Park Chong-hwa (1901-1981) was an early-modern Korean poet and novelist.
1. Life
Park Chong-hwa was born on October 29, 1901, in Seoul. Park wrote under the pen name Woltan and attended Huimun Uisuk Academy.
Park first entered the literary world as a poet, publishing "Onoeui cheongchun" (오뇌의 청춘 Anguished Youth) and "Uyubit geori" (우유빛 거리 Milk-colored Streets) in the 1921 inaugural issue of the journal Jangmichon, and "Milsillo doragada" (밀실로 돌아가다 Returning to the Secret Room) and "Manga" (만가 Elegy) in the 1922 inaugural issue of Baekjo. With his first poetry collection, Heukbang Bigok (흑방비곡 Private Melodies of the Black Room), published in 1924, Park established his reputation as a romantic poet. After Heukbang Bigok, however, Park switched to fiction.
In 1935 he began serializing Geumsamui pi (금삼의 피Blood on the Royal Sleeve) in the Maeil Shinbo and went on to pen many other historical novels, including Arangui jeongjo (아랑의 정조 Chaste Arang) and Dajeongbulsim (다정불심 Compassion).
From 1947 to 1962 he taught at Sungkyunkwan University, holding a concurrent position at Yonsei University from 1958 to 59.
Many of Woltan's historical novels have been adapted for television or film. Filmmaker Shin Sang-ok directed Prince Yeonsan (1961), adapted from Geumsamui pi, and Phantom Queen (1967), adapted from Dajeongbulsim. Television adaptations of his work include the KBS historical drama Tears of the Dragon, based on Sejong daewang (세종대왕 King Sejong), and the SBS historical drama Ladies of the Palace, based on Yeoincheonha (여인천하 The World in Women’s Hands).
2. Writing
After the Japanese occupation, censorship, prison, or even to death followed overt literary resistance and the predominant emotion among Korean writers in the 1920s was near-despair. Poets like Park Chong-hwa and Yi Sang-hwa therefore turned to dark imitations of the European decadent movement. However, in poems like "Cheongjabu" (청자부 Koryo Celadon), Park manages to use an aesthetic theme as an indirect statement of national pride, which was later to be taken up in his novels.
Learning this approach through his poetry, Park Chong-hwa devoted the rest of his life to writing historical novels that espouse Korean nationalism. Even in the climate of intense persecution toward the end of the Japanese colonial rule, Park Chong-hwa refused to adopt a Japanese surname or participate in pro-Japanese literary organizations as many of his colleagues had done. During the colonial period, Park published several works of historical fiction, including Geumsamui pi, Daechunbu (대춘부 Long Awaited Spring), Jeonya (전야 The Eve), and Dajeongbulsim (다정불심 Compassion).
After the liberation of Korea, Park Chong-hwa remained active in the nationalist camp, serving as the vice president of both Pan-Korean Writers’ Association and Pan-Korean Federation of Cultural Organizations. He also expressed his euphoria at the recovery of national independence in Minjok (민족 The Nation), the final work in the trilogy that followed Jeonya and Dajeongbulsim .
Thereafter, Park Chong-hwa turned to more remote times to continue his examinations of Korean history from a nationalist perspective. Imjinwaeran (임진왜란 The Japanese Invasion of 1592), Hong Gyeongrae (홍경래 Hong Gyeongrae), and Yeoincheonha all manifest his desire to unearth the vigorous spirit of national pride from the pages of Korean history. By virtue of meticulous research and awareness of history’s grand scope, Park Chong-hwa managed to preserve in these historical novels a great variety of Korean habits of thought and folk customs.
