Kim Chae-won is a South Korean author best known for the dreamlike quality of her prose.

Life

Kim Chae-won was born in Deokso,

Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi-do (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, ''Gyeonggi'', means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, ''Gyeonggi-do'' can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul". Seoul, the na ...

in 1946. She studied painting at

Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's university in Seoul founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton under Emperor Gojong. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world's largest female educational ins ...

. Her father is the poet Kim Dong-hwan, one of Korea's foremost modernist poets (he wrote Korea's first modern epic, ''Night at the Border''), and her mother is the novelist

Choe Jeong-hui Choe Jeong-hui (1912–1990) was one of the most successful early women writers in South Korea. Life She was born in Dancheon, South Hamgyong Province and was educated in Seoul. She worked at a kindergarten in Tokyo and as a journalist in Se ...

. Kim grew up with her older sister under the care of her mother after her father was kidnapped by the North Korean government during the political turmoil after the Korean War. Her older sister Kim Ji-won is also a novelist, and both sisters have received the respected

Yi Sang Literary Award The Yi Sang Literary Award (이상문학상) is a South Korean literary award. It is one of South Korea's most prestigious literary awards, named after Yi Sang, an innovative writer in modern Korean literature. The Yi Sang Literary Award was estab ...

. They have collaborated on the short story collections ''Faraway House Faraway Sea'' and ''Home, She Was Not There''. Kim Chae-won's childhood growing up without a father has had a direct and indirect effect on her work. In Kim's novels her father is depicted as a victim of Korea's tragic history. The remaining family copes with his absence and decline, becoming tragic victims themselves. The pain and lack in the family that comes with the father's absence and decline becomes rooted as a trauma that controls their lives thereon. The examination of how this trauma may be internalized and sublimated is the subject of Kim's most important literary achievement, the “Hallucination” series. The wounds of Korea's modern history are thus at the bottom of Kim's work characterized by its fantastical and dreamlike aesthetic.

Work

Kim made her literary debut in 1975 with “Greetings at Night” (Baminsa), published in the journal, Contemporary Literature (Hyeondae munhak). Among her major works are “The Hand of the Moon” (Darui son), “Ice House” (Eoreum jip), “Honeymoon” (Mirwol), “A Green Hat” (Chorok bit moja), “Mountain Diary” (Sanjunggi), “The Breath of May” (Oworui sumgyeol), “Summer Fantasy” (Yeoreumui hwan), and “A Wordless Song” (Mueonga. Kim's writing is confessional and first-person, featuring a single subjective gaze. Her characters often feel helpless and lost, often juxtaposing present experiences with memories in an evocative rather than declarative way."Kim Chae-won" LTI Korea Author Database: http://klti.or.kr/ke_04_03_011.do#

Awards

In 1989 she was awarded the

for “Winter Fantasy”.

Works in translation

*Wintervision (German) *Espejismos de otoño (Spanish) *Contos contemporâneos Coreanos (Portuguese)

Works in Korean (partial)

*''The Hand of the Moon'' (Darui son) *''Ice House”''(Eoreum jip) *''Honeymoon'' (Mirwol) *''A Green Hat'' (Chorok bit moja) *''Mountain Diary'' (Sanjunggi) *''The Breath of May'' (Oworui sumgyeol) *''Summer Fantasy'' (Yeoreumui hwan) *''A Wordless Song'' (Mueonga)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Chae-won 1946 births Living people Ewha Womans University alumni South Korean writers