Yeom Sang-seop () (1897–1963) was a South Korean novelist and freedom fighter. He was an early pioneer of modern narrative in Korea and a "writer of the period of dissatisfaction". In this role, he was one of the first naturalistic and realistic writers in Korean literature.
[Jong Seong-su, On Yom Sang-seop’s Masterpiece, Three Generations. Review of Korean Literature] His role in the resistance to
Japanese colonialism
The territorial conquests of the Empire of Japan in the Western Pacific and East Asia regions began in 1895 with its victory over Qing China in the First Sino-Japanese War. Subsequent victories over the Russian Empire (Russo-Japanese War) and ...
resulted in his arrest.
Early life
Yom was born in 1897 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 ...
and began his high school level studies in Japan in 1912. He graduated from in 1915 and entered
Keio University
, mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword
, type = Private research coeducational higher education institution
, established = 1858
, founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa
, endowmen ...
. After one semester, however, he dropped out and began a literary magazine with fellow writer . At about this time, he became involved with the
March 1st Movement
The March 1st Movement, also known as the Sam-il (3-1) Movement (Hangul: 삼일 운동; Hanja: 三一 運動), was a protest movement by Korean people and students calling for independence from Japan in 1919, and protesting forced assimilation ...
and began to plan a rally in
Osaka, Japan
is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third most populous city in Ja ...
. For these efforts, he was arrested and put in prison but was subsequently acquitted on appeal.
[Yom, Sang-seop, Three Generations. Archipelago Books, St. Paul MN. 2005.]
Career
In 1920, he returned to Korea and took a position as a reporter at the ''
Dong-A Ilbo
The ''Dong-A Ilbo'' (, literally ''East Asia Daily'') is a newspaper of record in Korea since 1920 with a daily circulation of more than 1.2 million and opinion leaders as its main readers. ''The Dong-A Ilbo'' is the parent company of Dong-A ...
'' newspaper. He also joined a literary movement associated with a cultural magazine called '. During the 1920s, he became a proponent of a national literature for Korea and was one of the few writers who did not write in Japanese or publish fawning articles at the height of Japan's colonization.
In 1928 he married Kim Yong-ok and joined the ''
Chosun Ilbo
''The Chosun Ilbo'' (, ) is a daily newspaper in South Korea and the oldest daily newspaper in the country. With a daily circulation of more than 1,800,000, the ''Chosun Ilbo'' has been audited annually since the Audit Bureau of Circulations w ...
'' as main editor of the Arts and Science section of that paper.
During the 1930s, he also served in editorial positions at the ''
Maeil Shinbo'' and the '.
Perhaps his most famous work is ''Three Generations'', a 472-page novel which was published in 1931. As was common at the time, the novel was published in serial format, in the ''Chosun Ilbo''. The novel was not initially recognized as important and was not published as a book until 1948. In ''Three Generations'', he calmly depicts the Korean people living in
the Colonial Era. The central figure of his observation in ''Three Generations'' is, so to speak, the lives of intellectuals and urban middle class families living in the 1930s.
In 1946, following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he became the Editor-in-Chief of the ''
Kyunghyang Shinmun
The ''Kyunghyang Shinmun'' or ''Kyonghyang Sinmun'' is a major daily newspaper published in South Korea. It is based in Seoul. The name literally means ''Urbi et Orbi Daily News''. ''. At the outbreak of the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
in 1950, he was appointed an officer in the
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
and served in a journalistic capacity at naval headquarters. He was appointed President of in 1954 and, three years later, received an honorary degree in Public Administration from the
Korea National Defense University
Korea National Defense University is a national university located in Nonsan, South Korea. It was founded in 1955. It got its current configuration in 2000. The university was situated in Seoul from its founding until its relocation to Nonsan i ...
.
He died of cancer on March 14, 1963, at the age of sixty-seven.
Selected works
* ''Three Generations'' ()
* ''Fig'' (무화과)
* ''Blow'' (취우)
* ''Tree Frog in the Specimen Room'' (표본실의 청개구리)
* ''Two Bankrupt'' (두 파산)
* ''Bending'' (절곡)
* ''The Ruins'' (얼룩진 시대 풍경)
* ''Out of the Blue'' (만세전)
* ''Dying'' (임종)
In English translation
* ''Three Generations''
* ''On the Eve of the Uprising'' (in the collection ''On the Eve of the Uprising and Other Stories from Colonial Korea'')
Awards
* (1954)
* Asia Freedom Literature Prize (1956)
* Korean Academy of the Arts Distinguished Service Award
* March First Cultural Award (1962)
References
{{Authority control
1897 births
1963 deaths
Korean novelists
20th-century novelists
Keio University alumni
Paju Yeom clan