Son So-Hui (1917-1986) was a South Korean novelist. She graduated from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in 1961 as an English major. She made her debut publishing poems including “Godok” (고독 Solitude) and “Bukgeugui Gaeul” (북극의 가을 The Arctic Autumn) in 1939 when she was a journalist of the Manseon Ilbo. Returning to Korea after Korean Independence in 1945, Son started her literary career publishing “Donggyeong” (동경 Admiration) in the Sinsedae. In 1949, she led publication of the Hyeseong as the chief editor. She mainly covered romance and ethnic awareness under Japanese Imperialism in her works, deepening the theme of women’s suffering through description of female psychology.
1. Life
Son So-Hui was born in Eorang-myeon, Gyeongseong-gun, Hamgyeongbuk-do in September 1917. She graduated from Yeongsaeng Girl’s Highschool in Hamheung in 1936 and went abroad the following year to study English at Nihon University in Japan but dropped out mid-course. She published poems in Jaemanjoseoninsibinsijib (在滿朝鮮人10人詩集 A Poetry Collection of Ten Koreans Living in Manchuria) when she was working for the Manseon Ilbo. At the time, novelists Yom Sang-seop and Song Ji-yeong were her colleagues at work. She returned home in 1945 with Korean Independence and started working for the Sinsedae in which she published her poem “Donggyeong”. In 1948, she published a short story “Riragi” (리라기 The Story of Rira) in the Sincheonji, followed by other short stories including “Hyeonhaetan” (현해탄 Korea Strait), “Jiryu” (지류 The Tributary), “Hyungmong” (흉몽 A Nightmare), and “Gil Wieseo” (길 위에서 On the Road). She established a general magazine called Hyeseong with Jeon Sukhui and Jo Gyeonghui, etc. and became its chief editor. The magazine was discontinued with the outbreak of the Korean War. She married Kim Tong-ni, a novelist, in 1953 and entered the English department of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in 1957 to continue learning and graduated in 1961. She was a member of the central committee of the Korea P.E.N. Club. She also led the establishment of Hankuk Munhak, the editor of which was novelist Lee Mun Ku and the contributing editor and bookkeeper So Young-en. Through this magazine, Son offered chances to young writers who hadn’t had an opportunity to publish their works. That was one way of her supporting young authors of the literary world. She was a lecturer of Sorabol College in 1965, a visiting professor of the Korean department of Hongik University in 1968, and a visiting professor of the Korean department of Chung-Ang University in 1978. She served as the chairman of the Korean Women’s Literary Society (한국여류문인협회) in 1974 and the vice president of the Korea P.E.N. Club in 1981. Until she died in January 1986, Son had published nearly a hundred short stories and eleven novels for 40 years since her debut in 1939.
2. Writing
Son So-Hui is known to be a writer who explored the theme of women’s hardships, describing psychology of women suffering under Japanese Imperialism and patriarchy.[1]
A short story collection Riragi (梨羅記) published in 1948 is meaningful as it is the first published collection of Son So-Hui. It features a short story of the same title “Riragi.” (Rira is the name of the main character. Although the original pronunciation of the title 梨羅記 is [i-ra-gi], this article will follow the author’s transcription Rira, referring to the title of the short story and the collection as Riragi.) Riragi was published by Simunhaksa and contains the following stories (in the order in the collection): “Mageui Myebyeol” (맥(貘)에의 몌별(袂別) A Sad Parting from the Beast); “Dopi” (逃避, An Escape); “Geu Jeonnal” (그 전날, The Previous Day); “Sugwon” (宿怨, An Old Wish); “Samdaeui Gok” (三代의 曲, The Song of the Three Generations); “Hoesim” (回心, Conversion); and “Sok Riragi” (續 梨羅記, The Sequel of Riragi). Kim Tong-ni commented: “Judging from nine stories, her works has speculative intelligence rather than fresh sense or pure sentiment. The basis of her writing, consistent in all nine stories, is her political awareness.” (“Review of an intelligent piece, Riragi written by Son So-Hui,” the Kyunghyang Shinmun, Feb 5th, 1949, page 3). In fact, stories of Riragi feature various characters in different positions before and after the independence of Korea. For example, Kim Cheol of “Dopi,” Hun of “Geu Jeonnal,” Jang Seokgon in “Sugwon,” and Deokgyu in “Aksu” (악수 A Handshake) are characters submitting to Japanese government, directly or indirectly, stuck in the logic of livelihood. Son focused on how these characters behave as they face the forecast or reality of the fall of Japan at the end of the Pacific War.[2]
Taeyangui Gyegok (태양의 계곡 The Valley of the Sun) is Son So-Hui’s novel consisting of seven chapters, published in 1959 by Hyundaemunhaksa. Set in a refugee village in Busan towards the end of the Korean War, the novel unfolds lives of two women, Jeonga and Jihui. Since her husband Junho (Jeonga’s brother) died, Jihui has concentrated on her career as a teacher and nothing else. Jihui receives a love letter from Seokeun, a doctor who used to be a romantic rival of Junho, but ignores it without answer. Instead, Jihui repeatedly tells the story of herslf and Junho – from how they first met as students – to Jeonga every night. On the other hand, Jeonga, while cherishing Jihui, is leading a dissipated life, wandering dance halls with different partners. Jeonga gets pregnant and has an abortion, upon the recommendation of Park Jingil. Afterwards, Jeonga has a sexual relationship with Seokeun, after which she thinks she does not deserve to be his wife. She goes to Seoul following her father and marries Lieutenant Colonel Gang there. Meanwhile, Jihui marries Jeong Haesu, a teacher of the same school, and heals her heart broken with Junho’s death. However, before long, Jeonga is dumbstruck at Jihui’s letter saying that Jeong Haesu has died of typhoid fever. In the epilogue, Son wrote that the two main characters could not walk the same road since Jihui “submits” and “contemplates” while Jeonga “refuses” and “acts.” Nevertheless, Son emphasized that the “ordinary lives of women” shown through two characters converged into one theme of “tragedy of will helpless in the face of fate.” Jeonga and Jihui are “two permanently valid stereotypes of women that could exist in any era, any society.”[3]
Son mainly wrote full-length novels during the latter part of her career, dealing with Japanese Imperialism, Korean independence, and social problems and love morals during the Korean War. Her novel Nampung (남풍 The Wind from the South, 1963) features aesthetically pleasing description of women’s psychology. Also, one of her great short stories in the latter period, “Galgamagwi Geu Sori” (갈가마귀 그 소리 The Cawing of a Raven, 1970) focuses on the mental anguish of a remarried widow who returns to the home of her old husband’s family. It is thought to be a work that developed the theme of women’s sufferings.[4]
Reference
[1] 정영자, 「손소희 소설 연구- 속죄의식과 죽음을 통한 여성적 삶을 중심으로」,『수련어문논집』 16, 1989 / Jeong Yeongja, “A Study on Son So-Hui’s Novels – Focusing on Female Lives Through Piacular Rites and Death,” Studies in Korean Language and Literature 16, 1989
[2] 문흥술, 「나르시스적 사랑에 의한 비극적 현실의 정화 – 손소희론」, 『문학과 환경』 7, 2008 / Moon Heung Sul, “The Study on Son So Hee’s Literature – Purification of Tragic Reality Through Narcissistic Love,” Literature and Environment 7, 2008
[3] 손소희, ≪태양의 계곡≫, 현대문학사, 1959, <후기> / Son So-Hui, Taeyangui Gyegok, Hyundaemunhaksa, 1959, “The Epilogue”
[4] 전혜자, 「손소희 장편소설 연구」, 『아시아문화연구』 4, 2000 / Jeon Hyeja, “A Study on Son So Hui’s Novels,” Asia Culture Research 4, 2000
