Kim Myeong-sun ( ko, 김명순,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: 金明淳) (20 January 1896 – 22 June 1951) was a female Korean novelist and poet of the early 20th century.

Life

Kim Myeong-sun, who wrote under the pen names Tansil (탄실, 彈實) and Mangyangcho (망양초, 望洋草), was born in

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

in 1896. Kim attended Chinmyeong Girls' School in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

in 1908 where she was considered a good student, but she was subjected to bullying about her background (her mother was a kisaeng) and mistreatment from her step-mother's family, leading her to drop out of school in 1911. In 1913 Kim went to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

to study at Kojimachi's Girls' School, but did not complete her studies there, and soon returned to Korea to earn her degree at Sungmyeon's Girls' School. In 1919 Kim joined the ''Creation'' group, Korea's first literary circle, which was organized by

Kim Dong-in Kim Dong-in () (1900–1951) was a Korean writer. Life Kim Dong-in, born on October 2, 1900 in Pyeongyang, Pyeongannam-do was a pioneer of realism and naturalism in Modern Korean literature. A son of a wealthy landowner, like many other youn ...

and other Korean students in Tokyo. Kim briefly worked as a reporter for the newspaper

Maeil Shinmun ''Maeil'' or ''Mae-il'' (매일; 每日) is a Korean word meaning "every day". It may refer to: *''Kyongbuk Maeil Shinmun'', South Korean newspaper based in Pohang *''Maeil Business Newspaper'', South Korean newspaper based in Seoul *''Daehan Maeil ...

, and from 1927 to 1930 she worked in film. Kim suffered from financial problems and succumbed to mental illness late in life.

Work

Kim made her literary debut in 1917, in a magazine edited by Choe Nam-seon called ''Youth'' (소년, ''Sonyeon''), with a novella titled ''Mysterious Girl'' (의문의 소녀, ''Uimun-ui sonyeo'') She began publishing her poetry in 1921, and became known for her keen psychological portraits, with her 1921 novella ''Turkey'' (칠면조, ''Chilmyeonjo''), which was published in the magazine ''Enlightenment'' (개벽, ''Gaebyeog''). She continued publishing as late as 1925. Relatively little is currently known about her work because, as Kim Yung-Hee notes, scholars have not studied her and are currently "attempting to excavate her lost works in order to better assess her position in the lineage of modern Korean women fiction writers."

Works in Translation

* ''A Girl of Mystery'', in '
Questioning Minds
'' (University of Hawaii Press, 2009) * ''Collected Works of the First Korean Female Writer Kim Myeong-sun'

(BookLab, 2022) ISBN 979-11-6836-249-9 03810

Works in Korean (partial)

* ''Dubious Girl'' (의문의 소녀), 1917 * ''Turkey'' (칠면조 七面鳥), 1921 * ''Lonely People'' (외로운 사람들), 1924 * ''When I Look Back'' (돌아다 볼 때), 1924 * ''Tansil and Juyeong'' (탄실이와 주영이), 1924 * ''Night of Burning'' (뭇는 날 밤), 1925 * ''The Vault of Heaven'' (창궁 蒼穹), 1925 * ''The Guest'' (손님), 1926 * ''I Love'' (나는 사랑한다), 1926 * ''Like a Stranger'' (모르는 사람갓치), 1929

References

Sources

* *

External links

*
Kim Myong-sun

잊혀진 작고문인을 다시 보다
중앙일보 2009.01.14
성의 갈등과 상실을 민족사랑으로 승화시킨 여류문인

Kim Myong-sun:Translation by Don Mee Choi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Myeong-sun 1896 births 1971 deaths Korean writers Literature of Korea under Japanese rule People from Pyongyang Korean women poets Korean educators Korean scholars 20th-century Korean women Korean journalists Korean revolutionaries South Korean feminists Korean independence activists 20th-century Korean poets 20th-century women writers 20th-century journalists