Kim Byeola (born 1969) is a South Korean writer.
1. Life
Kim Byeola hails from the coastal town of Gangneung, Gangwon Province. She studied Korean literature at Yonsei University. Kim made her literary debut in 1993, publishing the novella (닫힌 문 밖의 바람 소리) in Literature and Practice. Early in her career she published such works as Nae maeumui poreunogeurapi (내 마음의 포르노그라피 My Inner Pornography), Gaeinjeok cheheom (개인적 체험 Personal Experience), and Chukgujeonjaeng (축구전쟁 Football Wars), before her historical novel Mishil (미실 Mishil) propelled her into the spotlight, winning the first Segye Munhak Award. She is the author of fifteen novels, a short story collection, various essay collections and books for young readers.
2. Writing
Mishil was a historical figure from Silla, a kingdom that existed a thousand years ago on the Korean peninsula. She is a prototypical femme fatale who gains political power through her love affairs with kings and heroes. Most female protagonists of existing historical novels are figures like Hwang Jini, Queen Inhyeon, and Nongae, who are already given a great deal of attention in textbooks, but Mishil won readers over because of her novelty. Kim said of her creation, "the Mishil that I know is someone who is at once every woman in the world and someone who surpasses all of them."[1] Coincidentally, a hit television series set in the same period, The Great Queen Seondeok, in which Mishil features as the main antagonist of Queen Seondeok, helped to boost the novel's popularity at the time.
Since Mishil, Kim has continued to pursue her quest to uncover the lives of women from history. Yeongyeong ibyeol yeong ibyeol (영영이별 영이별 Farewell Forever and Ever, Farewell Forever) is about Princess Jeongsun, wife of the ill-fated King Danjong who ascended the throne at the age of twelve, but whose power was stolen from him by his uncle, leading to the young king's tragic death. Nongae (논개 Nongae) revisits the story of the gisaeng who threw herself over a cliff during the Imjin Invasion, taking down a Japanese general with her. More recently, Tansil (탄실 Tansil) explores the life of one of Korea's earliest modern female novelists, Kim Myeong-sun.
Reference
[1] Korea Literature Now. Vol.16, Summer 2012. https://kln.or.kr/lines/essaysView.do?bbsIdx=1553
