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Literature in any country passes different stages of its development. And this is influenced by this or that circumstance, such as the political position of the state, unrest in society, war, civil confrontations. Other countries also influence literature, namely, the methods of writing works used by authors of other states.
Korean writers created their masterpieces in their native Korean language as well as in classical Chinese. At first it was folk art, namely fairy tales, legends, songs, beliefs. Originally, Korean writers created poems for singing. There were five poetic forms: long verse, special song, current melody, verse and native song.
In these poems, famous Korean authors described the events of the past, significant incidents, the life and traditions of their people, as well as neighboring countries. Quite a lot of books have survived to this day that will be interesting to read not only for those who are interested in the history of North and South Korea, but also for everyone who is interested in the life of other peoples.
Modern Korean literature is greatly influenced by Western cultural ties. It is worth noting that in Korea she found her way christian religion. Thus, in 1910, the Bible was translated into Korean.
The authors are still actively working in the genre of the novel. The main theme is social justice, as well as the negative impact on society of the industrial revolution. In the DPRK, the historical novel genre prevails, and in drama, many authors write revolutionary heroic plays that would raise the spirit of patriotism and the desire to defend their homeland at any cost.
Korean literature is very diverse and colorful. The books of North and South Korea are very different from each other, which makes them special. You can fully immerse yourself in the atmosphere of this amazing country, which is one whole state, but divided into two types cultural property and ways of life.
- Kang Kyung Ae
- Kang Hee Man
- Kim Won Il
- Kim Jeonghan
- Kim Dong-in
- Kim Man Jun
- Kim Sisip
- Kim So Wol
- Kim Seung Ok
- Kim Yoojung
- Ko Eun
- Kon Sonok
- Lee Gwangsu
- Lee Ki Young
- Lee Injik
- Lee Moonyeol
- Lee Oryeong
- Lee Sang-hye
- lee seung woo
- Lee Hyoseok
- Lee Hyosung
- Oh Seyun
- Pak Wanso
- Park Kyongnie
- Park Kyu Soo
- Park Chiwon
- Shin Kyungsuk
- Shin Sukchu
- Han Sol I
- hwang suk young
- Cho Myung Hee
- Cho Sik
- Cho Haejin
- Choi Sohae
- Jan Sogil
Part 3
The book consists of twelve short stories in which two elements oppose each other - soothing, washing away everything and destroying fire. Life is a river in which a flame is hidden - passions, vices and desires that burn everything in their path, which often lead to monstrous deeds ...
Part 4
Kim Seung-ok (born in 1941) is one of the outstanding modern Korean writers, a great master of prose. Despite the fact that among the prose writers of modern Korean literature, the duration of his literary activity is relatively short, the few works he created, in which the turning point of the era of the sixties of the 20th century are excellently depicted through the eyes of a contemporary, have a unique personality. With his sensual style, lively and apt language, and concise presentation, Kim Seung Ok has a reputation as a "prose alchemist". Critics define his work as a "revolution of sensuality".
Kim Seung Ok's talent is multifaceted: he became famous both as a cartoonist, and as a screenwriter and director. He is the recipient of many of the most prestigious literary prizes Korea.
Part 5
The novel tells about kisaeng, about women of easy virtue - an integral part Korean culture who played an important role in the formation and understanding of the role of women in society. Kisaeng is not a prostitute in the ordinary sense of the word. Kisaeng appeared during the Goryeo Dynasty (935–1392). These were the actresses who entertained the kings at the feasts. Often they reached heights in art, poetry and literature.
For each of us, in order to find peace and harmony of the soul, it is useful to look back from time to time. After all, the future often hides behind our actions in the past. Understanding the past can give us the key to solving the problems of the future, help us gain the strength to live on. The life story of the kisaeng described in the novel should make us stop for a moment, look back and think about what we sometimes forget due to the hustle and bustle Everyday life.
Part 7
On June 25, 1950, North Korea attacked South Korea. The Korean War began, in which UN troops took part - sixteen states, including the United States. At first, almost the entire territory of South Korea was occupied by North Korean troops. However, some time later, UN troops drove them back. Moreover, they occupied almost the entire territory of North Korea. It seemed that the unification of the country was inevitable. But on January 4, 1951, the two million army of communist China entered the Korean War; UN troops and the South Korean army were forced to retreat.
The author of this book at the beginning of July 1950 was mobilized in the Korean people's army, and in early October of the same year he was captured by the National Army of South Korea. Being in the thick of things at that turbulent time, he had the opportunity to personally observe the relationship between the North and the South.
For readers over 14 years of age.
Part 8
Lee Moon-yeol (born in 1948) is one of the most famous contemporary South Korean prose writers. The first collection published in Russia included two stories about the recent history of South Korea and about a man's search for his place in this history.
For readers over 14 years of age.
Part 9
Kim Yong-soo (b. 1970) is a South Korean writer who is popular in his homeland and beyond. His works have been translated into English, French, Japanese, Chinese and other languages. Winner of many literary awards in the Republic of Korea. The collection "Girl the end of the world" includes nine stories written from 2005 to 2009 and united by the theme of relationships between people.
For readers over 16 years of age.
Part 10
Kim Young-soo (b. 1970) is one of the most popular writers in contemporary Korea. My literary career started in 1993 as a poet and published his first novel, I Walk Showing a Mask, the very next year. The works of Kim Yong-soo have received numerous prestigious literary awards.
Imagine that you have become the owner of a superpower. How will you manage it? Will you be able to resist the temptations and use it only for the benefit of people, or will you obey those who seek to use your ability for their own selfish purposes? The answer to this question is trying to find a fifteen-year-old boy Kim Jong-hoon, who received the gift of reading other people's thoughts.
In the XII-XIV centuries. develops the new kind Korean prose in hanmun - works of small forms - paesol (cf. Chinese - baisho). Many of the authors were famous poets: Li Inno, Li Kyubo, Choi Ja (1118-1260).
Their writings are a collection of narrative miniatures, untitled and not separated from each other. Usually, paesol collections are significant in length: they include up to ten, and sometimes more books (kwon).
Paesol literature reflects general trend era - outlined in the XII-XIV centuries. the desire to revise the well-known Confucian view of man from the Taoist position, for his official, state activity does not interest the writer here.
A person in paesol is often depicted as a participant in an unusual adventure, or at the moment when he, admiring the beauties of nature, composes poetry.
Still the hero remains historical figure, and his image is still perfect. For the first time, the object of the image in fiction is the landscape. The attention of the literature is attracted so far by the “ideal”, conditionally beautiful nature. But such a landscape is geographically localized and static.
The appearance of paesol literature speaks of the development of the element of description, as well as the awakening of interest in a sharp, entertaining plot - thereby separating fiction from historical writing.
However, there is some penetration artistic beginning into the historical prose of the 12th-14th centuries: “unofficial stories” - yasa (Chinese - yeshi), - are widely used in it. special kind historical writings, usually compiled by private individuals.
The most notable monument of this type is the work “Samguk yusa” (1285), already mentioned in another connection, written by the Buddhist teacher Iryon. He set himself the task of collecting and writing down everything that was not included in the historical writings of the past, primarily Kim Busik's Samguk Sagi.
He uses legends and legends dating back to folklore about the founders of states and the birth of the Vans, about the construction of cities and temples, episodes that accompanied the creation poetry, strange incidents, etc.
Iryong carefully collects and records samples artistic creativity Korean people, which he borrows from the "Ancient Writings" and, obviously, from oral art.
In Iryon's work, along with the normative image of a person, prompted by Confucian ideas about what is due, another one was created, which reflected a special type of attitude to the world.
It merged the Buddhist and Taoist understanding of man as an entity independent of society, not subject to the world. social connections with its usual rules. These ideas entered the literature, apparently, in connection with the turning point in Korean society of the 12th-13th centuries, expressed in a general enthusiasm for Taoism.
The attention of the literature of the XII-XIII centuries. to a person who has fallen out of official relationships, not under the control of the authorities, and appealing to the funny, unexpected opened up great opportunities in terms of further development literature to plot.
Despite different character"Samguk sagi" and "Samguk yusa", the principle of depicting a person has not changed. The person in "Yusa" is still a historical or pseudo-historical person (the most fantastic stories are historically localized as well).
The image of a person is ideal: it grows either from Confucian views on the individual and on his place in the sphere of state and family relations(cf., for example, the stories of the loyal Kim Jaesang or the devoted daughter who sold herself into slavery to feed her blind mother), or from the Taoist-Buddhist notion of a person who is not subject to the world of social relations. The image of people and events is one-dimensional. The inner world of man did not occupy the literature of that time.
In the works of Iryon, the first attempts to describe the appearance of a person are visible. Each feature of his character is symbolic, significant and associated with one or another well-known image; e.g. a synonym tall the growth of the Yin Tian-i began, the regal face of the future ruler is compared with the "dragon-like face of the Han Gao-zu", eyebrows - with the "eight eyebrows of the Tang Gao".
Combinations of these "signs" replaced the portrait in the literature of that time. The same technique is used for moral characterization. Suffice it to say that such and such is similar to Jie and Zhou, and it should be clear to the reader that we are talking about a bad ruler. In the future, this method of comparison is firmly included in Korean literature.
The first period in the history of Korean literature ends with the advent of fiction as an independent field of literary creativity. For Korean literature, it was a formative stage, and this is its main significance. It was then that the main distinguishing features of literature were formed, which passed through its entire subsequent history.
These features were determined by the fact that Korean medieval literature arose as a result of the interaction of two cultural traditions: originally unwritten Korean and written, common to East Asia, Chinese. This was reflected primarily in the bilingualism of medieval Korean literature, which has been observed since the first stage of its development.
On hanmun until the 20th century. the whole literature of traditional scholarship was created - historical, philosophical writings. Already at the first stage, the principles of depicting a person and the techniques for constructing a work, suggested by the Confucian tradition, entered into Korean works.
However, Korean authors included materials from oral tradition in their plotless works (for example, plot legends about the founders of states and stories about prominent people), presented information about national history, quoted Korean speeches and examples of literary creativity. This use of Korean material created a special look for hanmun works, despite their lack of a plot.
Brilliant Hanmun poetry was also created in Korea. Already since the XI century. Hanmun literature is officially assigned the role of "high" literature by the state.
At the same time, other literature also grew on Korean soil, the formation of which was facilitated by Buddhist and Taoist ideas about the world and man.
In this line of Korean literature, the local folklore tradition of legends, apocryphal tales, and legends was much stronger. This area of literature is represented by pesol and some types of Buddhist biographies.
Written literature on mother tongue at first it was fixed by the way I go, and from the middle of the 15th century. - means of the Korean phonetic alphabet. It also shows the interpenetration of two cultural trends.
In prose, this was apparently reflected in the influence of the style of historical writings, in poetry - in the gradual assimilation of poetic literary imagery from the Buddhist and secular Chinese traditions. It is quite natural that in this literature national tendencies were decisive.
The type of interaction between the two cultural traditions that developed during this period in Idu literature was characteristic of Korean poetry in the native language (sijo, kasa) and later, during the Late Middle Ages.
With the subsequent development of artistic prose, an increasing place begins to occupy the actual artistic genres. This fiction perceives the main features that were determined in the period of formation.
For example, a Korean story and a novel are more late period, undoubtedly, the principles of depicting a person, the stylization of artistic prose "under history", didactics, etc., put forward by the prose of the XII-XIII centuries, influenced.
Poetry in subsequent times not only inherited the elements of Chinese imagery that developed in the hyangga, but also in some genres developed the structural possibilities provided by ancient poetry in native language.
Subsequently, Korean literature abandoned a number of features inherent in it during this period. Thus, the influence of ancient folklore - legends about the founders of early states - can be traced only to the XIV century. All this was inevitably connected with the forward movement of literature.
Story world literature: in 9 volumes / Edited by I.S. Braginsky and others - M., 1983-1984
L. V. Galkina,
candidate philological sciences, professor, FENU
S. G. Zhang,
postgraduate student of the Department of Literature VKK FENU
MAIN TRENDS IN MODERN KOREAN LITERATURE
Korean literature, both poetry and prose, has gone through a very difficult period from the stage of formation to the creation of modern philosophical systems(existentialism). This process was conditioned by the history of Korea's development from the first steps of capitalism and the emergence of antagonistic states in the north and south to the creation of a developed capitalist society in the south of the country.
Modern Korean literature, which began its course with romanticism and symbolism during the period of accelerated development of literature, has mastered other literary trends such as modernism, surrealism, realism, humanism, existentialism, etc.
One of the first romantic poets was Lee Sang-hwa, who proclaimed in his poems the era of an active attitude to life:
The time will come when, creating a new world,
With one of your lines, with this one, you will wake everyone up Poet, the meaning of your life is
So that people know about you when you are no longer in the Universe. Your voice should be like the cry of a green frog on the canals that irrigate the fields in a drought.
Let from the so-called world
Will only appear musical instruments where soul and body live separately.
Poet, your life is
So that, no matter how hard it was, you still continued your work. And when the darkened sun rises, will you lose the desire to create?
Poet, your glory is
So that you become the undivided soul of a child who bravely overcomes obstacles. Whether by day or by night.
When the verses go with quick steps, may you be given the opportunity to see a beautiful butterfly, flying up, dying, to a candle.
Big role in the work of romantic writers, the works of Na Dohyang and Kim Donin played, raising problems love triangle- the relationship between a man and a woman (The stories "At the Mill", "Ditch the Pears", "Potatoes", etc.). “Modernism that came to Korean literature in the 1930s. to replace romanticism, was interesting because he created non-standard images and situations. For example, in the work of Li San, a poet and prose writer, such situations are found both in poetry (“Mirror”, “Morning”) and in prose (“Wings” story).
Lee San lived a very short life- 27 years. He graduated from the architectural institute, but, having contracted tuberculosis, he abandoned his chosen specialty. He knew that his days were numbered, and this left an imprint of hopelessness on his whole life. He stopped looking after his appearance, his poems were permeated with the experience of his own doom.
Dark air harms the lungs.
Soot sits on the surface of the lungs.
I suffer from fever all night long.
How many countless nights I spent!
I cut and stretch them and forget about the dawn.
Morning refreshes the lungs too.
I look around to see if anything has been lost since the night.
I discovered the habit of moving in the opposite direction.
How many pages have already been turned in my beautiful book.
morning rays the sun writes down the words,
To finish the worn out pages. So, as if without a nose
the night would never come back again.
Of course, not all poets had such a fate as Lee San, but hopelessness, inner emptiness are characteristic of many major poets of this period. If the lyrical hero of the 20s. mourned in the depths of his fate and the fate of his homeland and did not want to live the way reality forced him, then the lyrical hero of the 30s. couldn't even cry.
Modernism prepared two contrasting directions: romanticism and sentimental romanticism that arose at the end of the century, on the one hand, and on the other, the opposite. In addition to these areas, in the 30-40s. humanism, classicism, realism appear in literature, and in the post-war years - existentialism. Researchers modern literature The Republic of Korea draws attention to the influence of Western philosophical currents in shaping the appearance of Korean prose in the 60-70s. Existentialism occupies a special place among these ideas.
Indeed, when reading the stories of Kim Tonny (1913-1995), Choi Inhun (b. 1936), Kim Seung-ok, you notice that, as a rule, the characters in them are lonely, alienated from the outside world, and all their attempts to
relationships with other people fail. On the example of Kim Seung-ok's story “Trip to Mujin. Travel records” Russian literary critic A.F. Trotsevich tries to show how Western existentialism fits into the Korean "cultural landscape".
The story is written from the point of view of the hero. These are diary-type entries about what they saw, about meetings and impressions. There are four main events in the story, arranged in time sequence and defining the structure of the story - it has four parts: “Bus to Mujin”, “People meet at night”, “ Long road over a dam that stretches out to sea”, “You are leaving Mujin”.
The hero Yun Hee Jun, the director of a successful pharmaceutical company, married to a wealthy widow, goes to rest for a week in Mujin, the city of his childhood, to take his mind off things and change the situation. Mujin stands on the seashore, and there is nothing in it that attracts attention; its only attraction is fogs. Yoon Hee Jun is dating school friends who admire his successful career. In the house of one of them, he meets a music teacher, Ha Insuk. A romance begins. As a result of just a date, Yoon discovered that thanks to this girl, his former “pure self” returned, lost in worries about his career and well-being. Yoon realizes that they should be together and decides to take the girl to Seoul. But the next morning after the date, he is awakened by a telegram from his wife: the business of the company requires an immediate return to Seoul. In desperation, Yoon Hee Jun writes a letter. Insuk talks about love, about the impossibility of living without it, asks to believe him and promises that they will be happy together in Seoul. The letter was a sincere impulse of a man who had finally got rid of loneliness. The hero rereads the letter - reason kills the impulse: Yun tears up the letter and leaves Mujin.
The story is permeated with the idea of human loneliness in the modern world - a thought that is developed by the philosophy of existentialism.
The lonely hero arrives in the city of his childhood and sees old friends, but ties with them have long been lost, and the meetings bring Yun neither a sense of joy nor satisfaction. He is a stranger to them, an observer from the outside. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the author leads the hero through meetings with people who have not found a place in the social world. This is a meeting in Daegu with a crazy woman whom everyone laughs at and no one sympathizes with. This is a meeting with the dead body of a girl from a wine house who committed suicide from loneliness and hopelessness (according to the policeman, a common occurrence in Muji-ne). Only self-satisfied inhabitants who live according to generally accepted standards, like the hero's school friend, do not feel loneliness here. “Mujin’s world” has become so distant for Yun that even his mother’s grave evokes in him not feelings, but thoughts: here is a truly respectful son who came in bad weather to bow to his mother’s grave.
Lonely Ha Insuk. She languishes in the provincial wilderness, where she is mistaken for a "decoration", which also sings hits well. And she loves the classics, her favorite aria "Madama Butterfly" remains unclaimed here. Insuk is a beautiful, smart girl, but
she cannot be married: she is nobody in her own way social status(At least, this is how Cho, Yun's school friend, evaluates her). The heroine dreams of getting to Seoul with friends, she is afraid that this provincial town is simply crazy. Maybe the suicide girl at the seaside that Yoon saw is a hint of Insuk's possible fate after all. forgotten hero stories in this wilderness.
Yoon Hee Jun, cold and indifferent to people, suddenly experiences his "being in the world" at night. The hero sees off a beautiful, outstanding girl after the party. He and Ha Insuk walk along the river bank. From the rice fields he hears the loud croaking of frogs, and suddenly he has the feeling that the voices of the frogs rise up into the sky and turn into twinkling stars. The sounds, as it were, disappeared and became the visible radiance of the stars, which approached him and took on clear, bright outlines. Yun felt like he was going crazy, that his heart was about to break. This feeling of "I" in the universe, which the hero of the Korean story experienced, is very reminiscent of the description of the feeling of unity with the cosmos of the heroine of Albert Camus's story "The Wife": a lonely woman in a strange world, night, desert, countless stars sliding towards the horizon, and - suddenly a sense of communion with the movement of the stars and the vastness of the sky, a feeling that brought her peace. Meeting Insuk brought back the lost world of love and pure relationship to Yoon. And here is the telegram. She brings the hero back: the stars went out, the experience of his pure, unique "I" disappeared, he is again the manager of a successful company, the same businessman as the others.
“It seems that in the story of Kim Seung-ok, the ideas of Western existentialism are intertwined with Korean cultural ideas, and in particular with Buddhism. Thus, the scene of the hero’s sudden discovery of the endless expanses of space is very reminiscent of Buddhist enlightenment, and the story itself is modeled on the Buddhist parable about a lost monk who wished to return to worldly life. In Korea, the plot of such a parable in the 17th century. Writer Kim Manchzhun wrote an entire novel Cloud Dream of the Nine. Worldly life is presented here as a dream-meditation, in which the mentor plunged the hero. Having experienced joy and suffering, the hero thinks about the meaning of earthly existence, about the values of wealth, fame and love. As soon as he had such thoughts, the teacher appeared and woke him from his sleep with a blow of the staff. The estate, the beautiful wives disappeared in swirling clouds, and the hero again saw himself as a young monk in a mountain monastery.
In Kim Sonok's story, as well as in Kim Manchung's novel, two spaces are given - the true reality and the world of delusions (in clouds and fogs). Misconceptions are connected with Mujin. The city itself is unreal, it was invented by the author. In reality, such a city does not exist, so the title says "Journey to Mujin, travel notes" immediately says that here we will talk about a journey into unreality. At the beginning of the story, it is reported that Mujin is famous for its fogs, moreover, the word "Mujin" is written in hieroglyphs "fog" and "crossing", i.e. the city is called "foggy crossing". Fog and clouds have always served in the Far Eastern literature as symbols of delusion.
niya and illusory. It seems that the meaning of “double illusoryness” is laid here: not only space itself is an illusion, but also the opportunity to get into it. In the night Mujin (“foggy crossing”), shrouded in fog, the hero finds his “pure self” and the freedom to live according to his will. Foggy Mujin is thus marked with a sign of true value, in contrast to Seoul, where generally accepted ideas reign: the main thing for a person is to succeed (Yun is married to a rich widow, and this provided him with a high position and a prestigious position in society). True Values in the story they turn out to be fleeting and transient, like a dream and fog, but the vain world of passions is connected with reality. Zen Buddhism views the transition of consciousness from delusion to reality as an instantaneous act - a sudden awakening. In the story, the hero is awakened from sleep by his wife's telegram, which brings him back from the world of illusions to reality. Functionally, the telegram is the same blow with the staff of the monk-instructor, which is discussed in the novel "Sleep in the Cloudy Heights"2.
Yoon returns to Seoul. The happiness of unity with the cosmos, love - everything was swallowed up by Muzhinsky's fog. So Sim Son, giving the Buddhist division into two spaces, changes the understanding of the value of these spaces: it is not the world of passions that is illusory, but the desire of a person to find his “pure Self”. Worldly life, money - this is the "true reality" in which a person is given to live. The breakthrough to the freedom of the "I" is ephemeral, like a fog, and can only happen in an imaginary Mujin, in a dream, in a fog. The modern pragmatic world, the alienation of man correct Buddhist ideas in the story. So, Buddhism leaves a person with hope: he can go beyond the vain world of suffering and find harmony. The story of Kim Sonok ends tragically: the hero is doomed to stay in an endless cycle of career, prestige, wealth. He is too weak and unable to break out of this cycle to become himself.
In the story of Kim Sonok "Bogatyr" (written in the form of a monologue heard from a random interlocutor in the park), one can see another example of the loneliness and hopelessness of a person in the modern world. The author deliberately does not introduce the reader to the biography of the protagonist: no name, no exact age, no events from the past before he came to Seoul. There are only two short periods of time: his life in the poor Changxing area and his life in a Western-style house. These are two completely different reality, which the hero cannot perceive as two sides of one whole; it seems to him that one of them is correct, and the other is not. A young man (in his twenties, college educated) rents a room in the Changxing district with no steady income, living on the money from the sale of his scripts and plays, if, of course, they can be sold. In the neighborhood with him live very different people: the similarity that unites them all is that last line, to which they have reached, descending to life in these slums.
From the boredom and hopelessness of his being, he is forced to spend every evening in a drinking establishment, in the company of desperate people like him. The problem is that the hero, being an outstanding person and a creative person, cannot but be aware of all the hopelessness of his position (lack of roots as a result of
tate civil war 1950s, lack of money, because everything has already been spent on his studies at the university) and his slow but inevitable plunge into that abyss of despair in which all the people of this area live. These people spend their rare leisure every evening in the dim light of a drinking establishment with a glass of rice vodka, drinking almost all the daily earnings. In everyday life, the hero inevitably has to communicate with his housemates, understand their life tragedies, thanks to which they ended up in the slums, "on the other side" of life. Life in these slums seems to him the standard of hopelessness. He himself passively goes with the flow, not trying to change anything until a compassionate friend invites him to live in the house of his distant relatives in a more prosperous area. Like most Koreans who preach Confucianism, his friend believes that the problem of a young man is the lack of a family that would take care of him, giving valuable life advice and guidance, forcing him to live in reverence and obedience to his elders.
Yielding to persuasion, the hero moves to his relatives living in own house built in western style. Lives there big family: an old man holding a high position in the enterprise, with his wife, their daughter, a high school student, their son, who works as a lecturer at the university, his wife, a little daughter and a cook.
At first glance, the family seems to the young man impeccable and worthy of all praise. But, looking closely, he sees mutual indifference, hidden behind ostentatious care and strict observance of external decorum: life according to a strict schedule written once and for all, which does not allow any changes and amendments. Life in this house reminds him of a movement in a vicious circle devoid of any development, where every day everything repeats again, and all the activities of family members are strictly regulated and even timed. Every day at the same time, the same melody is heard, performed by the daughter-in-law on the piano - “For Eliza”. Daily repeated sounds first surprise the hero with their monotony, begin to irritate him little by little, and then frighten him and "drive him crazy", making him hate these faceless people. Even the old man set aside time for him to play the guitar, from ten in the morning for an hour. Needless to say, after that, the young man never once had a desire to pick up a guitar, in his own words, "there was no inspiration."
From the loneliness and monotony of life, he involuntarily begins to remember the residents of that house, in the Changxing district, where he used to live. This is the Yongya prostitute, who often lent him money for alcohol and smoking in difficult times. Her dream was to get to a good fortune teller who would choose her a name that would bring good luck. According to her naive delusion, a person's life depends on the name given to him, and if at birth you were given a bad name, then it is worth changing it - everything will change for the better.
He also recalls a lame man with a thin, short daughter of nine years of age, whom he spent all his free time teaching something in his gloomy room, without ceasing to shower her with blows of a rod, to which the girl reacted only
in a continuous stream of tears flowing profusely down her emaciated cheeks, and covered her head with almost transparent palms, but not once did she cry out in pain. Only once did the hero witness his father's love, accidentally seeing his eyes filled with anxiety when the girl fell ill.
The young man realized that no human feelings were alien to these people, whose only similarity was only that they rented rooms in the same house, in the city slums. Each of them has some kind of illusory dream that warms their dull existence, giving them hope for a better life.
Most often, he recalls a man named So, his strange gift - a fantastic power passing from generation to generation, and how he proudly disposed of it. This hero, who easily lifts huge stones, had a very strong influence on him.
To a young man it seems that the people from the Changxing area are much more interesting and humane than these well-fed and prosperous people from a Western-style home. And he comes to the understanding that the main thing in a person is his inner essence, his free from all "I", and not a brilliant external "form". He feels sorry for this family, and he tries to help them realize the futility of their actions. In order to somehow convince them to retreat from the daily way of life and think about their place in this world, he decides to resort to the help of tranquilizers, adding them to the drink. But this did not change anything: none of them dared to break the ingrained habitual way of life or try to talk about this topic. He is completely at a loss, not knowing whether he was right in doing this and in general, which of them is wrong, which of these two realities he needs more. He cannot understand this, he does not understand himself and feels only his endless loneliness in this world. He does not feel himself in his place in either reality and therefore is doomed to a constant search and comprehension of his "I".
The position of existentialism is clearly manifested in the work of the Korean writer - a contemporary of Kim Seung-ok: "Man is nothing, man has no" nature ". The human being is "nothing", or, in this case, the same thing, the experience of freedom. A person has no other way out, except for the assertion of his "human" truth, except for the courageous opposition to the "non-human" world. Kim Seungok most fully reflected the ideas of his generation in Korean prose.
NOTES
1 Hangugy mansi songjip Soul.1987. P.113.
2 Ibid. P.87.
Ludmila V. Galkina, Sabina G. Chon
The Origination of New Trends in Korean Literature
The article tells us about new trends in Korean literature both in the 20s (symbolism, romanticism, naturalism, etc.) and in post-war 50s (existentialism). In connection with this the authors investigate the works of the great representatives of these trends: Li Sanhwa, Kim Dongin, Kim Sounok and others.
Koreans and books
Unfortunately, the modern Russian reader knows almost nothing about South Korean literature. This is largely the result of the prohibitions that have existed for several decades in USSR to any, even the most seemingly harmless contacts with South Korea. Meanwhile, Koreans are a reading nation, and Korean writers have created quite a lot in recent decades. interesting literature, which, however, in the USSR / RF / CIS is not really known even to specialists.
However, today I will not talk about modern Korean literature, its features and problems. I myself am not very competent in this, and I can only hope that this gap in the perception of Russians about Korea will be replenished sooner or later. Our topic is different - not Korean literature or the book industry in itself, but the role that books (both fiction and otherwise) play in the everyday life of Koreans.
Although I started this article by stating that Koreans are a "reading nation", the statistics show that in terms of the number of books read, Koreans are inferior to the inhabitants of some developed countries. However, I am not going to go back on my words. The fact is that, although there are social groups in the country whose representatives cannot imagine life without a book, not all Koreans read a lot. The statistics, first of all, are "spoiled" by representatives of the stronger sex, aged 25 to 55, that is, working Koreans. Indeed, a working Korean reads little, if any, and it would be strange if things were different: after spending 8-11 hours at work and then another 1-2 hours in a crowded subway or in a car that makes its way at a snail's pace through countless traffic jams, a person returning from work is unlikely to pick up a book. At best, he will limit himself to a TV and a newspaper, but rather, having exchanged a few words with his wife and children, he will go to bed.
The reading audience consists of that part of Koreans who, on the one hand, have an education and a taste for reading, and, on the other hand, have the leisure necessary for this occupation. Such people include, in particular, students (schoolchildren are too busy - they are preparing for entrance exams), teachers and lecturers, housewives and, in part, working young women who have much less burden and responsibility in their offices than their colleagues -men. The predominance of women in the Korean reading public is obvious (one of the local critics once stated that the proportion of women among prose readers in Korea is 80%).
Number of book titles published in Korea in 1996 it was exactly twice as much as in 1980 (26.674 and 13.062, respectively). The total circulation increased during this time even more significantly - three times. However, volume growth slowed down around 1990 and since then Korea Approximately 26-29 thousand titles of books are published per year. This is a good indicator. In terms of the number of book titles, Korea is only twice as USA(with a population five times smaller), and two and a half times greater than India(with a population 20 times smaller). IN Russia in 1994, 30,390 book titles were published, a little more than in Korea. At the same time, we must remember that our population is three times larger. Thus, Korean indicators are quite good.
Speaking of Korean books, one cannot fail to note their relative cheapness. Mass-printed paperback book, regular format, with good quality paper and print, approximately 300 pages, is worth Korea somewhere around 6-8 thousand won ($5-7). For a monograph or a limited edition in hardcover, one had to pay 15-25 thousand won ($12-20). This price may seem expensive to the Russian reader, but in fact, compared with the prices for similar books in Western countries, it is surprisingly low (a mass-produced book of the usual format costs America 15-20 dollars, and a special hardcover monograph - from 40 to 100 dollars).
What does a modern Korean city dweller read? If we talk about fiction, then in the seventies, serious books devoted to philosophical issues were the most popular. human being. It is significant that this was the time of enthusiasm for classical Russian literature, the influence of which in those years reached its peak. In the 1980s, democratization and the relaxation of censorship led to the flourishing of the political and historical novel. This novel in South Korea was (and usually still is) left-wing, often even pro-communist. The heroes of the books were often strike organizers or communist guerrillas during the Korean War. Of course, such publications caused gnashing of teeth among the conservative part of the establishment, but they enjoyed considerable commercial success (the recent "forbidden fruit" is sweet), so that the publishing houses freed from censorship released them willingly.
In the nineties, the collapse of the socialist system and the depoliticization and de-ideologization of Korean society led to the fact that interest in these works, and in serious literature in general, decreased significantly by the mid-nineties. The era of the entertaining novel has come, the time has come for light reading. Real, "high" literature has also largely reoriented itself from the problems of society to questions individual life and the inner world of man.
Actually entertaining literature in Korea, that is, so to speak, "low genres", is represented mainly by translated American editions. Among entertainment genres, the detective dominates, both criminal and espionage-political. Although in Korea and there is a detective tradition, but the vast majority prefer translations Western authors. This applies to all kinds of thrillers and adventure literature, as well as to science fiction. The popularity of science fiction Korea generally lower than Russia or Western countries. If we talk about the genre of magical fiction that has been fashionable in recent years (" fantasy"), then he Korea generally resides somewhere in the back of the book market. At the same time, there are millions of urban housewives in the country, who form perhaps the only group of adults with free time. They create fertile ground for the spread of the "ladies'" love story here.
One of the features Korea is that all kinds of documentary and semi-documentary works are very popular among the local reading public: essays, popular science publications, travel essays. Unlike many other countries, these publications are Korea in terms of their popularity among the mass reader, they are not inferior to fiction. A significant part of such publications are translations, so that almost all notable Western works on history, politics, economics, philosophy, appear in Korean very soon after their release in the original.
Koreans are generally quite familiar with world literature, although its perception - the selection of books for translation, the authority of this or that writer - generally reflects American assessments and traditions, in many respects different from those to which the Russian reader is accustomed. Related to this is good knowledge Koreans of American and English-language literature in general, while noticeably less attention is paid to writers from other countries. However, some of the traditional cultural ties have their effect, and, for example, Chinese historical novel, both classic and modern, are much loved by Koreans.
Russian literature has penetrated into Korea still in the colonial period (in secondary translations from Japanese or, more rarely, from English) and enjoyed considerable popularity there, especially in the sixties and seventies. IN last couple For decades, a decrease in interest in serious literature has led to the fact that the popularity of Russian authors has somewhat decreased, but it still remains quite high (president Kim Tae-jung, for example, considers his favorite authors Dostoevsky And Chekhov, which he once read a lot in prison). You can judge which works of Russian literature Koreans know best from the reference book "200 the best works world literature". Russian literature in it is represented by 5 names: " Brothers Karamazov", "Fathers and Sons", "Anna Karenina", "Mother", "Lady with a dog". For some reason it didn't get there, really," Crime and Punishment", which is also very popular in Korea.A.N. Lankov
01.01.1999
