Read Korean literature in Russian. Korean literature: history and modernity
L. V. Galkina,
Candidate of Philological Sciences, Professor, Far Eastern State University
S. G. Zhang,
postgraduate student of the Department of Literature of VKK FENU
MAIN DIRECTIONS IN MODERN KOREAN LITERATURE
Over the course of a century, Korean literature, both poetry and prose, went through a very difficult period from its formation stage to the creation of modern philosophical systems (existentialism). This process was determined by the history of the development of Korea 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 in a fairly short period of time mastered other literary trends, such as modernism, surrealism, realism, humanism, existentialism, etc.
One of the first romantic poets was Lee Sang-hwa, who in his poems proclaimed the era of an active attitude towards life:
The time will come when, creating a new world,
With one line of yours, with this, 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 drought.
Let from the so-called world
Will only appear musical instruments, in which soul and body live separately.
Poet, your life is
So that, no matter how difficult it may be, you still continue 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 during the day or at night.
When the poems move quickly, may you be given the opportunity to see a beautiful butterfly flying, dying, towards the candle.
A major role in the work of romantic writers was played by the works of Na Dohyang and Kim Donin, who raised the problems of the love triangle - the relationship between a man and a woman (Stories “At the Mill”, “Plucking Pears”, “Potatoes”, etc.). “Modernism, which came to Korean literature in the 30s. replacing romanticism, he was interesting because he created non-standard images and situations.” For example, in the works of Lee San, a poet and prose writer, such situations occur both in poetry (“Mirror”, “Morning”) and in prose (the story “Wings”).
Lee San lived a very short life - 27 years. He graduated from the architectural institute, but, having contracted tuberculosis, abandoned his chosen specialty. He knew that his days were numbered, and this left an imprint of hopelessness on his entire life. He stopped looking after his appearance, his poems were permeated with the experience of his own doom.
Dark air harms your lungs.
Soot settles on the surface of the lungs.
I suffer from fever all night long.
How many countless nights have I spent!
I either shorten or stretch them and forget about the dawn.
Morning refreshes the lungs too.
I look around to see if anything is missing from the night.
I discovered the habit of going backwards.
How many pages have already been turned in my beautiful book.
The morning rays of the sun write down the words,
To finish the exhausted pages. As if without a nose
the night would never come back1.
Of course, not all poets had the same fate as Lee Sang-woo, but hopelessness and inner emptiness were characteristic of many major poets of this period. If lyrical hero 20s mourned in depth 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. I wasn't even able to cry.
Modernism prepared two contrasting trends: romanticism and the sentimental romanticism that emerged at the end of the century, on the one hand, and the opposite on the other. In addition to these directions, in the 30-40s. humanism, classicism, realism appear in literature, and in post-war years- existentialism. Researchers of modern literature of the Republic of Korea pay attention to the influence of Western philosophical movements in shaping the appearance of Korean prose in the 60-70s. Among these ideas, existentialism occupies a special place.
In fact, reading the stories of Kim Tongnyi (1913-1995), Choi Inhun (b. 1936), Kim Seungok, you notice that, as a rule, the heroes in them are lonely, alienated from the world around them, and all their attempts to communicate
meetings with other people fail. Using the example of Kim Seung's story “A Trip to Mujin. Travel Notes” by Russian literary critic A.F. Trotsevich tries to show how Western existentialism fits into the Korean “cultural landscape.”
The story is written from the hero's point of view. These are diary-type entries about what they saw, about meetings and impressions. The story has four main events, arranged in time sequence and determining the structure of the story - it has four parts: “Bus to Mujin”, “People meet at night”, “The long road along the dam that stretches into the sea”, “You leave Mujin” .
The hero Yun Heezhong, the director of a successful pharmaceutical company, married to a rich widow, goes on vacation for a week to Mujin, the city of his childhood, to take a break from business and change the situation. Mujin stands on the seashore, and there is nothing about it that attracts attention; its only attraction is the fog. Yoon Heejun meets with school friends who admire him successful career. In the house of one of them, he meets music teacher Ha Insuk. A romance ensues. As a result of just one date, Yun discovered that thanks to this girl, his former “pure self”, lost in worries about his career and well-being in life, returned. Yoon realizes that they should be together and decides to take the girl to Seoul. But the next morning after the date, he is woken up by a telegram from his wife: the company’s business requires an immediate return to Seoul. In desperation, Yoon Hee-jung writes a letter. Insook talks about love, the impossibility of living without it, asks to believe him and promises that the two of them will be happy in Seoul. The letter was the sincere impulse of a man who had finally gotten rid of loneliness. The hero rereads the letter - the impulse kills reason: Yun tears up the letter and leaves Mujin.
The story is permeated with the idea of human loneliness in the modern world - an idea that is developed by the philosophy of existentialism.
A lonely hero comes to the city of his childhood and sees old friends, but connections with them have long been lost, and meetings do not bring Yun either a feeling of joy or 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 for themselves in social world. This is an encounter in Daegu with a crazy woman whom everyone laughs at and no one has compassion for. This is an encounter with the dead body of a girl from a wine house who committed suicide out of loneliness and hopelessness (according to the police, a common incident in Muji-ne). Only self-satisfied ordinary people who live according to generally accepted standards do not feel loneliness here, just like the hero’s school friend. “The World of Mujin” has become so distant for Yun that even his mother’s grave evokes in him not feelings, but thoughts: a truly respectful son came in bad weather to bow to his mother’s grave.
Ha Insuk is lonely. She languishes in the provincial wilderness, where she is mistaken for a “decoration” who also sings hits well. And she loves the classics; her favorite aria “Madama Butterfly” remains unclaimed here. Insook is a beautiful, smart girl, but
You can’t marry her: she’s nobody in her own way social status(at least that’s how Cho, Yun’s schoolmate, evaluates her). The heroine dreams of going to Seoul to visit her friends; she is afraid that this provincial town is simply driving her crazy. Maybe the suicidal girl on the seashore that Yoon saw is a hint at the possible fate of Insuk, who was eventually forgotten by the hero of the story in this outback.
Yun Heejun, cold and indifferent to people, suddenly experiences his “being in the world” at night. The hero sees off a beautiful, extraordinary girl after a party. She and Ha Insuk walk along the river bank. The loud croaking of frogs comes from the rice fields, and suddenly he gets the feeling that the voices of the frogs rise into the sky and turn into twinkling stars. The sounds seemed to disappear and became the visible radiance of the stars, which approached him and took on clear, bright outlines. It seemed to Yun that he was going crazy, that his heart was about to break. This feeling of one’s “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 the story Albert Camus“Wife”: a lonely woman in an alien world, night, desert, countless stars sliding towards the horizon, and - a sudden feeling of community with the movement of the stars and the vastness of the sky - a feeling that brought her peace. The meeting with Insook returned to Yoon the lost world of love and pure relationships. And here is the telegram. She brings the hero back: the stars have gone out, the experience of his pure, unique “I” has disappeared, he is again the manager of a successful company, a businessman like the others.
“Kim Seung-seong's story seems to intertwine the ideas of Western existentialism with Korean cultural ideas, and in particular with Buddhism. Thus, the scene of the hero’s sudden discovery of the endless reaches 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, based on the plot of such a parable in the 17th century. The writer Kim Manjun wrote an entire novel, “Cloud Dream of Nine.” Worldly life is presented here as a dream-meditation into 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, his mentor appeared and awakened him from his sleep with a blow of his staff. The estate and the beautiful wives disappeared into the swirling clouds, and the hero again saw himself as a young monk in a mountain monastery.
In Kim Seung's story, as in Kim Manjun's novel, two spaces are given - true reality and the world of delusion (in the clouds and fogs). Misconceptions are associated with Mujin. The city itself is unreal, it was invented by the author. In reality, such a city does not exist, so the title of the story, “A Trip to Mujin, Travel Records,” immediately suggests that here we are talking about a journey into unreality. At the beginning of the story it is reported that Mujin is famous for its fogs, moreover, the word “Muzhin” is written in the hieroglyphs “fog” and “crossing”, i.e. The city is called "foggy crossing". Fogs and clouds have always served as symbols of error in Far Eastern literature.
tion and illusory. It seems that here lies the meaning of “double illusoryness”: not only space itself appears to be an illusion, but also the possibility of getting into it. In the night Mujzhin (“foggy crossing”), shrouded in fog, the hero finds his “pure self” and the freedom to live according to his own 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 achieve success (Yoon 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 transitory, 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 a telegram from his wife; she returns him from the world of illusions to reality. Functionally, the telegram is the same blow with the staff of the monk-mentor, about which we're talking about in the novel “A Dream in Heavenly Heights”2.
Yoon returns to Seoul. The happiness of unity with the cosmos, love - everything was swallowed up by the muzhinsky 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 a person’s desire 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 fog, and can only happen in an imaginary Mujin, in a dream, in the fog. The modern pragmatic world and human alienation correct Buddhist ideas in the story. Thus, Buddhism leaves hope for a person: he can go beyond the vain world of suffering and find harmony. Kim Seung's story ends tragically: the hero is doomed to remain in an endless cycle of career, prestige, and wealth. He is too weak and unable to break out of this cycle to become himself.
In Kim Seung's story "The Hero" (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 main character: neither his name, nor his exact age, nor events from the past before he arrived in Seoul. There are only two short periods of time: his life in the poor Changxing district and life in the house Western style. These are two completely different realities that 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. Young man (twenties) extra years, higher education) rents a room in Changxing area without having permanent income, lives on money from the sale of his scripts and plays, if, of course, he manages to sell them. Very people live next door to him different people: the similarity that unites them all is the last line to which they have reached, having descended to life in these slums.
Because of the boredom and hopelessness of his existence, he is forced to spend every evening in a drinking establishment, in the company of desperate people like himself. The problem is that the hero, being an extraordinary person and a creative person, cannot help but realize the hopelessness of his situation (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 descent into the abyss of despair in which all the people of this area live. These people spend their rare leisure time every evening in the dim light of a drinking establishment over a glass of rice vodka, drinking away almost their entire day's earnings. In everyday life, the hero inevitably has to communicate with his neighbors in the house, understand them life tragedies, thanks to which they found themselves 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 the tenets of Confucianism, his friend believes that the young man’s problem lies in the absence of a family that would take care of him, giving him valuable life advice and instructions, forcing him to live in honor and obedience to his elders.
Yielding to persuasion, the hero moves to his relatives, who live in their own house, built in Western style. Lives there big family: an old man holding a high position in a company, with his wife, their daughter, a high school student, their son, who works as a lecturer at the university, his wife, little daughter and a cook.
At first glance, the family seems impeccable to the young man and worthy of all praise. But, looking closely, he sees mutual indifference hidden behind ostentatious care and strict observance of external decency: life according to a strict schedule written once and for all, not allowing any changes or amendments. Life in this house reminds him of movement in a vicious circle, devoid of any development, where every day everything is repeated again, and all the activities of family members are strictly regulated and even scheduled. 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,” forcing him to hate these faceless people. The old man even gave him time to play the guitar, from ten in the morning for an hour. Needless to say, after this the young man never had the 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 lived before. This is the prostitute Yonda, who often lent him money for alcohol and smoking in difficult times. Her dream was to get to a good fortuneteller who would choose her a name that would bring good luck. According to her naive misconception, a person’s life depends on the name given to him, and if you were given a bad name at birth, then if you change it, everything will change for the better.
He also remembers a lame man with a skinny figure that was too thin for his age. vertically challenged daughter of about nine years old, whom he free time taught something in his gloomy room, without ceasing to shower her with blows from the rod, to which the girl only reacted
a continuous stream of tears flowing abundantly down her exhausted cheeks, and covered her head with almost transparent palms, but never once screamed 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 there were no human feelings are not alien to these people, whose only similarity was that they rent 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 remembers a man named So, his strange gift - a fantastic power passed down from generation to generation, and how he proudly disposed of it. This hero, who could easily lift huge stones, had a very strong influence on him.
It seems to the young man 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 understand 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 the family and tries to help them realize the futility of their actions. In order to somehow convince them to step back 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 their drinks. 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 in complete confusion, 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, does not understand himself and feels only his endless loneliness in this world. He does not feel in his place in either reality and is therefore 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 Seungok: “Man is nothing, man has no “nature.” Human existence- this is “nothing”, or, in this case, the same thing, the experience of freedom. Man has no other choice but to affirm his “human” truth, except for courageous confrontation with the “non-human” world. Kim Seungok most fully reflected the ideas of his generation in Korean prose.
NOTES
1 Hangugyi mensi songzhip 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 the 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.
We often think in cliches. For example, when quoting the immortal phrase that the East is a delicate matter, we mean the depth and originality of the Eastern perception of the world. And at the same time, we have a very vague idea of what is hidden in this depth. Try to name at least a few Asian authors of the last century or our contemporaries. IN best case scenario, the Japanese of the second or third wave will come to mind: Abe Kobo or Kawabata, Haruki Murakami or the eccentric Mishima Yukio. But not only Japanese literature is distinguished by a variety of genres and plots, a special view of the world and an unexpected, fresh for us, perception of reality. We invite you to take a short excursion into the colorful and exciting world of modern Asian literature.
Reflections on Feelings: Contemporary Korean Literature
Korean literature was discovered by the Russian reader quite recently; just 15 years ago, translations of authors from this country were vanishingly rare. Today in Russian you can find original Korean melodrama, piercing historical prose, and philosophical lyrics. Here are a few works that will give an idea of the world of modern Korean prose.
Lee Seung W. The secret life of plants. A story about brotherly devotion and betrayal, about love and the meaning of life. Quite tough and biting, the book attracts attention with the development of the plot and rich language. Each character has his own secrets, because each of us has roots, like trees and grass, but the understanding of these very roots, the attitude towards them can vary greatly even among members of the same family. Recommended for those who appreciate psychological dramas with intense plots and good language.
Lee Moon Yeol. Collection of two stories- “Our spoiled hero. Meeting with my brother." The author's name is well known in South Korea, and on the world literary stage. He is perhaps the most published Korean abroad. It has not been translated in Russia for a long time, and this book is the first experience. Lee Moon Yeol chose both stories for translation into Russian on his own. Their genre can be defined as everyday life. Vivid everyday sketches, lively characters, gentle humor, and sometimes quite sharp satire. The book is especially recommended for those who are at least slightly interested in the lives of people of other cultures. TO nice features what was previously called humanism should be attributed to love for people. The author clearly shows this feeling.
Jeong Unyoung. How She Uses Her Tears (collection of short stories). Korean postmodernity, coupled with Eastern concentration and the ability to concentrate, brought out a whole company of heroes with a difficult fate and even more complicated relationships. Vices, mistakes and delusions of a person, retribution and the subsequent twists of fate - all this is in the short stories of Chung Unyoung. Literature lovers will find parallels with Burroughs and other postmodern classics. However, the Korean version is also enhanced by extreme fatality, an understanding of inevitability human destiny. In short, a great read for art house lovers.
Lee Hochul. Southerners and northerners. An excellent opportunity to gain insight into the conflict between South and North Korea from the perspective of a direct participant. Academic reading will not work - the memories are too vivid, the wounds are too fresh. The author talks about the history of the country, passes it through the fate of one person. The novel is written quite harshly in places, so it has age restrictions. Recommended for lovers of realistic literature with a historical background.
One of the distinctive features of Korean literature is attention to the characters and feelings of the heroes, through which they learn the world and form their attitude towards it. This relationship is always dynamic, it changes day by day, just like the person himself.
Feelings, realism, allegories: modern Chinese literature
The literature of each country reflects its history and stages of development. In this sense, China is perceived rather one-sidedly, either as the birthplace of “red plays” glorifying the Party or as endless criticism of the same Party, which is carried out by writers who have left the country. Modern Chinese literature is much more complex and varied than many people think about it. Here are just a few samples.
Sheng Kei. Sisters from the North. An unexpectedly frank story on a banal topic - conquest by provincial women big city. Fresh presentation, humor, bright characters, a dose of adventurism and growing intrigue turn an ordinary story into a real adventure. The most appropriate definition for the work would be “a psychological women's novel.” The quality of the book was noted by numerous critics, the novel was nominated for the Asian Literary Award, which is also called the “Asian Booker”.
Mai Jia. CONSPIRACY. An action-packed book that tells about a special unit of the intelligence department, which was formed from people with special talents and abilities. Three parts cover the period of the 30s to the 60s. Fans of the genre will find here a light style, adventure, passion, and brilliant insights. In China itself, the book was a huge success - a TV series was made based on it, and the author was nominated for the country's highest literary award.
Bi Feiyu. Collection “Moonlight Opera”- perhaps the most famous creation in our literary stores. Five stories, each of which is a separate work, with its own mood and that unique atmosphere that makes each book by this author both expected and popular. The collection includes stories about everyday life and love, about people of different social strata. Ordinary human feelings, ups, downs, hopes and dreams - all this can be found in the book. It is interesting to get acquainted with it, at least from the point of view of understanding modern Chinese reality.
Mo Yan. Country of wine. The book, which came from the pen of a Nobel Prize laureate in literature, deserves attention in itself. And if the novel is a bright and sharp satirical work in which fairy tales, reality, myths and allegories are strangely intertwined, then it is definitely worth reading. At least in order to understand what kind of term “hallucinogenic realism” was invented by Swedish academics specifically for the books of this writer. “Wine Country” is a strange, but bright thing. It is difficult to compare it with anything; you need to form a personal opinion about it. The plot centers on the correspondence between a provincial graphomaniac and a metropolitan writer. The former accompanies his works with generous offerings in the form of wine and vodka, the latter writes his reviews clearly under growing doses of gratitude. However, this is far from the only story line novel, but retelling the entire labyrinth of the plot is a futile exercise. This book requires personal acquaintance to form your own impression.
In China itself, the explicit genre is very popular. women's novels, as well as a combination of realism and revolutionary romanticism, which is the official literary direction. In general, modern Chinese literature presents a bizarre mixture of sensuality, grit, fairy tale and drama.
Mysterious Reality: Contemporary Indian Literature
It would seem that everything should be simpler with India than with Korea or even China. Many books have been written about this country, but finding examples of modern Indian literature translated into Russian turned out to be not such an easy task.
Ananta Murthy. Samskara. The novel takes place in a small Indian village and tells about the life and customs of the Brahmin caste. The new realities of today's world hardly penetrate the hard caste system India, but still changes occur and we have to cope with them. The book is interesting from the inside view, from the person who is built into this very system. A very worthy thing that will definitely appeal to those who want to better understand this amazing country and her people.
Rohinton Mistry. Family matters. Under this common name lies a description of the life of the fire-worshipping community. The author himself is connected with them by birth, so his descriptions and stories are colorful, they live their own special, incomprehensible life, like any good text. To briefly describe the plot, the novel is about love, about obstacles on the way loving hearts that are erected by faith and religion. Well, the main question is what a person is willing to do in the name of love, and will love accept his sacrifice? Rohinton Mistry is very popular in Europe, and Family Matters is a 2002 Booker shortlisted film.
Anosh Irani. Song of Kahunshi. The young writer created his own version of the adventures of Oliver Twist, only in an Indian way. The homeless child Chamdi ends up in huge Bombay, where he first finds friends and then shelter, but at the same time gets into serious trouble with a gang of criminals. True, critics prefer to compare the story with another modern masterpiece - “The Kite Runner”. But it's not that important. The main thing is that the book turned out to be very bright, juicy, and recognizable. It has drama, intrigue, characters, faith in man and a distinct taste of Indian measured fate - all living beings have their destiny and we all have to fulfill it.
Modern Indian literature has a recognizable appearance, exotic, reliable, unusually bright. Here the focus is not just on a person, but on his connection with the world. The theme of fate or fate often arises, but a person is expected to act, to actively fulfill what is assigned, which greatly distinguishes Indian literature from the works of our eastern neighbors.
Asian literature provides enormous scope for the application of intellectual effort, but if you wish, you can always find light, not too burdensome reading that will introduce you to the customs and morals of people living not so far from us.
Professor at Seoul University of Foreign Studies “Hanguk” 김현택 Kim Hyun Taek (Kim Hyun Thaeg)
On December 21–22, Moscow hosted the first Russian-Korean scientific-practical conference literary translators from Korean and Russian languages. The reason for its holding was the 100th anniversary of the first translation of a Russian literary work into Korean. It would seem that the history of Russian-Korean literary connections may be of interest only to literary scholars and professional translators. However, thanks to such research, we learn what representatives of other nations value in Russian literature and how it influences the formation modern image Russian person - the latter is especially interesting, given the rather significant delay with which our literary heroes come to the literary living rooms of Koreans. Russian literature in Korea is an important topic also because it was in this country that its influence throughout the 20th century was especially great. For all these reasons, we decided to bring to the attention of our readers a report from one of the conference participants, Professor of the Seoul Hanguk University of Foreign Studies Kim Hyun Taeg, kindly provided by the author to the Russkiy Mir portal.
The first evidence of possible contacts between representatives of the Korean and Russian peoples dates back to the 13th century. The Italian Franciscan monk Plano Carpini, who visited the Mongol Empire in 1245–1247, wrote that at the celebrations organized by the Mongols, “there was the Russian prince Yaroslav from Suzdal and several leaders of the Chinese and Solangs.” In the Middle Ages, Koreans were called solangs.
Evidence of Russia's first acquaintance with Korean literature dates back to a much later time - to the middle of the 19th century. Russian writer Ivan Goncharov, who traveled on the frigate Pallada in the Far East from 1847 to 1854, made stops in China, Japan and Korea. In his reviews of Koreans, Goncharov wrote that they are a people who truly love to write and read poetry. In the eyes of the Russian writer, the Korean intelligentsia appeared as a cultural and literary society. Goncharov's notes served as the beginning of the process of discovery of Korean literature by the Russian intelligentsia.
Another Russian writer, Garin-Mikhailovsky, recorded and published Korean folk tales, which became the beginning of the study of Korean literature by outstanding Russian literary figures. Unfortunately, at this time in Korea itself there was practically no contact with foreign literature, especially Russian and European. The first works of Russian literature became known to the Korean reader only at the beginning of the 20th century.
At the end of the 19th century, the Russian embassy provided asylum to the deposed Korean emperor. This was a good reason to improve relations between the two countries, but the political upheavals occurring on the Korean Peninsula at that time created a barrier not only to cultural exchange, but also to cooperation in other areas.
In Korea, Russian literature underwent various kinds of difficulties that were caused by the political and social situation. The most important reason was the colonization of Korea by Japan, which is why Russian literature came to Korea not directly, but through Japan.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the most popular literary works in Korea were those that reflected the political and social cataclysms of Russian society in the second half of the 19th century. At this time, Russian literature was translated more than any other.
In the 30s of the twentieth century, the educational movement of the intelligentsia, the so-called “going to the people,” which originated in Russia, became widespread in Korea. The work of the Korean writer Sim Hoon “Sanroksu”, where the influence of Russian literature is most clearly visible, is based on the novel “What to do?” by Nikolai Chernyshevsky. The work of the Korean writer Yi Kwang-soo “Yudzhon” was written under the direct influence of “Resurrection” by Leo Tolstoy.
During Japanese colonization in the 20s and 30s. In the 20th century, Russian literature had a significant influence on the formation and development of modern Korean literature. Rich soil for the development of creativity Korean writers-novelists, among whom the leading place is occupied by Hyun Jin Gon, Kim Dong In and Yi Hye Seok, give stories of Russian classics, in particular A.P. Chekhov. For example, Hyun Jin Gon's short story "Happy Day" in composition and artistic techniques almost completely coincides with Chekhov's story "Tosca".
I. S. Turgenev, subtle observer and master of description social conflicts, in Korea gained fame more as a poet thanks to the translation of his poems into prose. However, his main work was the famous novel “Fathers and Sons,” reflecting the spirit of that time. In the stories of the Korean writer Yem San Seob, “Three Generations” and “The Experimental Frog,” Turgenev’s motifs are clearly visible.
The influence of the ideas of Russian writers is especially pronounced during the times of Japanese colonization and the liberation of Korea, when there was an active creative activity left (proletarian) writers who created their own association in 1925. Russian literature and ideology associated with the liberation movement became widespread in Korea. Writers such as Im Hwa, Yi Te Jun, and Oh Jang Hwan were especially ideologically close to the Soviet Union and knew Russian literature well. They were active creative life: We did translations and wrote them ourselves. They made a huge contribution to the presentation of Russian culture to the Korean literary society.
After the liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule, two states with opposite systems were formed on the Korean Peninsula, which led to the tragic Korean War. As a result of the acute ideological confrontation in South Korea, where the influence of American culture was especially strong, the position of Russian literature could not help but shake. The Thaw that came after the death of Stalin in the Soviet Union gave Russian literature good ground for liberal development. In contrast, in Korea until the 90s, a time of stagnation came for Russian literature. On the one hand, works related to the revolution and the ideology of communism became forbidden fruit, and on the other, Russian literature continued to be a symbol of the deep explorations of the human soul and was still loved by Korean readers, who found it particularly attractive.
Despite all the adversities, Russian literature, like no other, had a huge influence on the post-war work of Korean writers. During the period before and after the April Revolution of 1960, the main works of Korean literature include such works as “A Worthless Man” by Song Chang-sub, “Wrong Shot” by Yi Beom-sung, “ Gray man" and "Square" by Chae In Ho. They describe the gray, bleak reality of Korean post-war society. The heroes of these works are people with unfulfilled ambitions who cannot fully express themselves and their capabilities in the troubled time of social and historical cataclysms that shook Korean society. The story “The Worthless Man” is one of such works, which clearly describes the unique literary image of the hero, characteristic of Russian literature.
There are a number of warm memories of Russia in the works of Che In-hoon. Through the mouth of the protagonist of one of the last works, “Khwadu,” the writer recalls chance meeting with a Russian soldier as a child and says that he cannot forget that specific taste of soldier’s black bread. Such special memories of Russia can be traced in his main novel “Square”, which describes Korean War and division of the country. The novel was translated into Russian and published in Russia.
In the early 70s of the 20th century, the influence of Russian literature took on a more refined form in Korean literature, which had already received serious development. The problem of “bread and freedom”, which Dostoevsky raised in the novel “The Brothers Karamazov”, was continued in the novels “Son of Man” by Yi Mun-yeol and “Your Paradise” by Yi Cheng-jun, which caused widespread controversy in Korean society.
By the end of the 80s, after Olympic Games in Seoul, through the wall of darkness and alienation, the sprouts of Russian culture, the seeds of which were thrown into Korean literary soil back in the 30s and 40s, are beginning to break through. In Korea, they began to translate Russian left-wing writers such as Maxim Gorky, Nikolai Ostrovsky, Mikhail Sholokhov. This made it possible to eliminate the half-hearted perception of Russian literature by Korean readers. Finally, in 1991, along with the collapse of the communist system in Russia, a real opportunity arose to change the relationship between Russian and Korean culture to direct, bilateral and balanced.
The 90s of the XX century became the most important period in establishing new relationships between Russian and Korean literature. In the last few years, active work has been going on in Korea to translate Russian literature. In the 90s, the Korean reader was, at least partially, presented with translations of Russian writers of the 20th century. And on the 200th anniversary of the birth of A.S. Pushkin, a Korean publishing house specializing in works of Russian literature published a complete collection of the poet’s works; The same publishing house published the complete collected works of Dostoevsky for the first time. Recently, work has been going on to revise old translations, especially of Russian classical works of the 19th century. Newly born Russian works are presented to Korean readers. Several years ago, new translations of Leo Tolstoy's stories were especially popular.
However, despite such positive developments, problems remain. In Korea, as before, a one-sided approach to translations continues to exist. Talents of Russian literature of the 20th century hidden for the Korean reader, such as Ivan Bunin, Mikhail Bulgakov, Andrei Platonov, Varlam Shalamov and others, still remain little known.
There is an interesting situation in Korean literature right now. In the works of modern Korean writers, Russia and Russian literature are often mentioned. Examples include the works of Yun Hu Myung “The White Steamship”, Park Bom Sin “House of Silence”, the collection of stories by Song Yong “For my friend Volodya”, Chen Chang “Soul of the Shadow”, the collection of stories by Yi Na Mi “The Ice Spike”, "Teenager" by Kim Yong-kyung.
Writer Yi Na Mi says that in student years“Russian literature baptized her.” The setting of the work “The Ice Spike” is Russia. Russian culture is embedded in the author’s subconscious. The works of I Na Mi have absorbed the traditions of Russian literature and cinema: here a subtle hint is given to the heroes of Dostoevsky’s novel and directly refers to famous director Andrei Tarkovsky.
Russia and Korea are culturally compatible in many ways. The two countries are not only zones of cultural exchange, but also share similar historical events and experiences. In literature, songs and cinema, the “Russian soul and melancholy” is often mentioned as characteristic feature Russian people. On the other hand, when they talk about the mentality of Koreans, they certainly remember “han” (the Korean image of melancholy). And even this cultural similarity confirms that the two countries have all the prerequisites for closer cultural rapprochement. Perhaps it is for this reason that Russian literature uses special attention and love from Korean readers.
Korean literature
Korean literature
KOREAN LITERATURE. - Oral K. l. little researched; attention European science attracted ch. arr. Korean fairy tales (trans. 1893). On the development of written K. l. Korea's economic and cultural dependence on China had a huge impact.
Before the creation of its own Korean alphabet in 1446, the so-called. "Hongming Denum" (" correct sounds", i.e. the correct phonetics for teaching the people), the Korean people used Chinese hieroglyphic writing; in other words, Koreans spoke Korean and wrote in Chinese. Hence, naturally, there was a complete break between oral and written speech. There are two points of view on this period in the history of Chinese literature: some argue that although Chinese characters were used and the style and plots were no different from Chinese ones, nevertheless, the presence of our own classical literature must be recognized; for it is the work of Korean writers themselves and reflects the life of the Korean people. Others believe that although it is the work of Korean writers, since it is no different from Chinese in terms of style, plot and writing, it should not be recognized as Korean, but rather as one of the movements of Chinese literature in Korea. In any case, the emergence and further development of genuine K. l. as such was conceivable only if there was a Korean written language of its own, combining written and oral speech into a single whole.
The enormous advantage of the new Korean alphabet over Chinese characters is the completeness of sound designations, ease of writing, and the convenience of the alphabet for teaching literacy. But due to China's influence on Korea, the consolidation Chinese characters(according to historical data, hieroglyphs first appeared in Korea in the 1st century, and already in the 2nd century there were attempts to plant ancient Chinese literature), which managed to take deep roots there, was strong enough to provide great resistance to the widespread dissemination and popularization of the Korean alphabet. Sinophile scholars, who enjoyed great prestige at that time, were ardent opponents of the mandatory introduction of the Korean alphabet and its replacement of Chinese characters. The new Korean alphabet became the property of almost exclusively women and poorly educated people as the most backward in culturally part of the population. The passion for Chinese writing remained in great fashion even after the creation of the new Korean alphabet, not only among scientists and writers, but also among educated people in general for more than 400 years, and all the works of the great Korean writers were not only written in hieroglyphic writing, but also in terms of style and in terms of plot, they represented just one of the trends in Chinese literature. This literature, not to mention the numerous works of poets of various magnitudes, includes the complete collection, which is highly valued by Koreans. composition Toige (1498-1568), poet with great importance and to the present time. Among the writers of the newest era, we will point out a major master - Unyang.
The artificial implantation of the ideas of Confucianism, in particular its ethics, by the ruling strata, accompanied by the extremely conservative policy of the “Chinese Wall,” contributed to a passion for the classical forms of poetry, didactics, etc. and a disdain for the story, drama, and lyrics. The famous story about the girl Chunhyang and many lyrical works were not appreciated at the time as artistic creativity and attracted attention much later. The story about the girl Chunhyang is distinguished by high artistic merit and depicts the feudal system in Korea, expressing the indignation of the people against the unprecedented exploitation and cruel oppression of the ruling circles, against the injustice of old feudal customs. So. arr. Korean feudal literature existed only in the form of “Koreanized” Chinese literature, because it was completely divorced from the masses, being only the monopoly property of a small circle of intelligentsia. Small “folk” stories of that time, poor in content, few in quantity and low in quality, cannot be considered literature. Only “shizo” and “gasa” (shizo and gasa, similar to the Japanese “waka” and “haiku”, have a completely unique rhythm exclusively in Korean) were one of the types of genuine national art(Collected works. Noge, 1589), but this area of creativity was ignored by the so-called. educated circles.
The true history of K. l. we must start from the end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th centuries, from the moment of the appearance of bourgeois literature. The first step towards creating an independent K. l. translations of classical European and Japanese literary works writers Lee Insig, Choi Namsen, Cho Ilzai, Lisankhev. Following this, they began to appear independent works Korean writers themselves, differing from previous literary works in style and plot: Lee Kuangsu, Hyun Sosen, Zin Sun Sen, Min Ubo. It should be noted that Li Kuangsu played a particularly important role in the formation of a new literary movement. Even in the works of the early period (“The Golden Mirror”, “The Sorrow of a Youth”, “Quan Ho”, the story “Letters to a Young Friend”, “Without Mercy” and “The Predecessor”) Li Kuangsu raised high the banner of the struggle against the decaying old feudal morality, preaching complete personal freedom. This was the first arrow aimed against old traditions. His preaching of freedom of love met with the warmest response from the youth of that time.
Choi Namsen and Lee Kuangsu were the creators of the new style. Their merits in this matter are enormous. But both of these writers, starting around 1920, followed the path of reformist conciliation in the national liberation movement anyway. arr. lost all their authority. Lately both of them have been working mainly on historical topics. Li Kuangsu in his works of the period after 1919 ("Conductor", "Golden Cross", "Bloody Letter", "Holy Death" and a number of others) comes more and more towards humanism; In addition to his stories and novels, Lee Kuangsu is known for his poetry and journalistic articles and is the most prolific of all modern Korean writers. Kim Donin, Yeem Sansef, Den Yongtak, Hyun Dingen, La Bin, Chu Yohan, Kim Soool, Ben Suchu, Yang Muay, Kim Anse, together with Lee Kuangsu, are the creators and major representatives of modern Korean bourgeois literature. Among the poets, it should be noted Chu Yohan (“Rain”, “Treasure”, etc.), Kim Soukol (“Mountain”, “Road”, etc.), Ben Suchu (“Longai”, the name of the heroine of the poem, “River”), Yang Muay (“After Separation”, “After Three Years”, etc.), Kim Ansei (“Spring Wind”, “Olmi Island”, “Mount Samgak”). However, poetry lags far behind prose both quantitatively and qualitatively.
As for drama, we can name Kim Unden, Yun Pyaknam, Kim Yenpar, Yu Dino, Kim Taisu and others, but so far there has been no serious success in this area. In the field of “sizo”, prominent authors are Choi Namsen, Lee Kuangsu, Chu Johan, Choun, Uidang, Karam, etc. Also popular in the field of short stories are Ban Ingun, Yun Boktin, Kim Kano, Dean Dansef, etc.
The beginning of the formation of proletarian literature in Korea should be dated back to 1924-1925. Bourgeois writers preached “the need to create an independent national literature for each nation based on taking into account the specific conditions of the past and present of each nation.” At the other pole, voices were heard about the need to create class proletarian literature as one of the means of struggle for the interests of one’s class, a struggle related to the tasks of protecting national interests oppressed nation. This movement was led by the poet and publicist Kim Kidin. In the poems “The Mountain of White Hands”, “The Waited Heart” and in the article “At the Cross Bridge” and others, he was the first to pose the question in full. Nak Yonghee, Cho Myonghee, Kim Donghwan Kim Lesu, Tsoi Sehai, Lee Kieng, Han Selya Lee Yksang responded to his call and united into a league of proletarian writers. IN new program League of Proletarian Writers, adopted in 1927, we read: “In the class struggle we stand on the point of view of the Marxist understanding historical process. Considering proletarian literature as one of the fronts of the struggle of the proletariat, we pose the following tasks:
1. decisive struggle against feudal-bourgeois ideology;
2. the struggle against the barbaric regime and despotism;
3. the struggle to create a conscious class asset.”
Some proletarian writers take direct part in the revolutionary movement of the working class. Since proletarian literature is still in the formative stage, it naturally lags behind nationalist literature in a purely artistic sense, but nevertheless surpasses it many times in energy and enthusiasm. Proletarian writers proclaim the so-called. "dialectical realism". Of course, we can only talk about Korean proletarian literature conditionally, since it is still developing to a large extent under the sign of petty-bourgeois radicalism. Bibliography:
Courant M., Bibliographie coreenne, “Publications de l’ecole des langues orientales vivantes”, v. I, P., 1895, v. II, P., 1895, v. III, P., 1896; Supplement a la bibliographie, P., 1901. general review in volume I - “Introduction”, pp. XIX-CLXXXIX.
Literary encyclopedia. - At 11 t.; M.: Publishing House of the Communist Academy, Soviet Encyclopedia, Fiction. Edited by V. M. Fritsche, A. V. Lunacharsky. 1929-1939 .
See what “Korean literature” is in other dictionaries:
KOREAN LITERATURE- KOREAN LITERATURE, literature of the Korean people. Until the end of the 19th century. K. l. was bilingual and created both in the official literary language Hanmun (Korean form of the Chinese written language of Wenyan), and in Korean. Origins of K. l. go back to... ... Literary encyclopedic dictionary
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