Ha Seong-nan (born 1967) is a Korean novelist. She has embodied the fragmentized mentality of modern men through careful and detailed descriptions. Her works are recognized for dealing with the loneliness and isolation of the contemporary men, while sympathizing and comforting them at the same time.[1] She is considered one of the indispensable figures when talking about the Korean short stories that have been published since the 2000s.[2]
1. Life
Ha was born in 1967 in Seoul as the eldest of three children.[3] Influenced by her father who worked at a publishing company, she was always close to books as a child. She won many different kinds of writing contests on entering elementary school to receive a number of notebooks as prizes, to the point that she "did not have to buy one throughout her school years," according to her recollection.[4] That she grew up to be a novelist naturally, without any special resolution,[5] is not entirely irrelevant to such childhood experiences. After she graduated high school, she had to give up college and work for four years because her father's business went bankrupt, and then she entered Seoul Institute of the Arts at the age of twenty four to study creative writing.
Her writing career began in 1996 when her short story "Pul" (풀 The Grass) won the Seoul Shinmun New Writer’s Contest. Since then, she has continued to publish both short stories and novels, without any hiatus.
She is regarded as a writer who steadily communicates with her readers through a variety of ways. Her 1999 short story "Gompangi kkot" (곰팡이 꽃 Flowers of Mold) was adapted into a TV series to draw the public attention.[6] The novel Satpporo yeoinsuk (삿뽀로 여인숙 An Inn at Sapporo) was first published serially in 2000 on the board of the PC communication service HiTEL.[7] She fronted the TV program TV Swallows Books, produced by Korea National Open University, from 2009 to 2013.[8] Also, she hosted the podcast Ha Seong-nan's Sentence Delivery Service in 2012.[9]
Ha won the Dongin Literary Award for "Flowers of Mold" in 1999, the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award for "Gippeuda guju osheotne" (기쁘다 구주 오셨네 Joy to the World, the Lord Has Come) in 2000, and the Hwang Sun-won Literary Award for "Care on deo bodeo" (카레 온 더 보더 Curry on the Border) in 2013.
2. Writing
Short sentences, elaborate depictions, and connecting sentences in a unique way that defamiliarizes the readers' conventional perspectives are important features of Ha's works. In her writing, which at first seems cold and dry, they can find an unexpected comfort. The novelist, through her works, shows that life is lonely and unfathomable to everyone.
(1) Elaborate Description
It is impossible to talk about her writing without focusing on her ability to describe in detail, which is referred to as "micro description" by the Korean readership.[10] As the expression implies, her description ability is widely recognized. In the short stories included in Rubinui suljan (루빈의 술잔 Rubin's Glass), published in 1997, the readers can find her remarkable, almost surprisingly detailed illustrations of scenes.
What has to be noticed here is that the elaborate images embodied in her works are usually in a fragmentized status. The stories in Rubinui suljan or Yeopjip yeoja (옆집 여자 The Woman Next Door) published in 1999 are filled with short sentences in the present tense. And repeating present tense sentences makes it difficult for the readers to grasp the exact chronological order of the events.
This is intentional and related to the message that the stories convey. The title of the book Rubin's Glass signifies a multi-stable, reversing form that can be perceived in different ways depending on how one sees it.[11] The idea behind her works is that people understand the same event in their own unique ways, just like the multi-stable form is perceived differently.
In her viewpoint that no one can completely comprehend a certain situation, paradoxically, the readers can sense her willingness to sympathize and console them.[12] One of the prominent elements of her early works is the absence of an omniscient narrator, who can have the complete view of the circumstance, can make certain characters relevant, and can sometimes even ridicule them. The narration is limited to the perspective of the one character on which the focus remains, in order to emphasize that isolation is the inevitable fate of the modern men, though they never cease to imagine and envy the lives of others.
(2) The Truth of Life Revealed by Stories
The 2002 short story collection Pureun suyeomui cheot beonjjae anae (푸른 수염의 첫 번째 아내 Bluebeard's First Wife) shows the sign that the writer's focus has moved to social issues.[13] This book deals with the fire in Sealand Youth Training Center,[14] immigration, homeless people, mass shooting, and more issues that are commonly found in the national section of news pages. However, it cannot be viewed as her change, because her interest in social issues has been clear since her early works, the examples of which are "Rubinui suljan," evidently influenced by the Sampoong Department Store Collapse, and "Flowers of Mold," a portrayal of the loneliness and anxiety experienced by the modern men living in high-rise apartments.
However, on the contrary to the two aforementioned stories where the characters' willingness to understand and empathize the lives of others does not lead to a visible change, the narrator of the story "Bluebeard's First Wife" manages to leave Jason, which is noteworthy. When examining her works in a chronological order, from the stories included in the 2013 short story collection Yeoreumui mat (여름의 맛 The Taste of Summer) to the 2019 novel Keuriseumaseu kaereol (크리스마스 캐럴 Christmas Carols), it gets clear that her characters are becoming more prone to change in reaction to their life events.
In the two stories "Du yeoja iyagi" (두 여자 이야기 The Story of Two Women) and "Suncheonen woe gan geolkka, geunyeoneun" (순천엔 왜 간 걸까, 그녀는 Why Did She Go to Suncheon) published in Yeoreumui mat, the author presents turning points that can completely alter the lives of the characters.[15] What matters is not the fact that the probable world depicted by her might all just be illusion. In fact, it is impossible to distinguish what is real and what is not in the lives presented in her works. The important thing is the psychology of those who are facing the turning points of their lives. Through her detailed descriptions on the characters' mentality, she tells the readers the truth of life experienced by them. She shows how life is, how easily an unexpected event can change everything in a life, by crossing the line between the reality and the illusion.
(3) Critical reception
Her elaborate illustration that captures even the tiniest details of things is what critics pay attention the most. The critic Kim Yunsik[16] first referred to it as "micro description" and praises it as "defamiliarization that breaks the ordinariness of the everyday lives."[17]
Her ability for minute description is also greatly recognized by the readers. One of them actually called her "the master of depiction."[18] However, the biggest reason behind the stable popularity of her writing might be that the issues of loneliness and isolation faced by the contemporary urbanites portrayed by the author through her works are still valid, and that the comfort she has offered has touched a chord with a number of readers.[19]
Reference
[1] Shin Sujeong, "Meeting an Asteroid Called Another Person," Rubinui suljan (Paju: Munhakdongne, 1997), p.294.
[2] "Ha Seong-nan, a Writer Who Describes Daily Lives and Things in Detail," Chanel Yes, accessed August 24, 2020, http://ch.yes24.com/Article/View/29466.
[3] "Ha Seong-nan, a Writer Who Describes Daily Lives and Things in Detail," Chanel Yes, accessed August 24, 2020, http://ch.yes24.com/Article/View/29466.
[4] "The Winner of the 33th Hankook Ilbo Literary Award Ha Seong-nan," Hankook Ilbo, November 14, 2000, accessed August 24, 2020, https://www.hankookilbo.com/News/Read/200011140076557680.
[5] "Literature Translation Institute of Korea, Ha Seong-ran Interview," Youtube, August 9, 2013, accessed August 24, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1sS0PE8NlU.
[6] "The Story about Disconnected Communication Between Modern Men Adapted into a TV Series," Chosun Ilbo, December 21, 2003, accessed August 24, 2020, https://m.chosun.com/svc/article.html/?sname=news&contid=2003122170222.
[7] "HiTEL Literary Board Becomes the Cradle of Creation, Stimulating Support and Criticism from Readers," Donga Ilbo, December 7, 1999, accessed August 24, 2020, http://www.donga.com/news/List/SectionLETShttps/article/all/19991207/7490667/1.
[8] "The Novelist Ha Seong-nan Will Meet Major Writers of Korea," Seoul Shinmun, September 23, 2009, accessed August 24, 2020, http://www.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php/?id=20090924023006.
[9] "The Novelist Ha Seong-nan Who Delivers Literature," Cyber Literary Square, May 8, 2012, accessed August 24, 2020, https://webzine.munjang.or.kr/archives/4072.
[10] "Participating Writers," SIWF, accessed August 24, 2020, http://www.siwf.or.kr:83/bbs/board.php?bo_table=writer&wr_id=8&page=21.
[11] The explanation in "Rubinui suljan" reads as follows: "It refers to a reversing or ambiguous figure. Though it is the same figure (or picture), the image changes into a different one while watching it, influenced by distance and other conditions. The Necker cube is exemplary." Rubinui suljan (Paju: Munhakdongne, 1997), p.7.
[12] Shin Sujeong, "Meeting an Asteroid Called Another Person," Rubinui suljan (Paju: Munhakdongne, 1997), p.294.
[13] "Bluebeard's First Wife by Ha Seong-nan," Maeil Business News Korea, April 24, 2002, accessed August 24, 2020, https://www.mk.co.kr/news/home/view/2002/04/107746/.
[14] It refers to the fire broke out in a youth training center located in Hwaseong, Kyeonggi-do. The total of twenty three people died in the accident. Look at the following Korean Wikipedia page "Sealand Youth Training Center Fire" for detailed information.
"Sealand Youth Training Center Fire," Wikipedia, accessed August 24, 2020, https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%94%A8%EB%9E%9C%EB%93%9C_%EC%B2%AD%EC%86%8C%EB%85%84%EC%88%98%EB%A0%A8%EC%9B%90_%ED%99%94%EC%9E%AC.
[15] Yang Yunui, "How Is One Supposed to Settle This Failure?" Yeoreumui mat (Seoul: Moonji, 2013), p.353.
[16] Kim Yunsik (1936–2018) is a Korean literary critic. Refer to the following Korean Wikipedia page "Kim Yunsik (Born 1936)" for brief information.
"Kim Yunsik (Born 1936)," Wikipedia, accessed August 24, 2020, https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EA%B9%80%EC%9C%A4%EC%8B%9D_(1936%EB%85%84.
[17] "Ha Seong-nan, Chosen as the Winner for Her 'Brilliant Descriptions Reaching a New Level,'" Chosun Ilbo, June 10, 1999, accessed August 24, 2020, https://m.chosun.com/svc/article.html?sname=news&contid=1999061070454.
[18] Originally in Korean, the reader said she was "myodal," abbreviated from "myosaui dalin," meaning the master of depiction.
"'Our Society Burdens Men with Too Much Responsibility,' According to Ha Seong-nan, Author of A," Meetings with Authors, Chanel Yes, accessed August 24, 2020, http://ch.yes24.com/Article/View/16463.
[19] "Review on Ha Seong-nan's 'Flowers of Mold,'" Naver Blog (Private Blog), accessed August 24, 2020, https://m.blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=purify0406&logNo=100139876093&proxyReferer=https:%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F.
