Longing for Home
Jeong In-taek
Nov 2014 · 20th Century Korean Literature Book 43 · Literature Translation Institute of Korea
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About this eBook
An ailing young writer falls in love with the kind, brave Yumie in Tokyo. Yumie moves to Seoul to be with the writer, but refuses to marry him without her family’s approval. Her family in Tokyo, whom she’d been the sole provider for, sends her a long, tearful letter detailing their troubles since her departure. The dutiful Yumie returns to Tokyo to look after her family, but promises the young writer that she would return before the spring of the following year. The young writer’s health quickly worsens as he eagerly awaits Yumie’s return.
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Debra Chapman
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27 December 2018
Interesting!
About the author
A reporter for Maeil sinbo and Munjang, Jeong In-taek (1909 – 1953) was born in Seoul and was close colleagues with Park Taewon and Yi Sang, prominent writers of Korean modern literature in the 1930s. Their relationship is described in relative detail in Yi Sang’s Hwansigi. Jeong In-taek was in love with Kwon Yeong-hui, who was Yi Sang’s lover. He tried to commit suicide to demonstrate his passion for her, and succeeded in marrying her. After Jeong In-taek, who was in North Korea, died during the Korean War, Kwon Yeong-hui married Park Taewon in 1956. She nursed Park through his final years when he was confined to his sickbed, and finished his posthumous work, Gabo Farmers’ War by taking dictation.
Jeong In-taek, who debuted by publishing “Two Wanderers” in Maeil sinbo in 1930, wrote many biographical stories with the first person narrator. The excessive self-awareness of the powerless intellectual we see in “Clock” and “Candlewax” are favorite themes in Jeong In-taek’s stories. Psychologism literature, which hit its zenith in Yi Sang’s novels in the 1930s and became a characteristic of Korean modern literature, also played an important role in Jeong’s works. Toward the end of his career, Jeong was fixated on depicting romantic relationships. His bold description of physical love earned him the reputation for being the master of romantic novels. “Longing for Home,” “Happiness” are the best examples of such works.Rate this eBook
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