Song Yong (1940 – 2016) was a South Korean modern writer.
1. Life
Song Yong was born on March 15, 1940 in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province. Song studied German literature at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. After his graduation in 1963, he took a teaching job. His literary debut came in 1967 with the publication of "Tugye" (투계 Cock-fighting) in the quarterly Changbi. In 1970 he published the novella Seonsaenggwa hwangtaeja (선생과 황태자 Teacher and the Crown Prince), one of his most representative works. Throughout the 1970s he gained fame serializing fiction in newspapers, such as the novels Tto hanaui dosi (또 하나의 도시 The Other City) and Geumjidoen sigan (금지된 시간 Forbidden Time).
His story collection Ballojareul wihayeo (발로자를 위하여 For Volodya), published in 2003, includes a story inspired by his friendship with the Russian-born Korean scholar, Pak Noja. In the author's note, Song writes that "our friendship, transcending nationalities and age, was a very precious and notable experience for me that I remember with great fondness."
A lifelong lover of music and go, Song also published collections of musical essays such as Mueonui romangseu (무언의 로망스 Silent Romance) and Songyeongui eumagyeohaeng (송영의 음악여행 Song Yong's Musical Journey). He was one of the founding members of the Council of Writers for Freedom and Practice, in 1974, and the recipient of the Hyundae Munhak Literary Award in 1987.
In 2018 a collection of his unpublished fiction, Naneun wae nina geurigoreubeunaui mudeomeul chajaganna (나는 왜 니나 그리고르브나의 무덤을 찾아갔나 Why I Went to the Grave of Nina Grigoryevna), was published posthumously.
2. Writing
Song Yong's stories have a surreal tone which is rare in Korean fiction. His stories never follow a standard formula or contrived plots but employ a unique narrative voice and technique that can be identified as distinctly his. He is one of the few Korean writers influenced by Existentialism in the 70s, and the themes of existential angst and despair appear throughout his work.
Song's fiction often unfolds in unusual settings through perspectives of unconventional characters. Seonsaenggwa hwangtaeja and "Nimkkeseo osineun nal" (님께서 오신날 The Day My Love Comes) take place in a prison, and "Jungangseon gicha" (중앙선 기차 A Train on the Central Line), narrates various events that occur inside a crowded train. For Song, these spaces offer unexpectedly accurate microcosms of the larger society; wild commotion and meaningless violence that the narrator observes, often with ironic detachment and terseness, raise questions about our lives in the real world. Often these questions lead to a critique of various forms of authority that flout common sense and fetter individual freedom.
Typically, Song Yong's characters remain outside the network of relations that secure individuals' social identities. "Tugye" features as the protagonist a man who remains holed up in his own world and whose perception of the external reality is skewed to the extreme. Existential angst also marks the attitude of the main character to the world around him in "Gyedaneseo" (계단에서 At the Stairs).
Reference
[1] from the introduction by translator Jason Park, Diary of a Vagabond, Yong, Song. Codhill Press, 2008. https://www.codhill.com/product-tag/song-yong/?product_view=list
