Korean Literaturein the “Worabel” Age

Labor is a theme with a long history in Koreanliterature. Labor literature, which first appeared in thecolonial literature of the 1920s and 1930s and laterrevived in the 1970s and 1980s, greatly contributedto the expression and growth of democraticconsciousness. It is often said that labor came to beseen as an old subject after the democratization ofSouth Korea was formally underway in 1987. Thewaning of the so-called master narrative and the lossof a collective political outlook were linked to thedecline of labor literature.However, Korean literature’s interest in workingpeople and the workplace manifests itself in variousways even in the twenty-first century. As long as welive in a post-capitalist society, or, to put it moreboldly, as long as the problems of the Anthropoceneepoch are, in the end, a byproduct of capitalism,labor will remain a valid theme. In retrospect, wecannot talk about the stories of losers (or the jobless)that attracted attention after the 2000s or youngergeneration stories represented by the term “HellJoseon” apart from the question of work and thefeelings of competence or anxiety associated withit. A recent happening reinforces our interest in thistopic. Jang Ryujin’s award-winning short story “ThePleasures and Sorrows of Work,” which featuresa startup employee as its protagonist, received anunusually positive response on social media where itwent viral. The title of a news article about the writeris suggestive: “The Techno Valley Hyperrealist WhoMade Pangyo Workers Cry.” The spectacle of wordslike “worker” and “realist” in new arrangementsand neologisms related to the workplace like gapeul (superior-subordinate relationship) and worabel(shorthand slang for work-life balance) highlights thetimeliness of this theme.Thus, the special section in this summer issue focuseson “Working People in Korean Literature.” Youngrising critic Kang Ji-Hee explores this theme withexamples from Chung Serang’s novel School Nurse AhnEun-young, Kim Keum Hee’s short story “Jo Junggyun’s World,” Kim Sehee’s “Unremarkable Days,” andJang Ryujin’s “The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work.”Kang gives interesting analyses of these stories underthe dual framework of the “ethics of chivalry” andthe “passion of the gambler,” and sheds light on theimplications of the characters’ labor in these stories.This issue is also chockfull of other interestingcontent. Kwon Yeo-sun, who published her latestnovel, Lemon, this year, is our featured writer. Wehope that her interview with Prof. Yoo Hui-sok andher essay can act as a guide to her fiction. Polish writerOlga Tokarczuk (who won the 2018 Man BookerInternational Prize) has written a beautiful piece onthe role of the translator for this issue’s Musings essay.Professors Barbara Wall and Anastasia Guryeva’s essaysfor our Inkstone series on Korean classical literatureare also a must read. Check out the reviews section tosee what Korean books are being published and readin different parts of the world.The 2019 summer issue is the first issue to bepublished with our new editorial board. We areexperts in different fields, but we will gather ourefforts so that KLN can bring you more substantialcontent with a lighter footstep. After seeing thefruit produced by the hard work of the contributingwriters, translators, and LTI Korea staff, we send forththis summer issue out to the world.

Cha Mi-Ryeong 

Professorof KoreanLiteratureGIST 

(GwangjuInstitute ofScience andTechnology)