Han Malsook (born 1931) is a South Korean writer.
1. Life
Han Malsook was born on December 27, 1931, in Seoul, Korea. Han studied linguistics at Seoul National University and worked in an advisory capacity at the Department of Public Reports. She was also a lecturer at Seoul National University`s music school. She began her life as an author when her short stories `Byeolbit sogui gyejeol` (별빛 속의 계절 The Season in Starlight) and `Sinhwaui danae` (신화의 단애 Precipice of Myth) were published in Hyundae Munhak in 1956 and 1957 upon the recommendation of Kim Dong-ni. Han is known for works including `Eotteon jugeum` (어떤 죽음 Certain Death), `Nopawa goyangi` (노파와 고양이 An Old Woman and a Cat), `Jangma` (장마 The Rainy Season), `Geomeun jangmi` (검은 장미 Black Rose) and `Hayan dojeong` (하얀 도정 A White Path). Her short story `Heunjeok` (흔적 Traces), which depicts the triumph of sympathy and trust over avarice, was awarded the 1963 Hyundae Munhak New Writer`s Award, and `Singwaui yaksok` (신과의 약속 A Promise with God) won the 1968 Changjak Munhak Literary Award. Her novels include Mosaek sidae (모색 시대 The Age of Exploration) and Areumdaun yeongga (아름다운 영가 A Beautiful Hymn of the Spirit), which was nominated by Korea PEN as the Korean candidate for the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature. Han was married to the late gayageum musician Hwang Byungki (1936-2018) until his death. Her elder sister, Hahn Moo-Sook (1918-1993), was also a writer.
2. Writing
With vivid imagery, inventive writing style and keen perception, Han Malsook captures the multifaceted interiority of alienated human beings, in particular, the psychology of contemporary women in the postwar setting. Her major work, `Sinhwaui danae,` utilizes an existentialist perspective to probe the damaged psychology of a woman whose denial of conventional ethics and the very idea of future allows her to lead a temporal existence defined solely by the pursuit of pleasure and comfort. Embodying the postwar atmosphere of self-abandonment and nihilistic approach to life, the story won the author instant recognition and became the main subject of existentialist discussion in Korea in the latter half of 1950`s. Han explored these views further in `Singwaui yaksok.` The story features a woman who bargains with God for her daughter`s life, but realizes after her daughter`s recovery that she cannot embrace faith in God as she had promised. For the protagonist, the object of her dedication remains her daughter, not God. Han has also focused her literary attention on a wide range of different subjects. `Nopawa goyangi` investigates the nature of alienation through the perspective of an old woman abandoned by her family. `Hayan dojeong` describes a younger generation`s struggle against the hypocrisy and corruption of their parents. `Jangma` sexualizes man`s defiance against nature.
