Jung Chan (born 1953) is a South Korean writer.
Life
Jung Chan was born in Busan in 1953. He graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in Korean education in 1974. Jung began his writing career in 1983 when his novella Marui tap (말의 탑 The Tower of Language) was published in World of Language. Over a prolific career, he has authored such works as the novels Sesangui jeonyeok (세상의 저녁 Evening of the World), Hwanggeum sadari (황금사다리 The Golden Ladder), Rodemnamu araeseo (로뎀나무 아래서 Under the Rodem Tree) and the short story collections Gieogui gang (기억의 강 The River of Memory), Wanjeonhan yeonghon (완전한 영혼 A Perfect Soul), and Beniseueseo jukda (베니스에서 죽다 Death in Venice). His novel Billadoui yesu (빌라도의 예수 Pilate's Jesus) and his short story collection Aneukan gil (아늑한 길 A Cozy Path) have been translated in English. He is the recipient of the 1995 Dong-in Literary Award for "Seulpeumui norae" (슬픔의 노래 Song of Sadness) and the 2003 Dongseo Literary Award for "Beniseueseo jukda."
Writing
The novels of Jung Chan are a testimony to the human history of pain and misery, set against the historical, cultural, and ideological backgrounds of modern Korean society in the 80's and 90's. His works have consistently striven to probe into the origins of this universal suffering and its resulting wounds.[1] Jung was profoundly influenced by the Gwangju Uprising, which occurred while he was working as a reporter for the Dong-a Ilbo. What intrigued Jung was not so much the political issue, but the issues of men confronting death and redemption. In Wanjeonhan yeonghon, the barbarity of those in power is contrasted against the simplicity and passivity of innocent souls.
Another concern in Jung's work is the relationship between power and language. The power here is the end product of the corruption of language or language turned ideological. Jung's "Eoreumui jip" (얼음의 집 Ice House) and "Seulpeumui norae" offer a careful meditation upon the language of novels, and "Suribueongi" (수리부엉이Eagle-Owl) focuses on the tension between God's silence and the language of corrupt power. In "Eoreumui jip," what the powerful pursue so relentlessly is ultimately identified as the place of God. While delving into the interchange between the essence and the manifestations of essence, Jung also investigates the problem of fictional language revealed in the novel itself. For this reason, his work is often seen as occupying a middle ground between poetics and novels.
More recently, Jung has tackled the issue of time and memory. According to Jung, time that moves along a straight line allows history to be divided into fragments which can then be forgotten piecemeal, and thereby undermines the very state of existence. Wrestling against such destructive qualities inherent in the flow of time, Jung has reimagined the concept of time in a variety of manners. "Siinui sigan" (시인의 시간 Poet's Time) utilizes the tension between the forward movement of time and the backward movement of memory to search for the possibility of redemption in memory.
References
[1] Korean Literature Today. Volume 4, No.3, Fall, 1999. http://anthony.sogang.ac.kr/klt/99fall/chongchan.htm
