Bang Hyun-seok (1961) is a South Korean writer and activist.
1. Life
Bang was born in Ulsan, South Gyeongsang Province. He studied creative writing at Chung-Ang University. He published "Eotteon mannam" (어떤 만남 An Encounter) in the school paper, but lost interest in writing as he became more involved in student activism. He served as president of the student union in 1985 before dropping out and taking an undercover job at an Incheon factory. He served as education publicity manager of the Jinjin Synthetic Labor Union in 1987 as well as assistant administrator of the Incheon Regional Trade Union in 1988.
Bang began his writing career with "Naedideum cheotbareun" (내딛는 첫발은 The First Step Forward), a short story based on his experience as a factory laborer and published in Literature and Practice in 1988. Other works inspired by his activist experiences include the short story collection Naeireul yeoneun jip (내일을 여는 집 House that Opens Tomorrow) and the novel Simnyeongan (십년간 For Ten Years). In 2000, he published Areumdaun jeohang (아름다운 저항 Beautiful Resistance), a collection of essays recording the history of the labor movement.
In the 2000s, he began campaigning in solidarity of other Asian countries and published fiction inspired by Vietnam, such as Rapseuteoreul meongneun sigan (랍스터를 먹는 시간 Time to Eat Lobster). Bang teaches creative writing at Chung-Ang University and has won the Shin Dongyeop Creative Grant, the Oh Yeong-su Literary Award, and the Hwang Sun-won Literary Award.
2. Writing
Bang Hyun-seok ushered in a new trend in the history of Korean modern literature in the 1980s to 1990s by bringing out the labor problems and highlighting the dynamics of the public through his work. Bang has said that he started writing about laborers because he believed they were the ones who supported Korean society in silence from the 1980s to 1990s. Saebyeokchuljeong (새벽출정 Off to Battle at Dawn) is based on the labor movement at Saechang Corporation in Incheon and the tragic death of Song Cheol-sun. Having worked as a laborer and a factory worker during the 1980s and 1990s, Bang writes about the hardships of the laborers in a post-capitalist society with sympathy and insight that he acquired firsthand.
After the mid-1990s, Bang published several works that depict the dark period of military dictatorship. Simnyeongan focuses on the dictatorship under Park Chung-hee and covers major events taken place in the process of the democratization of Korea, such as Jeon Tae-il’s self-immolation, the student movement against military drills, and the democratic student’s league fabrication. Dangsinui oenpyeon (당신의 왼편 Your Left Side) is a portrait of the dictatorship under Chun Doo-hwan.
In the 2000s, the theme of Bang’s works extended to Asia. Bang was especially interested in Vietnam and its parallels to Korea. His Jonjaeui hyeongsik (존재의 형식 A Form of Existence) is an attempt to find a solution through literature to the problematic relationship between Vietnam and Korea, engendered by Korea’s participation in Vietnam War, and illuminates not just the past, but the present as well as the future of the two countries’ relationship. Time to Eat Lobster sheds light on the history of Vietnam by portraying an individual character’s story.
