Kwon Yeo-sun (born 1965) is a South Korean writer.
1. Life
Kwon Yeo-sun was born in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, in 1965. She studied Korean literature at Seoul National University, and earned her Ph.D in Korean literature from Inha University. Kwon enjoyed a brilliant literary debut in 1996 when her novel Pureureun teumsae (푸르른 틈새 Niche of Green) was awarded the Sangsang Literary Award. At the time, novels that reflected on the period of the democratization movement in South Korea were prevalent.
Kwon is the author of four novels: Pureureun teumsae, Regato (레가토 Legato), Touui jip (토우의 집 House of Clay Figurines), and, most recently, Remon (레몬 Lemon); six short story collections: Cheonyeochima (처녀치마 The Virgin Skirt), Bunhong ribonui sijeol (분홍 리본의 시절 Pink Ribbon Days), Nae jeongwonui bulgeun yeolmae (내 정원의 붉은 열매 Red Fruits of My Garden), Bijanamu sup (비자나무 숲 The Nutmeg Forest), Annyeong jujeongbaengi (안녕 주정뱅이 Hello, Drunkard), Ajik meoreotdaneun mal (아직 멀었다는 말 Say it's Not Yet); and a book of essays, Oneul mwo meokji? (오늘 뭐 먹지? What Should I Eat Today?). She has received the Sangsang Literary Award, the Oh Yeong-su Literature Award, the Yi Sang Literary Award, the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award, the Dong-ni Literary Award, the Dong-in Literary Award, and Lee Hyo-seok Literary Award. The English translation of Lemon was published in 2021.
2. Writing
Kwon's writing is often unconventional in form and topic. Kwon's first work, Pureureun teumsae, was one of the most outstanding coming-of-age novels to emerge from the South Korean publishing world of the 1990s. Eight years after the publication of Pureureun teumsae, Kwon published her first short story collection, Cheonyeochima. This collection, a book that Kwon professes felt like publishing a love letter to herself, is about defeated individuals who, though troubled by their tragic fates, come to a place of resigned acceptance. The characters in this collection generally consist of people who are handicapped by relationships that society does not accept, such as extramarital affairs and gay relationships. Unable to overcome this sense of handicap, the characters witness their love collapse. In Kwon's second short collection, Bunhong ribonui sijeol, the characters are often people who have failed rather than succeeded. They are generally people with defects in their character or physique. In Kwon's work, characters do not fail because of exterior causes but because of their own shortcomings, or due to bad fate.
Her latest novel, Lemon, is expanded from her 2016 novella Dangsini alji motanaida (당신이 알지 못하나이다 For You Know Not What You Do), which title is a play on Luke 23:34 and was adapted for the stage in 2017. Kwon says of the work, based on the unsolved death of a high school student in 2002: "Lemon deals with the death of a beautiful girl and its aftermath—her family’s pain, the pain of the family of the accused, and the theme of revenge. In terms of format, I’ve used more elements of genre fiction in this book than in any I’ve written before. When I was young, family was defined by blood relations, like a destiny that I had no say in. So it came with its share of pain and sadness, and of course with happiness and warmth. But now my idea of family has changed. It doesn’t only encompass blood relations, but is a new community that I did have a say in creating. Blood relations are unbreakable, true. But I don’t think that means it should be the center of a family. A real family is a community of people who do life together, love one another, look after one another, and take responsibility for one another."[1]
Reference
[1] Korean Literature Now. Vol.44, Summer 2019. https://kln.or.kr/frames/interviewsView.do?bbsIdx=368
