Choi In-hun is one of Korea’s most renowned writers and dramatists. His masterpiece The Square has been translated into eight languages, including English, French, Spanish, and German. He attended the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program in 1973, and the play he wrote during this time,Once upon a Long Time Ago, became the first Korean play to be staged at the Playhouse Theatre in New York City. He has received the Dongin Literary Award, Baeksang Arts Award, Chungang Culture Grand Prize, and Lee San Literature Prize. English editions of his works include A Grey Man, Reflections on a Mask, The Daily Life of Ku-Poh the Novelist, and House of Idols.
1. Life
Choi In-hun was born on 13 April 1936 in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, which is now in North Korea. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, he fled South aboard a U.S. Navy landing ship. He was admitted to study law at Seoul National University in 1952, but joined the army without completing his studies. He served as an English interpreter and troop information & education officer for seven years until he was discharged in 1963.
Choi made his literary debut first as a poet, publishing "Sujeong" (수정 Crystal) in Saebyeok in 1957, and then the stories "Geurei gurakbu jeonmalgi" (그레이 구락부 전말기 The Rise and Fall of the Grey Club) and "Raul jeon" (라울 전 The Story of Reuel) in Jayu Munhak in 1959. In 1977 he was appointed professor of creative writing at Seoul Institute of the Arts, where he taught until his retirement in 2001. He remained active, continuing to give special lectures. He is best known for his seminal 1960 novel, Gwangjang (광장 The Square).
2. Writing
Choi made his literary debut while still in the military. Most of his work centers on individuals suffering from the ideological conflicts centering on Korean national separation. He is both prolific and controversial. With intelligence and analytical astuteness, Choi articulated the existentialist question on the meaning of life andidentity, but pursued it within the concrete context of modern Korea’s turbulent history—colonization, war and division. Choi also brought about a revolution in narrative style.
The Square, published in 1960, the year that also witnessed the momentous 4.19 Revolution, was an mmediate sensation. The work went far beyond the standard political narrative that had dominated the Korean literary world in the post-war era, and challenged both North and South Korea through the life story of a Korean man who finds himself at home in neither the communist North nor the reactionary South.
The successor to The Square was Hoesaegin (회색인 A Grey Man), which also focused tightly on issues of current politics in South Korea. His other major works include Seoyugi (서유기 Journey to the West), an unprecedented experiment in the art of the narrative that weaves in and out of fantasy; Chongdogui sori (총독의 소리 The Voice of the Governor-General), a satirical exploration of the crisis of consciousness in a neocolonial age; and Hwadu (화두 Hua Tou) (1994), a grand opus on the problem of the twentieth century at large and the fate of the human beings who must sail upon the turbulent waters of its history. In addition, with such plays as Yennal yetjeoge hwoeoi hwoi (옛날 옛적에 훠어이 훠이 Away! Away! Long Long Ago) and Dara dara balgeun dara (달아 달아 밝은 달아 O Moon, O Moon, the Bright Moon), he established a new standard for drama in Korea. [1]
Reference
[1] Yi, Nam-Ho, et al. Twentieth Century Korean Literature. Eastbridge Books, An Imprint Of Camphor Press, 2005. p.44-45
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