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Revising the Unwritten: Mi of April, Sol of July by Kim Yeonsu scrap
by Kim Yeonsu
October 27, 2014
Author Bio 작가 소개
Kim Yeonsu
Writing a novel is more about planning, physical endurance, and diligence than it is about inspiration. For author Kim Yeonsu, writing novels is a process of self-development. After multiple revisions, Kim's finished stories read like the intimate words of an accomplished raconteur.
There are 11 stories in Mi of April, Sol of July. Among them, I would like to highlight the story, “What Can Be Written in Blue Ink.” The protagonist of this story is a 40-year-old novelist who, while undergoing cancer treatment, meets an 83-year-old fellow patient with an IV running into his arm. Unsolicited, the old man begins to share his life story with the protagonist. The elderly gentleman is Jung Daewon, a novelist and North Korean defector who once attended Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang but eventually graduated from Seoul National University.
Rather than being interested in Jung’s unique experience of having attended university in both North and South Korea, the protagonist is fascinated by this old man’s writing. Jung tries to revise his story, which was written in red ink, with blue ink, but fails to write down a single new word.
Perhaps this story is an allegory for life. Although we strive mightily, there are just some things that we cannot write down. Life cannot be fully understood through the mind or the heart, no matter how hard we struggle, but during our time on Earth we make touching efforts to come to grips with it. In his story, Jung writes, "Life's truths are a light drizzle that can only be seen against a dark sky." 
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