Kyung-Sook Shin (born 1963) is a South Korean novelist.
1. Life
Kyung-sook Shin was born in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province. She made her literary debut in 1985 when her short story "Gyeouruhwa" (겨울우화 A Winter Fable) was published in the literary journal Munye Joongang. She is the author of nine short story collections, including Jongsori (종소리 The Sound of Bells) and Moonlight Tales (달에게 들려주고 싶은 이야기 Moonlight Tales), and eight novels, including Oettan bang (외딴 방 The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness), Rijin (리진 The Court Dancer), Eommareul butakae (엄마를 부탁해 Please Look After Mom), Eodiseonga nareul channeun jeonhwaberi ulligo (어디선가 나를 찾는 전화벨이 울리고 I'll Be Right There), and Abeojiege gasseosseo (아버지에게 갔었어 I Went To See My Father). She has received a number of prestigious literary awards at home and abroad, including the Yi Sang Literary Award, the Dongin Prize, the Hyundae Munhak Award, Prix de l'Inapercu, and the Man Asian Literary Prize.
2. Writing
Shin is part of the ‘386 generation,’ a cohort of young Koreans who were particularly politically active in the democracy movement of the 1980s. Despite her political involvement, however, her works look inwards at her characters’ psychological wounds and difficulty in reconciling themselves to their present and future.
It was Shin’s second collection, Punggeumi itdeon jari (풍금이 있던 자리 The Place Where the Harmonium Was), published in 1993, that made a name for her. Her stories, which accurately captured the characters’ subtle interior shifts and furthermore, their existential depths, in elegant, delicate prose, were a new and fresh approach in Korean fiction, then dominated by narrative-driven realist works. Shin’s first novel Gipeun seulpeum (깊은 슬픔 Deep Sorrow), published the following year, and her second, The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness, published a year later, demonstrated Shin’s competence not only as a stylist but also a storyteller. The former, a love story between the heroine Eun-seo and two men, named Wan and Se, sold over 700,000 copies. The latter is an autobiographical work depicting Shin’s experience as a new arrival in Seoul working in a factory in Guro while attending night school. Her poignant portrayal of the main character’s pain as she suffers her fall from her well-adjusted and wholesome life in the rural village to the struggles of the urban poor, had a great impact on readers and society. In a stream of consciousness narrative method that moves between the past and present, the novel recounts the history of the laborers who were sacrificed in the course of Korea’s industrialization through the eyes of a sensitive young girl.
By the mid-1990s, Shin had become a leading voice in Korean literature. Her devotion to her art bore fruit with a new title published every year or so. Her works were regarded to be on the same level as Pak Kyongni, Park Wansuh, and Oh Jung-hee, and at the same time, enjoyed great commercial success. After publishing a collection in 2003, the writer went on an unprecedented four-year hiatus and came back with The Court Dancer, a more dynamic narrative that still maintained her refined and delicate style. Shin then wrote the international bestseller Please Take Care of Mom, which revolves around a mother who has gone missing after a life of compromise. I Went To See My Father is its follow up, centering on Hon’s efforts to reconnect with her aging father, uncovering long-held family secrets.
