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Kim Myeong-sun, a pioneering Korean female writer

김명순, 국내 최초 여성 작가

Her literary pieces as one of the first prominent modern writers in Korean literature blazed a trail for the birth of female authors.
Diverging from the mainstream literary society, Kim Myeong-sun’s unique voice in her pieces shed light on people who were oppressed on the basis of their gender and social status. She refused to back down from the patriarchal system that stigmatized her as a rape victim and the daughter of a gisaeng and concubine. Rather, she held up the pen to fight against such stereotypes. Here, she was resolute that no one but her would dictate her life as she weaved her diverse narratives. Indeed, Kim Myeong-sun spoke the truth, starting with Mysterious Girl about a young lady whose obscure past stirs up mystery, Seonrae about self-reflection and growth, When Looking Back, where a woman’s desire for free love clashes with the oppressive social system, Tan-sil and Ju-yeong, an autobiographical story on the struggles of a rape victim, and her poems on nostalgia. Such authentic voice of hers was reborn in the edited Korean pieces and first-ever translated English works.

한국 문학에서 첫 근대 작가 중 하나로 손꼽히는 김명순의 문학 작품은 이후 수많은 여성 작가의 탄생을 열어 주었다.
주류 문학사에서 벗어난 김명순의 작품에서 우러나오는 고유한 목소리는 젠더와 신분에 따른 억압을 받아 왔던 여러 사람들의 처지를 조명하였다. 김명순은 기생과 첩의 딸이라는 혈연과 성추행 피해자로서 가부장적 제도로부터 받은 오명에 굽히지 않고 펜을 들어 사회의 고정관념에 맞서 투쟁하였다. 다양한 이야기를 펼치면서 자신의 삶은 자기만의 지휘 아래 이어 나갈 것이라는 꿋꿋한 의지를 품었다. 김명순은 어린 소녀의 가려진 과거의 미스터리에 대한 「의심의 소녀」, 자기 성찰과 성장에 대한 「선례」, 자유 연애의 갈망과 억압적 사회 제도와의 충돌이 어우러진 「돌아다볼 때」, 강간 피해자의 시련에 대한 자전적 소설 「탄실이와 주영이」와 향수의 감정을 다룬 시를 통해 진실을 말하였다. 이러한 김명순의 진정한 목소리는 이번 편역과 첫 영문 번역 작품에서 재탄생되었다.

Author: Kim Myeong-sun
지은이: 김명순

Translator: Hyeon Chaewun
번역자: 현채운

Designer: Amelia Tan (Jin Hye-rin)
디자이너: 아멜리아 탄 (진혜린)

Translator’s Introduction in English
Translator’s Introduction in Korean

편역을 하며

1. Fiction

Mysterious Girl
의심의 소녀

When Looking Back
돌아다볼 때

Tan-sil and Ju-yeong
탄실이와 주영이

Seonrae
선례

2. Poetry

Nostalgia …
향수

Start of Tan-sil’s Dream
탄실의 초몽初夢

Curse
저주

Will
유언

Fantasy
환상

Consolation
위로慰勞

To a friend heading to the abbey
수도원修道院으로 가는 벗에게

In the Dead of Night
심야深夜에

In the Glass Tube
유리관 속에서

Fight
싸움

Acknowledgements

“Okay, where was the gentleman coming from?” As the mother of a lass was quite farsighted, she said, “He pressed his eyes against the pitch-black thing at the second floor of the towering house, looking…….” The foreman tilted his head once again. After a long time, as if he had at last resolved the mystery of many years, he said, “I get it. Beom-nae is baby Gahee, the birth-child of director Cho’s wife who committed suicide in spring.” As if everyone heard something terrifying, their eyes widened. Letting out a deep sigh, the village foreman cried out, “Pitiful child!”
(44쪽)

“You have a lot you could eat in the living room. Tell your mother to give them to you” and appeased Tan-sil. Yet, Tan-sil shook her head and smiling sweetly, she said, “I’m scared of mom.” Her father inevitably pulled out the money from the pouch, gave it to the servant boy so that San-wol wouldn’t know and told him to buy something for Tan-sil. As the wealth of Kim Hyeong-woo’s house grew and San-wol’s squandering increased, the bond between Tan-sil and her mother became gradually thinner. That was because the more Tan-sil made high achievement in her school academics, the more she received the lesson that the prosperity of the world was futile, that serving as someone’s concubine was good for nothing, and that gisaeng was like the devil.
(158쪽)

“Okusan, Okusan (Japanese word respectfully referring to Madam)” and lowered their heads. Only having heard of such, the merchants looked down on her even more for being a Japanese woman that lived with a Joseon man, but after meeting her, they ended up bowing to her. Also, in the beginning, when the Joseon students who came to Tokyo to study abroad only heard of such, they said, “What would be distinguished about a woman married to a good-for-nothing Gil Cham-ryeong?” and after carelessly gossiping about her, as their friends complimented her so much, they were driven to visit Gil Cham-ryeong’s house and upon coming back, they chimed together in praising her to the skies, “A woman is of use when she’s a Japanese. Eh, what are they Joseon women? They’re in such a foul state and besides, how stiff they are”
(230쪽)

To me, Seonrae is the only one that is beautiful. It is just that Seonrae is the only woman with vigor. Through the things of this world that inexhaustibly flow and through every flowing tune, I envision only Seonrae. Everyone, it is when a person forgets all of one’s selfish interests and desires that with fairness in mind, one could beautifully compliment even one’s enemy to no end. Seonnyeo, which is a common name in the vicinity of Pyeongan seems to have been rolled and modified to Seonrae for it to sound good to call in Japanese.
(320쪽)