Song Kisook (1935-2021) was a South Korean novelist.
1. Life
Song Kisook was born in Janghung, South Jeolla Province. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in Korean literature from Chonnam National University. Song made his literary debut in 1964 with a critical essay on Son Chang-sop, published in Hyundae Munhak. In 1966 he published the short story "Daeribongmu" (대리복무 Alternative Service) and the novel Jaratgorui biga (자랏골의 비가 An Elegy of Jaratgol). He was arrested in 1972 for flouting the Park regime's Emergency Measure No. 9. In 1973, he became a professor of Korean literature at his alma mater. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1978 for writing the Declaration of the Democratization of Education and was dismissed from his professorship upon his release. In 1980, Song was arrested again for his involvement in the Gwangju Uprising and released the following year. He wrote Amtaedo (암태도 Amtae Island) during his imprisonment. In 1984, he was reinstated at Chonnam National University, where he remained until his retirement in 2000. Song is known as one of the representative authors who stood up against the corruption of the 1980s. His works include the epic Nokdu janggun (녹두장군 The Mungbean General), Gaeneun wae jinneunga? (개는 왜 짖는가? Why Does a Dog Bark?), and Hyujeonseon sosik (휴전선 소식 News from the Armistice Line).
2. Writing
Song Kisook’s writing is motivated by the desire to embrace the lives of common people and capture the continuity that marks their existence in Korean history, ranging from the feudal era through the Japanese colonial rule to the age of national division. This desire is clearly evident in Jaratgorui biga, which deals with tragedy that envelops the three generations of an ordinary family in a remote Jeolla village. With the burial grounds in Jaratgol as the backdrop, the novel narrates retrospectively the series of events that has resulted in much conflict and grief in this small village, and ends on a positive note as the younger generation of villagers succeed in eliminating the cause of the tragedy.
A similar faith in the spirit of resistance among ordinary people, especially the younger generation, can be glimpsed in Amtaedo and Nokdu janggun. Amtaedo focuses on the conflict between landowners and tenant farmers during the period of the Japanese colonial rule, and establishes tenant farmers as brave fighters who struggle to achieve self-actualization against the oppressive social machinery. In Nokdu janggun, Song Kisook takes as his subject the Gabo Peasant Rebellion and highlights its anti-feudal and anti-foreign character. This work reveals the author's valorization of the historical event as the culmination of the anti-feudal consciousness that began to form among peasants in late-Joseon period.
Oworui miso (오월의 미소 Smiles of May), published in 2000, is based on the author’s own experience of serving as a citizen management committee member during the Gwangju Uprising and the director of the Modern Historical Record Research Institute. The author corrects the distorted views of the victims and perpetrators of the Gwangju Uprising and sought their reconciliation.
