Kim Dong-ni (24 Nov1913 - 17 June 1995) was a Korean writer.
1. Life
Kim Dong-ni, born Kim Sijong on 24 November 1913, in Gyeongju, was a well-known Korean writer and poet. Kim Dong-ni attended Gyeseong Middle School in Daegu before transferring to Kyungshin Middle School in Keijō. After family circumstances forced him to drop out, he devoted himself to reading in place of regular coursework. He read a tremendous number of books, including philosophy, world literature and Eastern classics. Kim's eldest brother, Kim Beom-bu, a scholar of Chinese classics and a philosopher, had great influence on Kim's extensive reading and his prospects of becoming a writer of Korean literature.
Kim Dong-ni's family was so poor during his childhood that he considered hunger to be a constant part of his life. In 1928 he dropped out of school in order to devote himself to writing.
He began his literary career by publishing several poems in various newspapers when he was only sixteen, and quickly made a name for himself in the Korean literary world with his short stories. Kim Dong-ni formally debuted as a poet in 1934 with the publication of the poem "Baengno" (백로White Heron) in the Chosun Ilbo, and emerged as a fiction writer the next year when his story "Hwarangui huye" (화랑의 후예 A Descendant of Hwarang) was published in the JoongAng Ilbo.
Kim received numerous literary awards and recognitions throughout his career, and was also active in a number of organizations, including the Association of Young Korean Writers, the Korea Academy of Arts, and the Korean Writers' Association. He died on 17 June 1995.
2. Writing
Kim's work deals with traditional and native Korean themes from a 20th-century perspective. Characterized by a mixture of traditional mysticism and humanist realism, he investigated the idea of fate and man's place in the universe through the spiritual world of Korean tradition as it collided with foreign culture. His early works such as "Munyeodo" (무녀도 Portrait of a Shaman), "Yeongma" (역마 The Post Horse Curse), and "Hwangtogi" (황토기 The Legend of Yellow Earth) draw heavily on elements of traditional myth to explore the relations between shamanism and Confucianism, Christianity and Buddhism, fatalism and naturalism. "The Post Horse Curse" portrays a man's rebellion against and eventual acceptance of his fate as a wanderer; "Portrait of a Shaman," which was later expanded into a full-length novel entitled Eulhwa (을화 The Shaman Sorceress), depicts a conflict between a shaman mother and a Christian son. With the mother's suicide, the narrative predicts the decline of shamanism and the ascendancy of newly imported Christianity.
After the Korean War, Kim Dong-ni expanded his thematic concerns to include political clashes and the resultant suffering of people during the Korean War. "Heungnam Cheolsoo" (흥남철수 Heungnam Evacuation), based on the actual event of the UN forces' retreat from the city of Heungnam during the Korean War, delves into the conflict between democracy and communism. "Siljonmoo" (실존무 Dance of Existence) narrates a love story between a North Korean man and a South Korean woman that comes to an abrupt end when the man's wife from North Korea reappears. Apparent in these stories is the author's attempt to universalize elements of Korean tradition and spiritual identity by transposing them onto a contemporary reality. Sabanui Sipjaga (사반의 십자가 The Cross of Shaphan), a fictional account of a man crucified next to Jesus, combines the subject of political strife with fatalistic attitude and critique of Western culture. In contrast to the otherworldly and removed God presented in The Cross of Shaphan, "Deungsinbul" (등신불 Tungsin-bul) suggests an image of God who embraces human suffering.
