Lee Mun Ku (1941—2003) is a South Korean writer. He is famous for his unparalleled writing style which actively uses the disappearing vernacular language of Chungcheong Province. His most famous works, which are set in farming villages and depict the joys and sorrows of people’s lives through a warm gaze, are the linked novels Gwanchon supil (관촌수필 Essays on Gwanchon, 1977) and Uri dongne (우리동네Our Neighborhood, 1981).
1. Life
Lee Mun Ku was born in 1941 in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province as the fourth son out of five boys and one girl. He was greatly influenced by his grandfather, who worked at a hyanggo, a Confucian temple and school that taught local students during the Joseon Dynasty. His oldest brother was drafted by the Japanese imperial army and was never seen again, while his second- and third-oldest brothers, along with their father who was an important figure in the South Korean Labor Party, died during the Korean War. Shortly afterwards, his mother died from chronic illness and he became the head of the household at an early age. 1)
He majored in Creative Writing at Seorabeol College of Arts and graduated in 1963. His short stories—“Dagalla bulmangbi” (다갈라 불망비Memorial for the Dagalla Trees) in 1965 and “Baekgyeol” (백결 White Tides) in 1967—were recommended by Kim Tong-ni and he thus made his debut. 2) After Lee Mun Ku found employment at the publication Wolgan munhak (월간문학Monthly Literature) through Kim Tong-ni’s help, he worked simultaneously as an editor and writer for a long time. He published in quick succession Gwanchon supil (1977) and Uri dongne (1981), his most famous works as well as works representative of 1970s Korean linked novels. Gwanchon supil was also adapted into a television drama for SBS in 1992 with the script written by Lee Mun Ku himself. 3) Lee Mun Ku is also one of the writers that directly resisted the military dictatorships during the 1970s and 1980s. When the Writers Council for Freedom and Practice (자유실천문인협의회Jayu silcheon munin hyeobuihoe) 4) was inaugurated in 1974, he participated as one of its founding members and later served as the chairman in 1999 for its later manifestation, the Writers Council of Korea (한국작가회의 Hanguk jakga hoeui). 5) As seen in the way that he respected Kim Tong-ni, a prominent figure of conservative literary groups, as his literature teacher but himself actively participated in progressive literature organizations, Lee Mun Ku maintained a relatively relaxed stance towards the ideological conflict between the right and the left.6) This can also be seen in his response to the controversy surrounding the 2000 Dongin Literary Award.7)
He passed away in 2003 from stomach cancer. As his final wish, he requested that no literary awards or funds be established in his name. The three most prominent South Korean literary organizations—the Writers Association of Korea, the Korean Writers Association (한국문인협회 Hanguk munin hyeopoe), and the Korea PEN (한국 펜클럽 Hanguk penkeulleop)—gathered collectively as writers for a funeral service to celebrate his life.8) He was posthumously awarded the Republic of Korea’s Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit in recognition of his contributions to literature.9)
2. Writing
Lee Mun Ku’s stories are imbued with an affinity and yearning for things that are disappearing. The expressions he uses, as well as the places and characters he depicts, are forced into the peripheries through the process of modernization and ultimately end up vanishing. Behind this yearning for that which disappears in Lee Mun Ku’s stories is also a fierce criticism and satire of modernization.
(1) Affection Towards Outsiders
Lee Mun Ku’s novels contain a critical reflection of Korea’s modernization during the latter half of the 20th century which was carried out at a breakneck speed.10) In particular, his novels demonstrate a special love for those that are excluded or wither away in the process of modernization. His first short story collection, I pungjin sesangeul (이 풍진 세상을This Life of Woe and Tumult, 1972), uses “social misfits”—such as poor farmers, mixed-race children, thieves, and swindlers—as its protagonists and portrays their agonies, as well as the joys and sorrows of their lives. This stance persists unchanged in his representative works, Gwanchon supil (1977) and Uri dongne (1981).
Gwanchon supil deftly demonstrates Lee Mun Ku’s aims with regards to life and literature. Ongjeom in “Haengun yusu” (행운유수 Free and Easy), Sin Hyeonseok in “Gongsan towol” (공산토월 A Moon Vomited By a Desolate Mountain), and the grandfather in “Illak seosan” (일락서산 The Sun Sets in the West) are all people at the margins of modernization, and unable to enter modernization’s currents (whether it is voluntarily or involuntarily), they lead miserable lives. From these people, Lee Mun Ku fairly and impartially reveals “the way of humans” taught by the grandfather. 11) Though these people are lacking or deficient in some way and are disappearing from the world, they are generally good people and thus, people that cannot be forgotten. By poignantly expressing affection and yearning for these people, Lee Mun Ku questions once more what exactly we have lost over the course of modernization.
(2) Lee Mun Ku’s Sentences, A Repository of the Korean Language
Filled with rich vocabulary and expressions, Lee Mun Ku’s stories can be considered a repository of the Korean language—to the extent that it should be a required reference when creating a dictionary of the Korean language.12) An important aspect is that in Gwanchon supil, the idioms in classical Chinese used by the grandfather and the vernacular language of Chungcheong Province spoken by the people met by “I” in the neighborhood are in conflict with the “standard language” coerced during the developmental dictatorship era under the Charter of National Education and the Saemaeul (New Village) Movement. In the same manner, the vernacular language filled with vitality that embroiders Uri dongne sarcasitcally expresses “family planning” (가족계획) as “being careful with the testicles” (불알조심) and “gyeongje” (the standard word for “economy”) as “gaengje” (the Chungcheong Province dialect form of “economy”), thereby confronting standardized language. 13)
The vernacular language abundantly used in Lee Mun Ku’s novels strongly expresses a region’s distinct colors or imply the values of pre-modern times, and is ultimately a language facing the danger of disappearing because of modernization. Nevertheless, it is also a language that possesses the strength to criticize or satirize the logic of modernization. In summary, this language, and the people that use it, may be gradually disappearing, but cannot be so easily thrown away. The densely reflected nostalgia in Lee Mun Ku’s novels—the nostalgia of “losing one’s hometown”—is, above all else, represented as nostalgia for a lost language.
For Lee Mun Ku, reviving and preserving a dying language is a crucial part of being a writer. In “Mareul chajaseo” (말을 찾아서In Search of Words), Lee Mun Ku criticizes the circumstances under which the old language of Korea is rapidly disappearing because of the transition into the nuclear family structure and industrialization. He has emphasized that a true novelist must find “fresh words” and “the traditional language of the people that contains subtle virtues and dignity” and make it one’s own.14) As found in his stories, this incomparable writing style is the product of a conscious attempt arising from this kind of critical awareness.
(3) Critical Reception
Lee Mun Ku’s novels have been given as an example of literature that has successfully redeemed, from their writing style to content, and even in terms of their form, the traditional Korean narrative form in contemporary literature.15) The film director Park Chan-wook has written that one blessing of being born as a Korean was the ability to read Gwanchon supil without needing a translation.16) In reality, after the 2000s, the things that Lee Mun Ku depicted are disappearing even faster and now truly difficult to find. However, his stories prove that such things once existed and reveal the truth that a yearning for such things persists in the consciousness of Koreans. This is also the reason why Lee Mun Ku’s stories were read by and fostered empathy among many people for a long period of time. Through the form of literature, Lee Mun Ku’s novels have succeeded at resurrecting and preserving that which has already disappeared.
Reference
1) Encyclopedia of Korean Culture: “Lee Mun Ku”
http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0071241
2) Lee Mun Ku’s decision to study under Kim Tong-ni was also one made in order to survive. He constantly struggled to survive after losing his father and two older brothers, and mentioned that during this time, “if he wrote novels” and “studied under the tutelage of a conservative writer,” he would be able to live.
“In Search of Writers… Lee Mun Ku.” N Get News, 28 October 2019.
http://www.ngetnews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=300601
It appears that Kim Tong-ni noticed early on Lee Mun Ku’s writing style. In his recommendation, Kim Tong-ni stated that “the Korean literary world has earned its most unusual stylist” and has mentioned similar stories in his lectures.
“Visiting Literary Figures in Daejeon and Chungnam (August, Episode 88).” Tomatoin, 19 August 2016.
https://tomatoin.com/index.php/app/contents/view?md_id=record&code=741
3) Wikipedia Korea: “Gwanchon supil (Drama)”
https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EA%B4%80%EC%B4%8C%EC%88%98%ED%95%84_(%EB%93%9C%EB%9D%BC%EB%A7%88)
A portion of the drama can be found on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VRDpgMt_YM
4) The Writers Council for Freedom and Practice was an organization of writers that was established in order to resist the Yusin Dictatorship under Park Chung Hee. In 1987, it was expanded and re-organized as the Association of Writers for National Literature (민족문학작가회의 Minjok munhak jakga hoeui). The Association of Writers for National Literature was re-named as the Korean Writers Council in 2007. For more detailed information, see the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture.
Encyclopedia of Korean Culture: “Writers Council for Freedom and Practice.”
http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0075907
Encyclopedia of Korean Culture: “Korean Writers Council”
http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0070776
5) See the section on “Lee Mun Ku” in Editorial Committee for the Collected Research on Modern Literature Over 100 Years, Literary History Read Through Biographies 2, Somyeong, 2008.
6) As the conflict between Lee Mun Ku’s literature teacher and the Association of Writers for National Literature (with which Lee Mun Ku was heavily involved) worsened when the International PEN Conference opened in South Korea in 1988, Lee Mun Ku stated that “I cannot treat my teacher as an enemy” and temporarily withdrew from the association.
“In Search of Writers… Lee Mun Ku.” N Get News, 28 October 2019.
http://www.ngetnews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=300601
7) Hong Seongsik. “Ten Years After His Passing, The True Lee Mun Ku That Can Now Be Discussed.” Oh My News, 24 September 2013; Kim Gwangil, “Stories of People Awakened to Life’s Wisdom and Writing’s Meaning.” In Nae momeun neomu orae seo itgeona georeowatda, Random House Korea, 2006.
http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0001907820
8) “Writer Lee Mun Ku: Solemnized by the Literary World.” Maeil gyeongje [Daily Economic], 28 February 2003.
https://www.mk.co.kr/news/society/view/2003/02/69634/
The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture and Literary History Read Through Biographies list an additional writers’ association for a total of four groups that came together to collectively commemorate Lee Mun Ku.
9) “Author Lee Mun Ku: the Republic of Korea’s Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit.” Chungcheong Today, 28 February 2003.
http://www.cctoday.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=13113
10) Kim Gyeongsu. “The Diagnosis and Testimony of Modernization’s Shadows: Lee Mun Ku’s Early Writings.” In I punjin sesangeul, Chaeksesang, 2007.
11) Choe Sihan. “A Mural Filled with Portraits of the People.” In Moonji Classics 1 Gwanchon supil, Moonji, 2018.
12) Choe Sihan. “A Mural Filled with Portraits of the People.” In Moonji Classics 1 Gwanchon supil, Moonji, 2018.
13) Lee Mun Ku. “Uri dongne gimssi (우리동네 김씨Mr. Kim in Our Neighborhood).” In Uri dongne, Minumsa, 2005.
14) Lee Mun Ku. “Mareul chajaseo.” In Sori naneun jjogeuro doraboda, Yeollin sesang, 1993.
15) “Classics of Korean Literature: Gwanchon supil Author Introduction.” NaverCast.
https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=3572270&cid=58822&categoryId=58822
16) “Personally Recommended Literary Classics #6: Director Park Chan-wook’s Recommended Books.” Moonji Naver Post, 20 September 2018.
https://post.naver.com/viewer/postView.nhn?volumeNo=16742919&memberNo=21781528
“A Conversation with Director Park Chan-wook: Deeper Discussions of Books, or ‘Stories on Stories.’” Aladin Books Blog, 25 February 2009.
https://blog.aladin.co.kr/common/popup/printPopup/print_Paper.aspx?PaperId=2623023
This novel appeared as one of the texts for the literature section on the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) in Korea and caused great shock and fear to test-takers during that time. During this time, when most textbooks, regardless of whether they were classified as colonial-era or post-liberation literature, generally discussed authors that were active beginning in the 1950s such as Kim Tong-ni and Hwang Sunwon, and the CSAT created exam questions based on this, Gwanchon supil was an unfamiliar novel to the majority of test-takers. Gwanchon supil subsequently appeared on the CSAT two more times and by 2020, it has become a novel that must be read at least once for standard test-takers.
