Yun Heunggil (born 1942) is a South Korean novelist.
1. Life
Yun Heunggil was born in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province. The family fortunes failed after the Korean War, and Yun entered Jeonju Teachers' College in search of stable employment. While working as a teacher, he studied for and received his degree in Korean literature from Wonkwang University in 1973.
Yun made his literary debut in 1968, winning the Hankook Ilbo New Writer's Award with the short story "Hoesaek myeollyugwanui gyejeol" (회색 면류관의 계절 Season of the Grey Crown). He confirmed his position as a rising talent with "Hwanghonui jip" (황혼의집 The House of Twilight), published in Hyundae Munhak in 1970. Yun's representative works include "Jangma" (장마 The Rainy Spell), Wanjang (완장 Armband), and Ahop kyeolleui guduro nameun sanae (아홉 켤레의 구두로 남은 사내 The Man Who Was Left as Nine Pairs of Shoes). From 1995 to 2008 he was professor of creative writing at Hanseo University. Yun is the recipient of the Hyundae Literary Award and the Daesan Literary Award, among others. His works have appeared in English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Chinese, and other languages.
2. Writing
Yun Heunggil was only eight years old when the Korean War broke out. He witnessed the fabric of his nation rent by conflicting ideologies, and, particularly in his early works, he has portrayed families ravaged by those clashes from both within and without.[1]
"The Rainy Spell" is a story of a family torn apart by ideological differences. During the Korean War, a little boy and his two grandmothers—each with a son fighting on the opposing side—are forced to live in the same house. The already uncomfortable living arrangement degenerates into downright hostility when the child's uncle—a South Korean solider—is killed in action. The child narrator's imperfect comprehension of the ideological conflict highlights its fundamental absurdity, and also functions as an effective device in indicting the lasting horrors of war. The ending of the story in which the two grandmothers achieve reconciliation through their shared belief in shamanistic customs hints at the possibility of healing that may be found in tradition and folk culture.
In a later phase, Yun's work shifted focus to depict life under the authoritarian Park Chung-hee regime, in which the primary tensions are between personal conscience and material well-being. In 1977, he entered into the third stage with the publication of The Man Who Was Left as Nine Pairs of Shoes, his best known work, in which the characters actively resist the forces oppressing them. The eponymous title story records one man's separate but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to maintain his self-respect as his life spirals down uncontrollably from bourgeois respectability toward poverty and disgrace. "Jikseongwa gokseon" (직선과 곡선 The Straight and the Crooked) and "Changbaekan jungnyeon" (창백한 중년 The Pale Years of Middle-Age) from the same collection, probe the alienation of the urban working class.
Yun's literary quest benefits greatly from his masterful style and his powerful and symbolic imagery. His stories are enriched by sensory impressions that reinforce his narrative, and thematic concerns are amplified and echoed in his images: the long, wearying rainy season, as inescapable and unrelenting as the war; a row of polished shoes, a man's appeal for recognition of his own human dignity. Yun's evocative style attests to his mastery of the storyteller's art.[1]
Reference
[1] Holman, Martin. Introduction. Heunggil, Yun, et al. The House of Twilight. Readers International, 1989.
