Writers as Witnesses toModern Korean History

In the first issue of list, we featured young writers who represent the best ofcontemporary Korean literature. They are not only authors that speak for thehere and now in Korean literature but are also a blueprint for the future.This second issue features the literary careers of established writers who representwhat Korean literature is. Under the three central themes of “War and Memory,”“Industrialization and Democratization,” and “Alienation and Introspection,”we have summarized the history of the postwar Korean novel.The leading writers introduced in the second issue are still literary stars andbestselling authors who participate in the here and now. While confrontingthe topics of fluctuations in history and individual responsibility, these writerspresented their best works at every climactic moment of Korean history,which progressed, as if 300 years of history were compressed into 30 years.This generation of writers who experienced first-hand the historicallyunprecedented calamity known as the Korean War, all regard the war as a source ofliterature. Armed with their experiences of war, the writers boast powerful work intheir passionate literary careers. Born out of personal experiences, war novels havecontinuously been made into movies and television mini-series,bearing witness to modern Korean history.In a time often summarized as a period of industrialization anddemocratization, Korea in the 1970s and 1980s was easily the renaissance ofmodern Korean literature. The number of publications surged,the age of bestsellers was launched, and people turned to literature as a compassfor their times.Reaching full bloom in a period of dictatorship and repression, the renaissanceof literature was an opportunity to establish a lasting infrastructure for Koreanliterature. Compared to the 1950s and 1960s, which were constrained by theimmediate scars of the war, the 1970s and 1980s were a time when writers couldbegin to distance themselves from the Korean-style of modernization and examinethemselves. In exchange for the enormous materialistic progress attained ina short period of time, Korean modernization incurred the collective symptoms ofalienation and anxiety.So much history lies behind each line of literature. A newspaper article canreport a morning event within just a few hours, but literature painstakingly depictsevents that took place even a decade ago. In order for the present incident tobecome a part of the past and for the past to become literature in the future,a great deal of rumination and a diversity of adventures are necessary.Thus, the works that did not overlook any moments in history have become steadysellers, part of our beloved literature. list hopes to share with more friends acrossborders the magnificent mosaic made of the fragments of this valuable history.

By Jeong Yeo-ul (Editorial Board Member)