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Authors

Hyun Kil-un

Hyun Kil-un scrap

현길언

Category
Literary Fiction 소설
Target User
Adult 성인
Period
Contemporary 현대

Author Bio 작가 소개

Hyun Kil-un (1940 – 2020) was a South Korean writer.

1. Life

Hyun Kil-un was born on February 17, 1940, on Jeju-do. Hyun studied Korean literature at Jeju University and Sungkyunkwan University, earning his Ph.D at Hanyang University. He made his literary debut in 1980 when his stories `Seong muneojineun sori` (성 무너지는 소리 The Sound of the Castle Falling) and `Geupjang seongeo` (급장 선거 Class Election) were recommended to Hyundae Munhak magazine. His major works include Urideurui jobunim (우리들의 조부님 Our Grandather), his Yeoljeon (열전 Biographies) series, and Sajewa jemul (사제와 제물 The Priest and the Offering). Hyun was a professor of Korean language and literature at Hanyang University.

2. Writing

Hyun`s work cannot be separated from his birthplace, Jeju-do, the largest island of Korea. Hyun`s Jeju-do was not a vacation destination, but the land of the first mass rebellion after the Korean national division. Hyun visited and re-visited the events of the time, and the scars that they caused. The stories contained in his first collection, Yongmaui kkum (용마의 꿈 The Dream of Yongma), deal specifically with the traumatic historical event remembered as the April 3rd Uprising, in which masses of ordinary civilians were slaughtered by the police in an attempt to rout communists. Hyun tries to reinvestigate this event and properly mourn the death of innocent victims. Often it is the unique customs and folklore of Jeju that suggests a way toward healing: `Gwangjeongdanggi` (광정당기 The Journal of Gwangjeong Pavilion) and `Geumeumbamui jeui` (그믐밤의 제의 Ceremony on the Last Day of the Month) utilize the traditional legend of a “strong woman” to describe the hope people of Jeju harbor for the return of a hero who will save them from the tyranny of politicians and bureaucrats. Hyun was also concerned with ideological or historical distortions of truth. Private truth is to be privileged over official accounts; `Kkeopjilgwa soksal` (껍질과 속살 The Skin and the Inner Flesh) employs the sustained metaphor of surface and depth to characterize the relationship between official, often ideologically manipulated versions of “truth” and enduring human truths buried beneath. It is precisely these surface distortions or historical fallacies that he sought to expose in `Sinyeol` (신열 Fever) and `Isanghan kkeun` (이상한 끈 A Strange Tie).

Works 작품