Lee Byengju (李炳注, 2921-1992) was a South Korean novelist and journalist. He was known for his faithful retellings of modern Korean history based on thorough research and investigation. Lee was known as the “Balzac of Korea”[1] and published a significant number of works, but was not given recognition in proportion to the quality of his work.[2] He began his literary career in July of 1965 with the short story SoseolᆞAlexandria (소설ᆞ알렉산드리아 Alexandria: the Story)[3], which was published in Sede. Other works by Lee include the epic novel Jirisan (지리산 Jirisan Mountain) (1972-1978)[4]. He was the recipient of the Korean Literature Writers’ Prize, the Korea Creative Literature Award, the Korean Literary Writers’ Prize, and the PEN Korea Literary Prize.
1. Life
Lee Byengju was born in Hanam, South Gyeongsang Province, in 1921. He graduated from Yangbo Public High School and went on to Jinju University of Agriculture in accordance with his father’s wishes, but failed to fit in and found himself lost. In 1940, Lee was expelled for assaulting a Japanese instructor and went to Japan as an international student. He graduated from the department of literature at Meiji University and entered Waseda University’s department of French literature when he was conscripted as a student soldier. He was deployed to Suzhou, China, and served as a Horse breeder.[5] Immediately following the liberation of Korea in 1945, Lee stayed in Shanghai and composed his first work, the play Yumaeng—nara ireun saramdeul (유맹—나라 잃은 사람들 Diaspora—People Without a Country).[6] When the Korean War broke out in 1950, Lee was taken by the political security department of the Korean People’s Army and was forced to work as the leader of the theater alliance in the North Korean division for the promotion of culture and arts. In January of 1951, Lee returned to Hadong and took over his family’s distillery business. When Kookmin University moved to Haeinsa in March of 1952 and opened its doors as Haein University, Lee began to work as an instructor there. In 1954, while still teaching, Lee ran for the lower house of representatives at his hometown of Hadong during the third elections as an independent, but lost.
Starting in August of 1957, Lee began to serialize the novel Naeil eomneun geunal (내일 없는 그날 That Day Without a Tomorrow) in the Busan Ilbo, finishing in February of the following year. In 1958, Lee was made a permanent editorial writer at Kookje Daily News in Busan. In 1959, Lee became the editor-in-chief and the managing editor of the newspaper. He wrote the editorials “Jogugui bujae” (조국의 부재 Absence of the Homeland) (December 1960) and “Tongire minjok yeongryangeul chongjipgyeoraja” (통일에 민족 역량을 총집결하자 Let Us Pool Our National Abilities for the Goal of Reunification) (January 1961) and faced retribution from the military insurrection that took over the South Korean government on May 16, 1961. Lee was tried at the revolutionaries’ court and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for supposed treasonous activity, and served two years and seven months at Busan Prison. He was released on a special pardon in December of 1963 and attempted to start a business in Seoul, which failed.[7] Lee spent the following 27 years writing, filling over 100,000 sheets of 200-character manuscript papers with fiction, essays, columns, and more. Lee published over 80 books, 35 of which were multi-volume epics. He died on April 3, 1992 of lung cancer at Seoul National University Hospital and was buried at Namhan River Family Cemetery in Geumgok-ri, Ganam-myeon, Yeoju-gun, Gyeonggi Province.
The Lee Byengju Memorial Program Planning Committee was founded in 2001, and the Lee “Narim” Byengju Memorial Program Association officially began operations in 2002, holding the Lee Byengju Literature Festival in Hadong from 2002 to 2006. The Lee Byengju Literature House opened in 2008 at the foot of Imyeongsan Mountain in Jikjeon-ri, Bukcheon-myeon, Hadong[8], and the Lee Byengju International Literature Prize was also established. The annual Lee Byengju Hadong Literature Festival includes a memorial service, an international literature symposium, literature-related lectures, a national student writing competition, a literature night, the award ceremony for the Lee Byengju International Literature Prize, and more.
2. Writing
Literary Debut
Lee Byengju aspired to become a writer who records and testifies to reality, remarking, “History records the mountains, and my writing records the valleys.” Lee was adamant on thorough research and investigation into his work, creating faithful recreations of modern Korean history in his writing. As a result, his literature is often called “modern Korean history conveyed through fiction.”[9] As an intellectual of his era, Lee Byengju ruminated deeply on the tragedies of history and his people, and put that suffering into written form through his writings.
It is also notable that Lee, who worked mostly as an educator and journalist, became a literary writer in his mid-forties and spent the following 27 years composing a wide array of works, including full-length novels and collections, for a total of over 80 published volumes. He successfully conveyed his personal experiences of studying in Tokyo, being conscripted as a student, and going through the division of Korea. Lee’s novel Sanha (산하 Mountains and Rivers), which dissected the First Republic of Korea, Geuhae 5-wol (그해 5월 May of That Year), which criticized the May 16th coup d’état and the legitimacy of the Third Republic of Korea, and his epic novel Jirisan, which focused on socialist movements following the liberation of Korea, were among many well-received novels that examined the undersides of modern Korean history. Other works by Lee include the novel Hwangbaegui mun (黃白의 문, The Yellow and White Door), Dangsinui seongjwa (당신의 성좌, Your Constellation), Yeoroui kkeut (여로의 끝Journey’s End), and Heomanghan jeongyeol (허망한 정열Vain Passion), among other works of fiction and essays.
Origin of Korean Partisan literature
Jirisan is considered to be Lee Byengju’s representative epic novel. Serialization began in September of 1972 in Sede Monthly and continued until 1977 in over 60 installments, going on hiatus before finally being completed in 1985. The 15-year epic is the first novel in Korea to depict the activities of the Partisans in the Korean War and the Workers’ Party of South Korea. The story covers the period in Korean history from 1938 to 1956, which includes the Japanese occupation, Korean liberation, division, and the Korean War, and follows the dramatic lives of the young intellectuals indoctrinated by far-left philosophies and driven to fight as Korean partisans. The first half of the story covers the childhoods, characters, and eventual ideological choices of the young intellectuals Lee Gyu and Park Tae-yeong, and the second half centers on Park Tae-yeong and the young adult students who flee conscription and become partisan guerillas who prowl Jirisan Mountain. The novel ends with Park Tae-yeong’s disillusionment over the left wing, but rather than defect to the right or declare support for the right, he ends up dying. Hailed by critics as the ultimate in Korean division literature, Jirisan became the first in a long line of remarkable works of Korean partisan literature including Jo Jung-rae’s Taebaek sanmaek (태백산맥 Taebaek Mountain Range), Kim Won-il’s Gyeoul goljjagi (겨울 골짜기 Winter Valley), and Lee Tae’s Nambugun (남부군 The North Korean Army in South Korea).
Reference
[1] Jeong, Sun-hyeong, “Korea’s Own Balzac Lee Byengju Recorded the Suffering of the People in Novels,” Gimhae News, June 26, 2018, http://www.gimhaenews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=22861.
[2] Eum, Yeong-cheol, “Research on the Independence of Lee Byengju’s Novels,” Konkuk University doctorate thesis, 2010.
[3] “Alexandria,” Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=580080&cid=46645&categoryId=46645.
[4] “Alexandria,” Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=580080&cid=46645&categoryId=46645.
[5] “Author Chronology,” Gwanbuyeollakseon, Donga, 1995.
[6] Ahn, Se-hi, “Discovery of Original Copy of Novelist Lee Byengju’s Play Yumaeng, Written Immediately Following Liberation,” Kookje Daily News, January 25, 2017, http://www.kookje.co.kr/news2011/asp/newsbody.asp?code=0500&key=20170126.22026185035.
[7] “Alexandria,” Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=580080&cid=46645&categoryId=46645.
[8] “Lee Byengju Literature House,” Doosan Encyclopedia, https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=1282940&cid=40942&categoryId=34683.
[9] Cho, Nam-hyeon, “Criticism, Discourse Expansion, and Independence of Ideologues,” SoseolᆞAlexandria, Hangilsa, 2006.
