given the rapid changes on the
peninsula. Park was also balancing life as a mother, wife and
daughter-in-law in a very patriarchal, Confucian society.
She was
not alone in her remarkable attempts to break free from societal
constraints. Museums and historians are beginning to rediscover the
female literati of the dawn of modern times on the Korean Peninsula,
revisiting the professional works and narratives of Park’s
contemporaries.
An exhibition titled “Korean Women’s Literature,
30 Years” is currently underway at the Young-in Literary Museum in
Pyeongchang-dong, central Seoul, which looks into the lives of 13 female
writers in Korea who pioneered modern literature on the peninsula. In
addition to Park, the exhibit centers on Na Hye-seok, who was born in
1896, and Kim Nam-jo, who was born in 1927.
Na and Kim Il-yeop,
who were prolific in the 1920s, are part of the first generation of
modern Korean authors. They were followed by Mo Yun-suk, Choi Jeong-hee
and No Cheon-myeong, who were primarily active in the 1930s. Han Mu-suk,
Son So-hee and Kang Shin-jae were prominent in the 1940s and Kim Nam-jo
and Park Kyung-ni in the 1950s.
During
the early 20th century, many women sought to break away from Confucius
restraints and looked for a footing in society. To many of these
authors, writing was a symbol of freedom.
The pen and the sewing machineA
common theme at the exhibition is the balancing of a passion for
literature with life as a mother and a wife. Many of these influential
authors had a pen in one hand and a sewing machine in the other - quite
literally.
On display are the contemporary household items used
by many of the women, like the tables, paper, pens and inkstones as well
as the sewing machines, spools, bowls and hanbok, or traditional Korean
attire.
Personal letters are also on display at the exhibit.
“Dear
Ik-jo, I just received your letter. I am so thrilled that I instantly
stopped writing the novel and am writing to you now. Thank you also for
copying down the report card. It seems you are not so good at physics,
geometry or algebra. I was also bad at those. You must have taken that
after me.”
Novelist Choi Jeong-hee (1906-1990) was writing to her
son in 1952. Choi was married and had the son with her husband, but
became a widow not long after. She had to leave her son at her in-laws,
and letters were the only way she could keep in touch and express her
love.
In addition to the letter, the writing table used by Mo
Yun-suk (1910-90), the sewing machine used by Han Mu-suk(1918-93),
perfume that belonged to Son So-hee (1917-86), and the dress and
accessories worn by Kang Shin-jae (1924-2001) are on display.
Photos
at the exhibit show that many of these writers knew of each other and
even met on a few occasions. “?‘Come on in, girls. You are a little
late,’ No Cheon-myeong greeted us in a little nasal voice with a big
smile. I forgot where her house was. But it wasn’t a small one, with two
large rooms on the ground floor and a second level. We chatted like
teenage girls on a school retreat.”
This is the account of
novelist Son So-hee (1917-87) on a visit to the home of No (1911-57).
The article was published in a literature magazine in 1979. No is known
for the poem “Deer,” which starts with the well-known phrase “Dear an
animal that’s sad because of its long neck.”
In the article
about her visit, Son drew a slender girl in a dress riding a large deer
and wrote on the side, “No was a sad poet because of her lofty ideals,
and she was a lonely woman because she had a tender heart.”
From Cinderella to destitutionAmong the female literati of the times, Na Hye-seok had it the hardest.
In
her early years, she seemed to have it all. She was the second daughter
of Na Ki-jeong, the governor of Yongin. She graduated summa cum laude
from Jinmyeong Girls’ High School and enrolled in Joshibi University of
Art and Design and majored in Western painting - the first Korean woman
to do so.
She held her first solo exhibition in Seoul at the age
of 25 and married lawyer and diplomat Kim U-yeong and traveled the world
with him. But she challenged the culture of tolerating men’s affairs
and concubines. She had an affair of her own and got divorced in 1931.
Na
struggled financially and became ill. She was found dead on a street in
1948 and was kept at a hospital morgue until she was identified as Na,
Korea’s first Western-style painter and a respected writer.
Beside
the exhibition at the Young-in Literary Museum, a group of scholars
launched on Sept. 1 the Na Hye-seok Research Society, which will be
dedicated to studying the works and life of Na. In addition, the city of
Suwon, Gyeonggi - where Na lived - is building a memorial hall for the
late artist, hoping to complete it late next year.
At the general
meeting held to celebrate the launch of the society, scholars -
including Seo Jeong-ja, professor of Korean literature at Chodang
University - unveiled never-before-seen photos and letters.
In
one letter, dated Nov. 29, 1931, Na writes to her Japanese patrons,
asking them to purchase one of her paintings that won an award in Tokyo,
which indicates how financially difficult it was for her after the
divorce.
Meanwhile, the Young-in Literary Museum said that
although this exhibition is limited to female writers born in the early
20th century, it hopes to obtain more materials on female writers born
after the 1930s.
“I always envisioned making a map for the 30
years of female literature [between the 1920s and 1950s], but the lack
of materials has been a problem,” said Kang In-suk, the director of the
museum. “We were able to expand our collection thanks to some new donors
like the daughter of Mo Yun-suk, who lives in Canada, and Song
Yeong-sun [a scholar of Korean literature].”
One can visit
Young-in Literary Museum by going to Gyeongbokgung Station (line No. 3)
and taking bus 1711 or 1020 from exit No. 3. Hours are between 10:30
a.m. and 5 p.m Tuesday through Sunday. Tickets range from 3,000 won
($2.70) to 5,000 won. For more information, call (02) 379-3182.
Courtesy: Korea Joongang Daily
Lee Bo-young
The
venues, on the other hand, were a mistake; they were too small to host
such an international event where visiting buyers and editors should be
able to at least secure a seat. Front rows were adorned with celebrities
as usual and sponsorship has done its best to support the event. 
In
Seoul Fashion Week SS 2013, shorts, in particular, are seen as a
must-have item with a variety of length and styles such as super shorts,
tailored or minimalist, teamed with a blazer or a t-shirt. Shorts from
such collections as Kim Kyung-min’s Sneezer Parade and Ko Tae-yong’s
Beyond Closet were clear winners at the show.
Beyond Closet by Ko Tae-yong
Resurrection by Lee Ju-young
LEIGH by Lee Sang-hyun
This
year, the institute has changed the title of the festival from the
World Writers’ Festival to the Seoul International Festival and will
intensify the interactive program with audiences in Daehangno, deemed a
mecca of culture and art here. 
Fay
Chiang, Ivy Alvarez, Jakob Hein, Jean Philippe Toussaint, Jennifer Kwon
Dobbs, Johannes Goransson, K. Srilata, Leon Plascencia Nol, Minato
Kanae, Phillippe Besson and Uthis Haemamool will attend the festival as
international guests. 
