Creating New Paradigms of Womanhood in Modern Korean Literature Na Hye-Sok's Kyonghui

Creating New paradigms of Womanhood in Modern Korean Literature: Na Hye-sŏk's
"Kyŏnghŭi"
Author(s): Yung-Hee Kim
Source: Korean Studies , 2002, Vol. 26, No. 1 (2002), pp. 1-60
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23719324
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Creating New Paradigms of
Womanhood in Modern Korean
Literature: Na Hye-s5k's
"Kyónghúi"
Yung-Hee Kim
Na Hye-sók (1896-1948) lived a pioneering life as an individual woman, artist,

and writer during the turbulent period of Japanese colonial rule in Korea. A ben
eficiary of progressive education in Korea, Japan, and Europe, rarely available to
average Koreans of her time, Na enjoyed high social visibility and reputation. She
broke new ground in Western oil painting as the first Korean woman professional
painter and also had an indelible impact on modern Korean literature and culture
as a reform-minded writer and critic. Her life and creative activities, often icono
clastic and audacious, were rarely free of press attention and controversy because
they challenged the conventional thinking and status quo of her own society. Her
major work, "Kyónghüi," polemicizes some of the urgent and thorny issues of
Korean society in the throes of modernization, focusing on gender and patriarchal
relations, Confucian family and marriage institutions, and women's identity and
autonomy. Na's most accomplished work of fiction, "Kyónghüi" qualifies itself
as the first full-blown, feminist short story in Korean literature, marked by its
heroine's successful completion of self-discovery and her difficult quest for mean
ing in life as a "new woman." As such, the story represents one of the towering
points in the intellectual annals of modern Korea as well as in modern Korean
women's writing traditions.
Women Writers and Modern Korean Literature
Modern Korean literature saw some of its landmark developments

during the latter half of the 1910s and into the early 1920s. One such
event—probably most momentous in its impact and longstanding im
plications—was the publication in 1917 of Mujông (Heartless) by Yi
Kwang-su (1892-1950).1 Although the subject of continuing contro
Korean Studies, Volume 26, No. 1. © 2002 by University of Hawai'i Press. All rights reserved.

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2 KOREAN STUDIES, VOL. 26, NO. 1
versy,2 this full-length novel has been recog

modern fiction in Korean literature, which s
traditional vernacular Korean fiction but
"new novel" (sinsosol) genre still popular a
time.3 As such, Mujóng has received wide
in Korean literature and has established Y
novelist.
The same period was equally epoch-mak
tory in that it produced the first generat
writers, represented by Kim Myong-sun (
Hye-sók (1896-1948; Chóngwól), and Kim
They broke the centuries-old silence imp
began to express their personal thoughts
demonstrating to Korean women the possibil
both a profession and as a form of public
voices were not so far-reaching, consisten
Kwang-su's or, for that matter, those of
writers. It was nonetheless remarkable that t
uniqueness of their own views about litera
life, society, and the world at large—that th
to those views, and that they dared to ma
thermore, considering the Confucian socia
time, which consigned women to the domest
the trio's public display of their ideas and op
revolutionary. Apart from what they had
was a rebellion. Their appearance, therefo
new age was in the making in Korean wom
dented confluence and coalescence of their
their male contemporaries make the deca
cultural and intellectual history as well—vita
Kim Myóng-sun was the first to make thi
short story, "Üsim üi sonyó" (A Mysteriou
November 1917 issue (no. 11) of Ch'ôngch'u
ond prize in the literary competition sponsor
other compliments, the short story received
judge, for its two special features: its reali
from the moralism ubiquitous in tradition
tolled Kim and two other winners as auspi
modern literature.6
Within four months, in March 1918, a
Hye-sôk, made her literary debut with the s
appeared in Yôjagye (Women's World, no.

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YUNG-HEE kim: Na Hye-sók's "Kyónghüi" 3
Tokyo.7 This work was followed six months later by the

short stories, "Hoesaeng'han sonnyó ege" (To a Grand
Revived), also published in Yôjagye (no. 3, September 191
to note here that the works of Kim Myóng-sun and Na
predated even those of Kim Tong-in (1900-1951), another
in the early Korean fiction genre, whose literary debut had
February 1919, when his first short story came out in th
Ch'angjo (Creation).8
Then, in March 1920, a third woman writer, Kim Wó
the scene with her own magazine, Sinyôja (New Women), the
published by Korean women with a pronounced feminist
with the founding principles of Sinyôja, which aimed to pro
for Korean women's creative talents, Kim Wón-ju publis
gural issue Kim Myóng-sun's second short story, "Ch'óny
(A Maiden's Path), along with her own first short story
lation). The next issue included Kim Wón-ju's article "U
yogu wa chujang (Our Demands and Claims as New W
boldly attacked sexism in Korean society, and her second
"Ónü sonyó üi sa" (Death of a Girl; April 1920), which d
suicide of a young girl to protest her parents' coercing
detestable marriage proposal to become a concubine of
fligate.10 Na Hye-sôk, a founding member of Sinyôja,
cartoon illustrating the contrast between a modern Kore
two old-fashioned Korean men (no. 2, April 1920). N
tributions to the magazine included a short diary titled "
ilgi chung'esó" (From My Diary Four Years Ago) and an
depicting Kim Wón-ju's daily routine as both the editor o
and a wife (both appeared in no. 4; June 1920). Kim Wón
did not go unnoticed by Yi Kwang-su, who gave her the p
(One Leaf) in recognition of her literary promise and
encouragement.11
Thus, the activities of the early modern Korean wo
closely paralleled those of Yi Kwang-su and his colleague
Nam-són and Hyón Sang-yun (1893-?), and the beginning
ern Korean literature was undoubtedly enlivened by dar
ventures on the part of these women writers. Their contrib
further scholarly exposure and recognition, especially gi
output of fiction in Korean literature at the time, when few
writers apart from Yi Kwang-su and Hyón Sang-yun wer
1921.12 These facts, however, have long eluded serious atten
names and works of these women writers are often exc
perfunctorily mentioned, when tracing the lineage of

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KOREAN STUDIES, VOL. 26, NO. I
J£i
nj
Fig. 1. "The family life of Iryop carrying multiple burdens alone. While
the family was Iryóp's first commitment, she, out of her deep sympathy
for those uninformed in the world, has dedicated herself to keeping
Sinyôja alive. In full admiration of her, I introduce her to the reader
through my inept set of sketches: (1) During the short nighttime, she
reads on until midnight. (2) Hubble-bubble, whew! whew! While the
food cooks, she writes poems. (3) Her hand at sewing, her mind at
keeping Sinyôja alive and well. (4) Thinks and thinks throughout the
night and writes a manuscript at the peep of dawn." Words and
drawings by Na Hye-sók. (Sinyôja, no. 4, June 1920)

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YUNG-HEE kim: Na Hye-sók's "Kyónghúi" 5
Korean fiction through such illustrious male heirs as Kim

Sang-sóp (1897-1963), Hyón Chin-gón (1900-1943), and
(1902-1927). While the collective works of these male wri
to constitute the core canon in the genre of the early m
fiction and have generated tomes of research, the work
Korean women writers have been regarded as marginal
at all.
One of the possible grounds for slighting these women w
be their relatively short literary careers and the presum
quantity and quality of their literary production. Existin
their works, however, are not as exhaustive as they may
some of the newspapers and journals of their day, in which
works were published, have been lost or are not readily a
There is a strong possibility that more works by these wom
emerge as the increasing efforts, although daunting and tim
to recuperate them continue.13 Once new data are added
tive corpora, the evaluation of these authors may requi
visions. Another reason for neglect in critical appraisal o
these women writers may be the higher priority given to t
their private lives. Much misapplied and voyeuristic inter
on their unconventional lifestyles, love relationships, failure
and other tragic misfortunes in their lives, sensationaliz
trivializing them as notorious examples of sinyósong (ne
negative role models to be eschewed by any sensible Kor
Such slanted views turned these women writers into tantaliz
curiosity and sources for entertaining gossip, often leading
and even dismissal of their works.
It seems that continued overlooking of these women's presence in
the formative stages of modern Korean literature constitutes disregard of
integral parts of its configuration—its preliminary trials, failures, and oc
casional triumphs. Ultimately, such practice amounts to rendering the
picture of modern Korean literary tradition incomplete and distorted. A
more judicious and productive critical approach would be to expand its
boundaries to include noncanonical writers and pieces and show what
really occurred during this fledgling period of Korean modern fiction,
producing as true, full, and accurate a portrayal of the period as possible.
The first step toward this objective should be to transcend gender-biased
orientations and biographical value judgments. This should be followed
by adopting comprehensive critical approaches that look at writers whose
literary attempts were experimental, faltering, or even stunted, as well as
those who were successful in cultivating their creative potentials to a
fuller degree.

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This critical adjustment will permit a frui

ual works of these women writers, taking
fusion, difficulties, and challenges of their
writers, they had to struggle with a massive
thoughts and cultures from abroad, left to
plete lack of indigenous, received modern
Korea. They also had to tackle the medium
vernacular, which was going through its own
A proper understanding of these women's liv
into consideration the fact that they were
gender discrimination in their own society a
Japanese colonial rule. These constraints co
against their choices of subject matter, ran
lengths of their literary careers.
It was only in the late 1980s that efforts
began to address these issues seriously and
rediscover and reevaluate these "buried" women writers.15 Thanks to
these projects, the 1990s saw publication of a series of research on mod
ern Korean women writers, and as a consequence, the presence of these
women writers in Korean literary traditions is increasingly being recog
nized and appreciated.16 The present study is one contribution to such
efforts to recuperate and reinstate these women writers into the modern
Korean literary tradition. It focuses on Na Hye-sôk's "Kyónghüi," thus
far known as her first short story,17 and is accompanied by a biographical
outline of Na's life and a translation of the story.
Na Hye-sôk: A Multidimensional Life

Na Hye-sók (pen name, Chóngwól, Crystal Moon) was born in
1896, one year after the end of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95.18 This
was a period when Korea was going through the most convulsive mod
ernizing transformations in its history, the Kabo Reforms, under pressure
from Japan, the victor in the war. In this tumultuous and tension-filled
social atmosphere, Na was reared in the city of Suwón in Kyónggi Prov
ince as the third child of an upper-class, well-to-do family that had pro
duced high-ranking officials in the late Chosón dynasty.19
In 1910, the year Korea became a Japanese colony, Na Hye-sók
graduated from an elementary school in Suwón and left home to enter
Chinmyóng Girls' School in Seoul. During her high school days, Na en
joyed the reputation of being an exceptionally bright student and was also
known for her artistic talents. She graduated from Chinmyóng in March
1913 as the top student in her class—an event noted in the daily news
paper Maeil sinbo in the very first of her many exposures in the press

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YUNG-HEE kim: Na Hye-sók's "Kyônghùi" 7
throughout most of her life.20 Immediately after grad

seventeen, Na entered Tokyo Women's College of Arts
Western oil painting at the encouragement of her older b
sók, a graduate of a Japanese technical college. It was a t
Koreans had little notion what Western painting was, let
ing.21 From this point on, Na Hye-sôk was to set new re
all areas of her life.
Tokyo in the early 1910s was the scene of a powerfu
women's public activities that coincided with the new p
Taishô (1912-26), characterized by democratic agitation
ing radical activism by Japanese intellectuals.22 The Jap
movement centered on a group called Seitô (the Bluesto
Hiratsuka Raichô (1886-1971), who with the help of lik
leagues, such as the innovative woman poet Yosano Aki
started the group's journal, Seitô, in September 1911.23 I
Raichô declared that its primary objective was to provide
anese women to discover their literary talents and publish t
Still, from its very first issue, Raichô's intention to give an
and feminist dimension to her publication clearly showed in
articles discussing Western literary works that problem
issues, such as Henrik Ibsen's "Hedda Gabier."25 By e
policy became far more pronounced, as it regularly introduc
of Western writers, especially those involving polemics of w
Ibsen's "A Doll's House" and "Ghost."26 This trend was st
1913, when Raichô serialized her own Japanese translatio
Marriage (1903) by the Swedish feminist/philosopher Elle
(1849-1926).27 Ellen Key's central idea, which elevated m
emphasized the public, social value of child-rearing, was
free women from an outmoded femininity and was base
cept of love and marriage, as Cheri Register has observed
In Key's ethical system, marriage was a potentially useful leg

for cohabitation and child-raising, but it was of no moral conseq
start of her career, she maintained that only love guaranteed the
sexual relationship. Marriage without love was immoral, while co
love needed no further sanction. By "love", she meant the merge
a person of the other sex" with "the longing for a soul of our ow
The introduction of Ellen Key's concept of love-cente

based in turn on spirituality and not simply on physical, m
familial transactions, was a far cry from traditional marria
which took no account of love between the marriage par
was only the beginning of the shocking impact that the Seit

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to have on the Japanese public. Alongside

Seitô a series of essays written by Japane
group, some of which shared the same ph
onna (new women), in their titles, such as
michi" (New Women's Path), Katô En's "A
New Women), and "Atarashii onna no kai
Women) by Nagasogabe Kiku.29 These artic
and the value of women as human beings,
as pioneers who should possess conviction,
of responsibility in order to overcome diffic
to change concepts of women in their soc
phasized women's professions and careers a
economic independence from men. In othe
discussions were conducted on such issues
abortion, chastity, extramarital relations,
which invited government bans and caused
of "new women" in Japanese society.30 Th
giving popular currency in 1910s Japan to
Raichô and her colleagues were symbols o
"the shapers of Taishô feminism."31
Their ventures in these untrodden and almost forbidden areas of
social thought in Japan received ideological reinforcement and cosmo
politan flavor from the journal's continued coverage of selected Western
writers and their works. Most notable were the Russian-born American
anarchist Emma Goldman (1869-1940), the British sexologist Havelock
Ellis (1859-1939), Walt Whitman (1819-92), Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910),
Guy de Maupassant (1850-93), George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), and
the South African author and feminist Olive Shreiner (1855-1920).
Na Hye-sôk virtually walked into the midst of this feminist agita
tion when she arrived in Japan in April 1913, and the collective struggle
of Japanese women to publicize their existence and assert their rights as
legitimate members of Japanese society did not leave her untouched. The
influence of Seitô can be detected in Na's short essay "Isangjók puin"
(Ideal Women), contributed to the magazine Hakchigwang (Light of
Learning; no. 3, December 1914) one year after her arrival in Japan.32 In
this article, Na pointed out the key qualities characterizing her ideal
women, which were followed by her total rejection of her society's pre
vailing womanly role expectations and by her elaboration on how to be
come ideal women:
[These women are]: Katusha [Katerina Maslova], who embraced revolution as

her ideal;33 Magda, who upheld egoism as her dream;34 Nora, who pursued

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genuine love as her ideal; Mrs. Stowe, who held equality derived from
belief as her ideal;35 Mrs. Raichô, who believed in women's genius,
Yosano, who had dreams for a harmonious home We cannot rega
woman as an ideal simply because she has fulfilled the role of a conve
moral wife, that is, when she has carried out her socially expected ro
to equip ourselves with qualities that go beyond such expectations by
ourselves in whatever we do; and we should not simply accept the mo
"good wife and wise mother" as our ideal, either. This slogan is prom
those educators only to commodify women
Then how can we become real women? It goes without saying tha
have to acquire knowledge and skills. We need to develop our abiliti
care of worldly matters with common sense, no matter what befalls u
to become women who possess a clear sense of purpose and a consci
live up to their full individual potentials. We should become pioneers
in terms of understanding modern philosophies, knowledge, and char
ought to be ideal women ourselves, who are true and powerful source
mysterious inner light that brightens interpersonal relationships.
Although the original is stylistically very archaic and often

in meaning—a telling sign of Na Hye-sók's struggle with t
language as well as some of the ideas she was talking about—
expresses the essence of Na's attempt to articulate her crit
patriarchal marginalization of women encapsulated in the c
neous slogan yangch'ô hyônmo (good wife, wise mother)36 an
her view of gender equality and modern-educated and enlighten
in charge of their own destiny. Granted Na's contention oc
stumbles in logical development or is wanting in refinemen
piece written by an eighteen-year-old, it contains elements s
qualify Na a feminist convert. In this sense, the article wa
feminist manifesto.
It is instructive to find out that this essay actually preceded Yi
Kwang-su's critical tracts on Korean family institutions and practices,
including those on the destructive early-marriage customs, unhealthy
parent-child relationships, and gender inequity, which he began to pub
lish from 1916, such as "Chohon ùi aksüp" (The Evil Practice of Early
Marriage; Maeil sinbo, Nov. 23-26, 1916) and "Chosón kajóng üi kae
hyók" (Reforms of Korean Family; Maeil sinbo, Dec. 14-22, 1916). This
means that Na Hye-sók was ahead of Yi Kwang-su in addressing the
troubling realities of Korean women, taking them up as one of her pri
mary sociocultural concerns. At the same time, this article also signals
Na's intellectual precociousness and her growing consciousness as a pio
neer feminist.
In April 1915, Na became the central force in organizing the Asso
ciation of Korean Women Students in Japan. It was around this time that
she began to develop a love relationship with Ch'oe Süng-gu (1892-1917;

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Sowôl), a student at Keio University and the th

of the magazine Hakchigwang. Ch'oe himself
the magazine on a variety of topics such as the
the need for self-reform by Korean students, a
society, in addition to writing poems.37 The relat
Ch'oe was highly publicized among Korean stu
Na's close literary and personal association with
In the spring of 1915, Na's father, perhaps a
his daughter in Japan, summoned her back ho
accept a marriage proposal from a well-establis
to sabotage it by finding a teaching position in
ing to her later account.39 After a year of teachin
her tuition, Na returned to Tokyo toward the end
studies. In April 1916, however, the death of
culosis dealt Na a heavy blow, and she had to s
covering from a temporary mental breakdown.40
In March 1917, Na's second essay, titled "C
ous Thoughts), was published in Hakchigwang (
Yi Kwang-su's article, "Honin e taehan kwank
riage), which expressed his progressive ideas about
love and remarriage of widows. Na's essay, writte
in which "I" addresses her letter to an unidentifie
conspicuously feminist in vein. The piece stress
women's self-awakening in light of their cultural
with Western women and is charged with a hig
pioneer's fervor and determination:
In my dormitory room, I once said to you, older si

Korean women to be truly human beings? Shouldn't
America women are in a true sense women because th
have philosophy; French women are the same because
and German women, for their courage and hard work
time for us now to take our first step as real women?
harsh." ...
My feet stumble over large rocks on my way and sharp thorns prick my
soles. I begin to wonder whether I could ever reach up there, when I already feel
this exhausted in taking some steps here. In order to reach there, I have to pass a
skating rink of a wide, frozen lake. I have to walk in my Korean shoes on that
slippery surface. While those people out there freely skip about on their sharp
skate blades, I am afraid that I'll fall down on the ice in these flat shoes even
before taking the first step. Yet I am determined to step forward, even if I slip
and end up cracking my skull.
In July 1917, Na's third essay, also epistolary, was published in

Hakchigwang (no. 13) under the title "Chapkam—'K' ónni ege yóham"

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(Miscellaneous Thoughts Addressed to An Older Sister, "K

with her first tract, "Ideal Women," this treatise is a far m
and feminist-informed critique of Korean society and sh
tematic knowledge of Western feminist ideas that Na
apparently acquired during those intervening years. After
reprehensible sexist practices against Korean women, Na
proclaims gender equality, women's courage to reclaim th
man dignity, her own firm self-identity, and her sense of fem
The ideas of ancient Greece and Rome, which exalted men an

women, have given way to the concept of equal rights for men an
system that privileged men and subordinated women has been refo
status of women has begun to achieve parity with that of men. As
knows, the idea that women's fundamental nature is no different f
men has deepened from the Renaissance period up to modern time
The stage is set for twentieth-century women, which proclaims
that, "Women can understand whatever men can. Women's basic na
women's mental capability, is no different from that of men. In ter
work, there may be some distinctions between men and women. Y
slough off your skin-deep superficiality and claim your soul!" We
should be passionate participants on this stage, too. Rousseau is r
said, "Before creating scholars and generals, I would first create hu
I am a woman. I should know what a woman is. I am a Korean. I
know what Koreans should do....
Older sister! What do you say? What could possibly prevent us from
becoming great women educators as Mary did?41 What would hold us back
from sacrificing ourselves to the raging waves and stormy sea just as Madame
Roland did?42 No explorers, no new paths forever! With no ambition, can we
leave anything for our descendents to keep themselves alive? If we shun criticism,
how are we to make history?
In March 1918, Na's landmark work, "Kyónghúi," was published

in Yôjagye, which coincided with her graduation from college. The fol
lowing month, she returned home as the first Korean woman painter with
a b.a. degree.
Upon her return Korea, Na secured a teaching position at her alma
mater, Chinmyông Girls' School, but due to illness, she quit the job in
August 1918. While continuing her painting at home, Na published in
Yôjagye (no. 3, September 1918) another short story, "Hoesaeng'han
sonnyó ege," with its strong patriotic sentiments presented in epistolary
format. From January 21 to February 7, 1919, Na contributed to Maeil
sinbo her illustrations on two different topics, "Sottal taemok" (The Rush
at the Year-End; four cuts) and "Ch'o harunnal" (New Year's Day; five
cuts), marking her artistic debut in Korea. From this point on, Na was
to sustain a parallel career as a painter by profession and a writer by
avocation.

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Her rather stabilized life, however, was sud

involvement in the anti-Japanese independen
1919. Together with other Korean women lea
(1891-1944), Pak In-dók (1897-1980), and Helen Kim (Kim Hwallan,
1899-1970), Na took part in organizing underground circles, financ
ing their activities, and mobilizing female students. Arrested by Japanese
police on March 8 on charges of conspiracy, Na was imprisoned for five
months. After trial, she was released on August 4, 1919, because of in
sufficient evidence.43 As she says in her later reminiscences, she learned
through this ordeal that "one can do anything, once one makes up one's
mind."44 Upon release from prison, Na began teaching art at Chongsin
Girls' School in Seoul.
The Japanese colonial government's implementation of its so-called
cultural policy in the wake of the anti-Japanese resistance movements,
especially the relaxation of the press law, triggered an unforeseen cul
tural renaissance in Korea during the 1920s. Young Korean intellec
tuals, most of whom had been exposed to Japanese university education,
vied with one another to organize literary circles and to publish their
works, albeit under continuing Japanese surveillance and censorship. The
young Koreans' thus far pent-up intellectual energy and desire for self
expression exploded into a proliferation of newspapers and journals.
Noted among them were: Tonga ilbo (April 1, 1920), Chosôn ilbo (March
5, 1920), Kaebyôk (Beginning; June 25, 1920), and Kim Wón-ju's maga
zine, Sinyôja (March 1920).45
It was in this revitalized cultural atmosphere that Na Hye-sok
married Kim U-yong (1886-1957) on April 10, 1920.46 Although Na
gave up her teaching, she pursued her career in painting after marriage,
and, in fact, her creative activities and production, in both painting and
writing, accelerated. For instance, she contributed to Sinyôja an essay,
"Sanyón chón üi ilgi chung'esó" (From My Diary Four Years Ago),47
and a cartoon (consisting of four scenes) on Kim Wón-ju's life (both
in no. 4, June 1920). Then in July 1920, she joined the P'yehó (Ruins)
literary circle along with Kim Won-ju, even serving as one of the editors
of its journal, P'yehó.4'8
In September 1920, Na's first pregnancy threw her into a state of
panic, so ill prepared was she for such an eventuality. An intense self
examination led her to the acute realization that her student life in Japan
was a life of "hypocrisy, laziness, ignorance, and vanity" and "a total
waste and nothing more than an empty name."49 The crisis compelled
her to face her immaturity and need for growth as both a person and an
artist. With her husband's consent, Na left for Tokyo sometime in late
1920 to focus on painting for two months. Na later recollected that this

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period, which she spent in total concentration to make up for

was the only time she could really say she studied in earnest.50
Upon her return home, Na contributed her two poem
(Sands) and "Naettmul" (Streams), to P'yehó (no. 2, January 1
publication was followed by Na's personal campaign to promo
portance of art to Koreans and to sensitize them to their tot
artistic knowledge, which negatively affected all areas of their li
instance, in her article, "Hoehwa wa Chosón yója" (Painting an
Women; Tonga ilbo, Feb. 26, 1921), Na pointed out that the fie
art in Korea lagged far behind literature and music, mainly du
tional low regard for art in Korean society. Furthermore, Na,
the fact that in traditional Korea women had never been enc
develop their artistic talents, emphatically stressed the need t
and foster artistically gifted women. This article by Na represents
instance of a Korean woman's art criticism, with its special
woman and the arts. Her artistic engagement and recognition
ther publicized by the contribution of her three illustrations for
inhyóng ui ka" (A Play: A Doll's House), which was a Korean
tion by Yang Kón-sik (1889-1938; Paekhwa) and Kyegang (no r
available) of Henrik Ibsen's play, serialized in Maeil sinbo from
25 to April 3, 1921, in nineteen installments.51
Na set a cultural record and gained national visibility when he
art show was held at the Maeil sinbo building March 19-20, 1
one month before the birth of her first child. Approximately sev
her paintings (mostly landscape pieces) were exhibited, some no d
results of her concentrated efforts during her sojourn in Japan t
ous year. Hers was the first-ever art show by a Korean in S
it was by a woman at that.52 The enthusiastic response of Korean
event, attracting close to five thousand viewers, was much
by the press, and some of her paintings were reportedly sold at f
prices.53
In the following month, Na set yet another milestone by publishing
a poem in Maeil sinbo (April 3, 1921) in its last installment of "Kakpon:
Inhyóng úi ka" (A Doll's House), written as a lyric to a song score com
posed by a Korean musician, Kim Yóng-hwan (1893-1978):54
1. Even as I am happy
playing with a doll,
a doll I am to my father as his daughter
a doll, to my husband as his wife—
an object of comfort am I,
giving them joy.
(Refrain)

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Let Nora go,

pray let her go,
finally but gently
let her out from walls
firmly blocked,
opening up gates
tightly closed.
2. I have a sacred duty to myself,

as much as
to my husband and children;
treading step by step on my mission's path
that will transform me into a human being,
would that I become a human being.
3. I know
deep in my heart
I am of no value
except for my true being
to be relished with utter abandon,
to this I am now awakened.
4. Ah! young girls,

for my sake,
spare no pains dedicating yourself!
Wild and full though this darkness be,
another day, after the storm,
you and I will be human beings.
The poem clearly demonstrates Na Hye-sók's understanding of the

nature of Nora's situation in Ibsen's "A Doll's House" and expresses
Na's conviction of the need of women's liberation. Furthermore, it also
suggests Na's nationalistic aspirations, urging enlightenment on the part
of the future generations of young Korean women and their patriotic
commitment.
Amidst these hectic activities, on April 29, 1921, Na Hye-sôk gave
birth to her first child, a daughter.55 Nevertheless, Na's creative and
writing energy never sagged. In July 1921 she contributed her third short
story, "Kyuwón" (Anguish of a Young Widow), a narrative on the trag
edy of a young widow sacrificed by the traditional taboo on remarriage of
widows and oppressive views of female sexuality, to the first issue of the
magazine Singajông (New Family).56 This is the first story in which Na
features a tradition-bound woman (kuyôsông) as its protagonist. It seems
that she realized the need to expose the plights of these kuyôsông, who
constituted the majority of Korean women of her time, victimized by the
inhumanity of the male-dominated Korean family system. In the same
month, Na's etching, "Kaech'ôkcha" (A Pioneer), appeared next to the
title page in an issue of the leading magazine, Kaebyôk (no. 13), recog

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niton by Korean society of Na's artistic expertise. This ho

Na's growing stature as a socio-cultural critic. Her essay on
of Korean women's clothing, titled "Kim Wôn-ju hyóng ü
hayó: Puin üibok kaeryang munje," was serialized in Ton
29-Oct. 1, 1921) in response to Kim Wón-ju's earlier essa
topic, "Puin üibok kaeryang e taehayó—hangaji üigyón ü
serialized in the same newspaper (September 10-14, 1921).
Na argued for a more functional and practical costum
women in place of the traditional dress, which paid no a
women's physical comfort and convenience. She insisted
changes would help improve Korean women's self-image a
health. This article featured Na's well-defined aesthetic sense and com
mitment to women's causes.57
In September 1921, Na and her family left Korea to follow her
husband, who was appointed by the Japanese Foreign Ministry as vice
consul of the Japanese consulate in Andong Province in Manchuria.58 It
was in this foreign land that Na's artistic career blossomed. In June 1922,
two of her paintings—Pom (Spring) and Nonga (A Farm House)—were
accepted for the first Korean National Art Exhibition in Seoul, sponsored
by the Japanese Government-General, and she was the only Korean
woman painter thus recognized, successfully competing against Japanese
painters. For the next four years, throughout her stay in Manchuria, Na's
paintings were admitted every year to the 2nd through 5th annual Na
tional Art Exhibitions (1923-1926) in Seoul, consolidating her artistic
reputation.59
Nor did Na's writing slacken. She continued writing for Korean
journals and newspapers such as Kaebyôk, Sinyôsông, and Tonga ilbo.
Outstanding was her article, "Mo toen kamsanggi" (1923). This confes
sional essay scrutinizes with disturbing honesty such delicate and sensitive
topics as the meaning of human procreation, woman's pregnancy and
giving birth, physical pains and psychological strains in child bearing and
rearing, self-sacrifice necessitated in caring for children, negative effects
of having children on professional women, and unwholesome mother
children relationships in traditional Korea. Much of the essay was de
voted to debunking myths about motherhood. This piece was one of the
first most revealing records of Na's inner conflicts and struggle, and in
its tone and content, it amounted to an ideological bomb dropped on
the ultraconservative Korean society.60 Yet the analytical acumen, utter
candor, and penetrating insights with which Na looks at her personal
problems echo a number of her later writings.
Then followed Na's article, "Saenghwal kaeryang e taehan yója üi
purüijijüm" (A Woman Crying Out for a Reformed Life), serialized in

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Tonga ilbo in seven installments (Jan. 24-30,

veals herself as a feminist critic who appeals
away their customary submissiveness, self-de
instead live for and love themselves. She saw such self-transformation
on the part of Korean women as the key to social change and national
empowerment. Her fourth short story, "Wónhan" (Rancor; Chosôn
mundan; April 1926)—a narrative tracing the tragedy of a maligned
young widow on the path to self-destruction, echoing "Kyuwón" in its
theme and perspective—was literary fruit from her extended sojourn in
Manchuria.
Na's life in Manchuria was often taken up with patriotic activ
ities. Taking advantage of her husband's position as a Japanese official,
she assisted Korean underground anti-Japanese freedom fighters in both
Korea and China by facilitating their safe passage across the border be
tween the two countries and by providing them with money and cover.
She also dedicated herself to the enlightenment movement by organizing
women's clubs and teaching in night schools for Korean expatriates in the
area.61
The year 1927 marked the glorious peak of Na's life. She embarked
on a world tour with her husband, who was awarded the trip by the Jap
anese government for his service at the Manchurian outpost. An unheard
of privilege, this journey of a year and nine months (June 19, 1927—
March 12, 1929) was the first such excursion undertaken by a Korean
couple. Leaving three young children at home,62 they departed Korea
and arrived in Europe by train via China and Russia. In Europe, Na
made the rounds of the most renowned museums, art galleries, and his
torical sites in Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Belgium, France, the
Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and England. The watershed in her develop
ment as an artist came when she decided to anchor herself in Paris for
more than a year (July 1927-September 1928) to study painting while her
husband traveled Europe for further training in law.63 This experience in
Europe unquestionably deepened her admiration for and appreciation of
Western art and helped enhance her artistic sensibility and skills.
At the same time, Na's stay in Europe served as an occasion to raise
her social and feminist consciousness. She acquired firsthand knowledge
about the liberal aspects of Western family life, husband-wife relation
ships, and customs when she boarded for about three months from
November 1927 at the home of Felicien Challaye (1875-1967), professor
of philosophy at Sorbonne and an authority on Asian matters.64 During
a stay in London for about a month and a half from July 1, 1928, Na
made a special effort to learn about the British women's movement
through a personal interview with a former leading member of Emmeline

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Fig. 2. Na Hye-sók and her husband, Kim U-yóng, prior t

on their world tour, June 19, 1927. (Photo courtesy of Nyle
Pankhurst's (1858-1928) suffrage movement. Na also visite

single mothers and their children run by the Salvation Army
similar institutions would be created in Korea before lo
servations of European families, society, and culture obvio
Na's critical awareness of the rigidity and oppressiveness
family system—a fact well reflected in her travelogues
serialized in various Korean newspapers and magazines aft
home.
Na's carefree, blissful, and culturally enriching sojourn in Europe

took a fateful turn when, during her husband's absence in Berlin, she had
an extramarital affair with Ch'oe Rin (1878-?), the Ch'óndogyo leader,

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Fig. 3. Na Hye-sók in Paris, circa 1928. (Photo cour
who met Na while on an official visit to Paris in October 1927.66 This

affair led to her downfall, from which she was never to recover.67
On September 17, 1928, Na and her husband wrapped up their stay
in Europe and left Paris for the United States by boat. They arrived in
New York City on September 23, 1928, and stayed there for about four
months, spending the time touring and meeting a number of Koreans
there.68 After a cross-continent tour from New York to San Francisco
and a brief stay in Hawai'i, they returned to Korea via Tokyo, reaching
Pusan on March 13, 1929.

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Upon her return home, Na immediately began experiencing te

conflict, and disappointment in her private life. Her privileged
tive, and liberating travel to Europe and America changed h
mentally, but she found herself abruptly dragged back to the
tive, poverty-stricken, extended-family life tied by her in-laws i
and to the gloomy reality of colonial Korea. The immense cul
social gap Na felt back home, compounded by friction with m
her husband's family, made it extremely difficult for her to adju
new environment. Her situation was further aggravated by th
difficulty caused by her husband's decision to quit his governmen
open a law office in Seoul with little income forthcoming. Th
bility of managing the large household in Tongnae, taking ca
small children, and dealing with her husband's country relatives w
expectations of financial support from him was thrust upon N
trapped, but she obviously tried to convince herself to lower
tations and make the best of her adversity, with the love of her
serving as her spiritual mainstay and comfort.69
It was under these circumstances that Na held a homecom
exhibition in Suwôn September 23-24, 1929, sponsored by th
branch office of Tonga ilbo, with the paintings she had compl
rope, along with reproduced prints of masterpieces of Western pa
This art show in her hometown may have served as an outlet
inner stress as much as it was to demonstrate the new dimensions
artistic growth during her Western travels.
From early 1930, the relationship between Na and her h
however, began to be strained. In addition to rumors about N
with Ch'oe Rin in Paris circulating among Kim U-yóng's soc
the discovery of Na's letter to Ch'oe written in desperation t
financial help escalated the situation beyond redemption. Alre
with another woman in Seoul by March 1930, Na's husband d
divorce—exactly one year after their return from abroad. In spit
personal crisis, Na went on with her public life, complying w
mands of the Korean press such as allowing interviews and writin
her foreign travels and experiences, led off by her article "Pullan
ún ólmana tarúlkka" (How Different French Families Are; To
Mar. 28-Apr. 2, 1930).70 This piece was her first pronouncem
her return to Korea on the need to reform Koreans' clothin
and housing accentuated by her growing feminist consciousn
through her direct exposure to Western society and its culture. T
her soaring fame, two of her paintings were selected for the 9
National Arts Exhibition in June 1930.71
Despite her pleas for his forgiveness for their children's s

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* ★
Fig. 4. Na Hye-sôk with her four children, circa 1930. (Photo courtesy
of Nyle Kim)
husband proceeded to divorce her with threats of possible adultery

charges.72 Their marriage was formally dissolved on November 20, 1930.
The divorce was a scandal of epic proportions in Korean society.
Branded a fallen woman, Na was driven out of her home after eleven
years of marriage and was even forbidden to see her children. To intensify
her predicament, her natal family rejected her, because her divorce was an
unforgivable disgrace to her family. In March 1931, Kim U-yong re
married, a devastating blow that led Na momentarily to consider suicide
with her four children.73 Having given up on this option, she left her
home, which was to be the beginning of an uprooted life that continued
until her death.
Undeterred, however, she continued painting and reaped rewards.
Three of her works were accepted for the 10th annual National Art Ex
hibition in May 1931. One, titled Chôngwôn (Garden), won special rec
ognition.74 Encouraged by this turn of events, soon thereafter, in the

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summer, with the money from the sale of her paintings and
she secluded herself at Mt. Kümgang to concentrate on pai
at the Exhibition of the Japanese Imperial Arts Academy
Tokyo in October the same year.75 Taking the product of
Kümgangsan samsonam (The Samsôn Rock on Mt. Kúmga
with her earlier work, Chôngwôn, Na left for Tokyo to subm
to her ecstatic joy, the latter was admitted to the prestig
October 11, 1931.76 This high recognition led to successfu
works and bolstered her sagging morale after the divorc
confidence to pursue painting as a profession that would
meaning for her life and, more important, a means of livelih
such hope, Na stayed on in Tokyo to study under her fo
teacher, Kobayashi Mango, until her return to Korea in Ap
After her return, she taught for a while at Chung'an
(later Chung'ang University) in Seoul, but her main effort wa
paintings for a future personal show. In June 1932, three of
ings were admitted to the 11th Korean National Art Exhib
jury review. This was a disappointment, as Na was confide
possibility of her works' winning special recognition had
screened by the jury.78 Thereafter, during the summer,
returned to Mt. Kümgang to focus on painting with an ey
mitting her works to the Exhibition of the Japanese Impe
emy scheduled for the fall of the same year. Unfortunately,
heartbreaking loss. A fire at her boarding house destroyed
ten of some thirty paintings she had completed during th
disastrous incident was undoubtedly traumatic to Na, beca
shock she got ill and in the end failed to submit her painting
anese exhibition as she had planned.79 Her hope to make
through her success in the exhibition and her financial securi
seems to have been dashed. An interview article with Na by t
Sindonga (November 1932), however, reported that she w
utmost in preparation for her personal show to be held in a s
It was around this time that Na began contributing her tr
to the magazine Samch'ôlli,81 which were serialized from D
to September 1934 in nine installments under the title "K
cords of Travel to Europe and America). It was the longes
gagement she had with a popular magazine, and these pub
have been the main source of her income at the time. The ser
of her travel records, from her departure from home until h
Pusan, highlighted by her firsthand observations about r
Western cultural events, customs, monuments, palaces, cat
ters, operas, museums, art galleries, scenic sites, parks, gr

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X V
Fig. 5. Na Hye-sók at her art studio, 1932. Her

Sonyô (A Girl), Kwngangsan Mansangjông (M
Kümgang), and Ch'ang ka esô (Standing Besid
these pieces were accepted in the 11th Korean
in June 1932, bypassing the selection committ
courtesy of Nyle Kim)
sonal celebrations, transportation, family live

other human interactions that attracted her atte
travel. Na thus played an intermediary role in in
Korean masses as the first Korean woman wh
and opportunities to discuss them publicly in wr
It became clear that by the beginning of
an intense interest in Buddhism.83 This fact is r
written by her acquaintances after their visi
in Seoul, newly opened in February 1933, a sm
for income as well as to serve as her workshop.8
these articles, Kim W5n-ju seems to have play
Na turn toward Buddhism.85 Apparently, bo
dhism ways of coping with their personal diffic
new course of life. At around this time, Na also

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of palsy in her arm, apparently a combined effect of her

the distress of the fire incident the year before.
Na's continuing agony and suffering made her increas
gic about her past, and one of her most poignant reminisc
in her commemorative essay, "Wonmangsúrón pompam"
Spring Night; Sindonga, April 1933), attributing her present
death of her lost love, Ch'oe Súng-gu, seventeen years earl
physically afflicted and mentally and emotionally in turm
portedly preparing for the forthcoming 12th National Art Ex
her works never appeared in the show.86 It seems that Na
not accepted. For Na, who had set records in earning rec
time she had submitted her paintings to the exhibition, the r
another demoralizing setback. In her serialized article on t
"Mijón úi insang" (Impressions of the Art Exhibition; Mae
16-21, 1933), Na spared no words in criticizing the bureau
of the show, including problems in choosing the jury and
works, and voiced the collective dissatisfaction of unsuccessfu
well as her own disappointment and frustration. With th
turning point, Na's work was never to appear again in any
bition, and her opinions on art also ceased to be solicited
The public's adoration of Na as an artist came to an end.
In the summer of 1934, Na made a final desperate atte
vindication by publishing in two installments in Samch'ól
an extended autobiographical account, called "Ihon kobaek
fessions on My Divorce). The confessional centered on det
married life, her relationship with Ch'oe Rin, the compl
stances of her divorce, her love of her children, and her alien
Korean society, with emphasis on her innocence and the on
the divorce decision made by her husband against her will.
was a pointed indictment of Korean society's double moral
intolerance of unconventional individuality, and its dismis
educated women:
Korean women with modem education, namely, sinyósóng, are to be

pitied. Their personal situation is full of trouble and complication, since they
have to grow up, marry, and take care of their families under a feudal family
system. Their half-baked knowledge causes disharmony between older and
younger generations and only adds misery
The mentality of Korean men is incomprehensible. Although they don't
keep their sexual purity, they demand it from their wives or other women, and
even sexually violate them. In the West or even in Tokyo, people understand and
respect each other's lack of sexual purity, if they themselves don't possess it. Isn't
it common for a man to protect a woman's sexual purity while also violating
someone else's?...

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Look at Korea! If one behaves in a somewhat unc

Koreans wipe him out completely, never allowing a
examples from the past and present! A genius cannot
customs and conventions of his time, but can foresee
next generation. Therefore, how can we belittle those
Given the conservative Confucian milieu of

unprecedented and inconceivable assault on se
rum, and womanly virtues expected of individ
social position, and professional achievement. I
self-annihilation and a masochistic sarcasm flun
her biographer, Yi Ku-yól, puts it.87 The publ
belief, dismay, and swift condemnation.88
Before Korean society recovered from the s
self-disclosure, on September 20, 1934, Tonga
published reports on Na's intended legal suit fo
from Ch'oe Rin on grounds of sexual violat
enactment of her suppressed anger, despair, a
gesture, it led to the final destruction of her soci
tion, while Ch'oe suffered little for his action.90
Throughout 1935, the magazine Samch'ôlli
with opportunities to contribute articles, probabl
source of financial support. In one of the art
túlmyonsó" (Entering Into a New Life; Februa
on the major events in her life and then expres
for Paris, most likely to put her painful past beh
art career, and announces her ultimate wish to di
it was Paris that killed her, but it was also Pa
woman).91 At the end of this essay, Na makes
band, then leaves a testament to her children:
"Dear Ch'ónggu,92 afterwards when you feel regre

will—please call my name once again. My four childr
your mother, but blame the social system, mores, law
mother was an awakened pioneer in a transitional per
the strings of destiny. In the future, when you come
come to visit your mother's grave and put a flower on
Unable to pursue her plans to go to Paris—

her failing health and lack of funds—Na Hye-sô
town of Suwôn in the spring of 1935 to get me
painting. On October 24, 1935, she held her thi
with about two hundred paintings. Although i
scale and ambitious project, her once adoring p
difference, as is shown in the cursory coverage of
Na's dazzling days as a social celebrity were now

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Through 1935-1937, articles by Na cropped up in Sam

only journalistic platform that provided her an outlet, on
of topics—her past, her European travels, and her views o
tionships—much colored by nostalgia, inner conflicts, an
loneliness. Na became further radicalized in her ideas about male and
female relationships, which verged on cynical sexual anarchism, dismiss
ing the marriage institution itself and even mocking the family system.
One such example was her "Toksin yósóng üi chóngjoron" (Essay on
Sexuality of a Single Woman; Samch'ôlli, October 1935), which defined
marriage as a transaction for sexual gratification, promoted licensed
prostitution for both single men and women to satisfy their sexual needs
before their marriage, and advocated extramarital relationships for cou
ples in order to avoid conjugal boredom. It seems as if Na was negating
the very sociocultural system from which she was driven because of her
own violation of its sacrosanct rules. To this period belongs Na's short
story, "Hyonsuk" {Samch'ôlli, Dec. 1936)—a story about a café waitress
in search of a patron to fund her plans to open a tearoom while carrying
on a genuine love relationshiop with an aspiring painter. This period
also saw Na's last short story, "Ómoni wa ttal" (Mother and Daughter;
Samch'ôlli, Oct. 1937). The story deals with the conflict over marriage
matters between an old-fashioned mother and her modern-educated
daughter.
From 1937 on, with the public's recognition of her having fallen
into oblivion, Na turned to Buddhism for a measure of consolation and
relief from her intensifying psychological stress and physical suffering.
The haven she sought was Sudók Temple, where Kim Wón-ju had
already taken refuge as its nun, and Na took up residence in Sudók Inn at
the foothill of the temple. The site became her anchor point from 1937 to
1944 during her most extensive wandering period. As Kim observed in
her later writing, she was struck at the time by Na's physical as well as
mental deterioration. Most piteous was Na's longing for her children.94
Kim is said to have tried to persuade Na to join the Buddhist order, but
without success, despite the fact that Na had already received a Buddhist
name, Kokún (Ancient Roots), from the eminent Zen priest Mangong,
Kim Wón-ju's mentor.95 One of the critical parts of Na's life during her
stay near Sudók Temple was her warm and lasting relationship, begun in
spring 1938, with Kim Wón-ju's son, Kim T'ae-sin (b. 1922), born of
Kim's relationship with a Japanese law student, Ôta Seizô, in early
1921.9 6 Na eminently played a substitute-mother role to the teenager,
whose own birth-mother refused to show him his much hoped-for
motherly affection and, by doing so, must have appeased her impossible
yearning for her own children.97 Moreover, Na gladly provided the
young Kim, a talented protégé of the leading painter Kim Ün-ho (1892

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1979), with guidance on painting, contributi

tent, original artist.98 In 1938, Na Hye-sók
Temple, and her essay written during this
wang" (The Scenery of Haein Temple; Samch
known published work. This long essay de
and keen understanding of Buddhist metap
monastic discipline, but she could not in th
renouncing the secular world—in all like
attachment to her children, as Yi Ku-yol sugg
Little is known about Na's life thereafte
continued to deteriorate until she was partially
of self-support, she began to drift from one p
the goodwill of friends.100 With her old
diminished, she could not even stay for long a
on wandering.101 What shored up her life dur
was her obsessive and tormenting hope to be r
a dream that ultimately eluded her.102
The last written document on Na Hye-s
institutionalization (under an alias) in Octobe
Seoul.103 However, even this facility proved
left after a short stay, this time to fade into
lieved that Na Hye-sók died in a charity ho
10, 1948, with no one recognizing her identity
As Na Hye-sók perished in total social d
by the end of 1948, her husband, Kim U-y
prisoned on January 29, 1949, on charge of
nese. Around the same time, the individuals
and fall, such as Ch'oe Rin and Yi Kwang-su, w
as Kim.105 Kim U-yóng, however, was spar
due to an illness developed in the prison.106 A
1949, Kim returned to Pusan and spent the res
publishing.
Na Hye-sók's life traced a meteoric rise an
personal life cut short her brilliant and pro
away her artistic and intellectual potential.
pelling and dramatic that they defy simple
conclusions. Instead, her life story invites u
what went so wrong as to render her down
pletely unredeemable. Did her personal bank
less indiscretions, blind, immature, and ill-inf
tation with foreign feminist ideologies, or fro
she underestimate or miscalculate the formidable social and cultural

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forces of her time, still very powerfully operative in her socie

in the area of sexual morality? Particularly in view of Kor
colony, where the upkeep of tradition was a form of natio
her challenge to the very tradition and its norms and mores
betrayal of national interest? Did what Na Hye-sók promo
ticed thus simply come down to sexual anarchy and to a b
adent, selfish indulgence under the name of modernity and a
the very basic fabric of her society? Why was her society so
What could have salvaged her from final destruction? W
changed by her own will, by her society, by her time, or—m
her gender? Or was it a combination of all these? What if
given options other than marriage and blossomed into a finan
and successful professional artist?
From what we can glean from her creative works, including
"Kyónghúi," we learn that at the core of Na Hye-sók's life and work
were her belief in the inviolable value of the individual, in gender equal
ity, in her personal truths, and her love of art, all of which she articulated
with her characteristically unflinching candidness and her flair for stirring
up controversy. These were far too radical and erratic to be readily
accommodated within the cultural space of her society and time. Na
crashed headlong against them, finding herself a virtual outcast on the
margins of her own society. In many senses she was a rebel, a genius, and
a misfit who lived ahead of her time and culture. No one remotely re
sembling Na has since appeared in Korean women's history. So galva
nizing was her saga.
From the year 1995, marking the centennial of Na's birthday and
almost half a century since Na Hye-sók's death, a new wave of interest in
her life and work has swept over the fields of Korean women's literature
and culture. An array of activities, such as art exhibitions, symposia,
drama performances, and monograph publications, have been under
taken to excavate and commemorate the achievements of Na's artistic
and writing career.107 These projects have virtually created a "Na Hye
sók boom." Just as Na Hye-sók had been "first" in many of her enter
prises, these new developments may serve as the lead and create momen
tum for rediscovery of other Korean women writers similarly erased from
literary history and traditions—a continuing legacy and monument be
yond Na's snubbed life and unmarked death.
"Kyónghüi" and Construction of an Exemplary "New Woman"

Acclaimed as Na's best fictional work, the text of "Kyónghüi" be
came available to the public only in 1988, when it resurfaced after seven
decades in oblivion.108 Stimulated by the revival of Na Hye-sók from the

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mid-1990s, the story has become the favorite

women scholars in Korea.109 Considering the
to Na's evolution as a feminist arbiter as well a
critical analysis and appreciation of the text s
present study, therefore, aims at determining
ideological scheme and its significance in the
woman," which attracted the attention of lead
the early 1920s. By so doing, this study will i
profile of Na's early literary engagement an
ifications for modern Korean women's writin
Korean cultural history at large.
"Kyónghüi," very much autobiographica
novella, since it is much longer than the average
rative action line is fairly simple. It begins wi
self-scrutiny under her father's pressure to a
and ends with her discovery of self-identity thr
wishes. As the Japan-educated daughter of a w
ily, Kyónghüi, the eponymous heroine, return
unnamed provincial town in Korea during he
homecoming is greeted by a chorus of family m
hector her to give up her studies and get mar
especially demanding. He orders her to accep
moneyed and influential family of Judge Kim
frontation with her father, Kyónghüi rejects th
sieged by self-doubts and misgivings. She shuts h
dark, hot storage room and subjects herself t
examination. Through this intense introspection,
brink of physical and mental exhaustion, she
affirmation that she made the right decision.
Kyónghüi's invocation of divine guidance and
new resolve.
Structurally, "Kyónghüi" is a tightly controlled and finely crafted

text. Told by an omniscient narrator, the story covers about one full
day, from the arrival of the mother-in-law of Kyónghüi's older sister
one summer afternoon until around the same time the next day, when
Kyónghüi completes her self-search. Only a small cast of family members
and visitors act out their roles within the confined setting of the inner
quarters of the house of the heroine's parents. This constricted temporal
spatial framework of the narrative helps heighten the overall tension and
intensity of the heroine's personal struggle and also underscores the nar
row and enclosed nature of traditional Korean women's cultural experi
ences within a close-knit family and human network.

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Another distinctive narrative technique in "Kyónghüi" is the

verbal tense. Apart from a few flashbacks, the entire story is tol
present tense.110 This device engages the reader in the unfolding
the story as an actual witness, bestowing immediacy and urgen
story development. Each time readers pick up the text, they e
the protagonist's story as a timeless drama reenacted in the pr
as a concluded past. Kyónghüi's case is thus an eternal "prese
her becoming "everyone" and with her dilemma and experience ta
unchanging and universal implications.
In essence, "Kyónghüi" is a literary articulation, informed
nist individualism, of a "new woman" (sinyôsông), in the true
the word, of which its protagonist is an ideal paradigm. It illu
concrete terms what a new woman is and ought to be, and als
takes to become one, by carefully tracing Kyónghüi's charact
behavioral patterns, human interactions, ways of thinking, pe
educational background, professional qualifications and skills,
struggles, and dreams. Kyónghüi projects a new breed of Kore
who cannot be neatly categorized into either one of the two u
types—modern-educated women (sinyôsông) or tradition-boun
(,kuyôsông). In fact, the story presents her as an epitome of the
ities that both tradition and modernity offer. Moreover, it de
the detrimental features usually associated with both sinyôs
kuyôsông, which perpetuate their ill repute. Ultimately "Kyón
mantles existing models of Korean women, introducing in th
new figure of an idealized modern woman.
It is appropriate here to recall that Na Hye-sôk, together with
Myóng-sun and Kim Wón-ju, has usually been identified as a
of sinyôsông. The label sinyôsông was at first used to designa
class of Korean women who received formal education in institutions
outside the home, both in Korea and abroad, and thereby gained a cer
tain degree of exposure to foreign culture.111 Some of them were able to
utilize their education by pursuing professional careers, even competing
with men in male-dominated professional fields, as these three women did.
They stood in sharp contrast to the majority of kuyôsông, who, lacking
formal education and occupational skills, lived in seclusion within domes
tic spheres, with little hope or prospect of working outside the home.112
These so-called sinyôsông were supposed to live up to Korea's
modern educational objectives to produce useful and exemplary citizens,
exclusively committed to national and civic duties with disregard for their
private interests. However, the term sinyôsông soon began to take on a
pejorative connotation, as women so labeled were perceived to be given
to vanity, frivolity, and fads, indiscreetly flaunting Western fashions and

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foreign goods and ideas and indulging in s

tism.113 These women were alleged to be in
be misusing their education for egotistic pu
violation of traditional family and cultura
long-standing sense of feminine decorum
famous was their alleged laziness and indolen
inability to take care of basic household dut
and cleaning—all symptomatic of infantili
and loss of touch with Korean colonial realit
life away from parental supervision, usually in
ricular or professional activities outside the ho
men were often equated with sexual license. M
and publicized were sinyôsông' s affairs with t
sông and their divorces.115 Simply put, sinyôs
modern Korean education for women that t
and sources of insidious and corrupting infl
the moral fabric of Korean society. In some
sores somewhat equivalent to what the "fl
sented to contemporary Americans.116
The growing number of sinyôsông that res
women's education in Korea began to trouble
and seems to have provided them with undyin
sion.117 The first flare-up of the public de
traced to the year 1920, when Kim Won-ju
zine Sinyôja. But as Na Hye-sók's "Kyóng
public discussion of sinyôsông—labeled "yôh
in the story—was already underway by th
written. "Kyônghùi," therefore, harbingers
which was to continue well into the late 1
already discerned the growing concerns in K
women like herself.118 In this sense, "Kyóngh
attempt to respond personally to this public d
counter image of the much-maligned sinyôs
its author's apologia for the "new woman."
"Kyónghüi" consists of four sections, in ea
undergoes scrutiny by different sets of cha
most unmerciful critic is she herself. Practi
hüi turns into a text to be read by each observ
ferent personal facets. The cumulative tot
spections and appraisals forms the composite p
same time, Kyónghüi's perception of and re
function to reveal problematic areas of Ko

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of change. These revelations touch upon the issues of antagon

tudes of kuyôsông toward sinyôsông, kuyôsông\ unquestionin
defeating submission to patriarchal dictates, concubinage, the
ical rankling between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and
gossiping and unnecessary meddling with the affairs of others, to
few, all of which factor in to trivialize women's life and create su
for them.
The first section introduces Kyónghüi's encounter with ku
those uncritical devotees to the conventional gender principles
tional family institutions. The majority of the older female chara
"Kyónghüi" belong to this category. They live unexamined live
acceptance of their prescribed familial roles of wife, mother, dau
law, and mother-in-law, confined to domesticity and totally disco
from the larger world outside. They are the approved models of o
feminine respectability and norms who spend their lives subm
their daily routines of caring for others. Their religion is ma
their vocation is family.
The most stalwart incarnation of this ruling feminine ideolog
mother-in-law of Kyónghüi's older sister, who pays a visit upo
the news of Kyónghüi's homecoming. A personification of Ko
ety's negative perception of sinyôsông, she is predisposed to re
hüi in that averse light. She presumes that Kyónghüi must be
tent at even the most elementary domestic work of sewing, doing
and cooking—symptoms of the wrongheaded individualism a
tude that modern education had produced in Korean women. T
woman is also critical of Kyónghüi's parents for permitting th
ter to go to study in a foreign country, and she is ready to as
Kyónghüi must already have been "ruined"—a euphemism fo
impurity and, more implicitly, loss of virginity.
An imposing feudal matriarch, the in-law lady speaks for the
archal orthodoxy that prescribes what Korean women should a
not be, what they can and cannot do. Her ideological position
marized in her taunting remarks to Kyónghüi:
"Are you going back to Japan again? Do you need to go that far? W
don't you stay home lady-like, marry into a rich family, have children,
happy life?" said the in-law lady, as if Kyónghüi needed a lesson on suc
matters. Then she turned her eyes toward Kyónghüi's mother, seated o
her, as if to ask, "Don't you agree?"
"Yes, ma'am. But I guess I should stay in school until I finish my s
said Kyónghüi.
"Why do you need to study so much? You're not a man, so you won't
have to serve as head of a county or even as a clerk in the district office. Besides,
these days even men with schooling have a hard time finding work."

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The in-law lady projects patriarchally gende

codify a strict separation of spheres, roles, an
and women, and confine women to the do
where they are to fulfill their ordained fun
Her proclamation negates the social utility
empts for women opportunities for profession
the home, because such prerogatives belong
den to women. The in-law lady's observation
gendered social order marriage is the only cha
their existence, thus objectifying the female b
patrilineal succession and the preservation of f
the mouthpiece and the custodian for Korea
of women, the in-law lady tries to hammer th
the next female generation, represented by
gender consciousness.
The fact that the visitor is the mother-in
makes Kyónghüi's position particularly deli
tactlessness might jeopardize her sister's relati
law (as her sister had previously warned her).
the elderly woman's assertions all the more
smallest quip from Kyónghüi would be read
challenge to her authority.
Such delimiting and constrictive ideas ab
Korean culture is further brought out in th
around Kyónghüi, such as her grandmother, h
friends. They are all alike in their desire to
female roles assigned to them and in their
bring changes to them. For instance, Kyóng
at one stroke the need for women's intellec
her granddaughter about the separate laws
femininity, the virtue of accepting women's i
their philandering, and of resigning oneself t
"Listen, dear, in the olden days, even ignorant

lives, blessed with wealth and many sons. Women
even know how to tell directions. Dear child, you
educated girls end up doing menial tasks like mill
worthy of the name unless he keeps at least one c
Even Kyónghüi's mother at one time fo

similar quandary of such sexual politics:
In the past, she would feel her face flush red a

sweat whenever someone asked her: "What is the p

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daughter?" On such occasions, she felt like dragging Kyónghüi bac

right then and there and marrying her off, were it not for her son's
Collectively, these women—all paragons of kuyôsông virtu

a self-degrading chorus in support of female complicity i
tion with the dominant patriarchal culture for their own
become the very perpetrators of their society's misogynistic
timents, and practices.
Kyónghüi finds such acquiescence and passivity unacc
fact, she quickly detects a pathetic irony in the in-law lady's
uation in that the old woman is unaware of her victimization
norms and institutions she upholds and polices. Kyónghüi
the elderly woman's suppressed jealousy at her husband's p
male privilege allowed by the patriarchal moral double s
willingly defends. The woman has to play the martyr's role in
her husband's infidelity and even look the other way when h
on their wives, because in the system she so jealously guards,
room for women to raise voices of grievance or protest.
Kyónghüi's mother was no different. She had to put up in sil
own husband's dissipation.
Kyónghüi locates the root cause of such degradation o
the myopic vision of her society, its conservatism, and its
denial of education for women. Especially discernible in
analysis of the in-law lady is the author's view that educat
is the most powerful key to changing the gender imbalan
bedded in Korean society. She takes up women's education
check the misuse of male sexuality and to bring about gen
well as to empower women to gain agency for action and
themselves. This very ability for questioning and critical t
the society and culture oppressive to women, of which the
in-law lady was incapable, is what qualifies Kyónghüi as a
"Humans beings don't exist for food and clothes alone, you k
become human beings only when we get educated and informed. T
your husband and sons have as many as four concubines among th
they don't have education, and the reason you are so sick at heart
your own lack of education. We have to teach women how to prev
husbands from taking mistresses and from keeping concubines eve
already have wives."
The high point in the first section of "Kyónghüi" is

change of heart on the part of the in-law lady when her d
cism about Kyónghüi and her negative outlook about sin
pates upon learning of Kyónghüi's prospect of economic i

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and financial security by virtue of her income

experiences a kind of conversion:
"I have misunderstood female students. Just lik

family, girls must also be educated. I will rush ba
granddaughters to school. Until now they have be
outside world." She suddenly felt somewhat dizzy
in her ears.
Kyónghüi can be seen as a feminist construct to invalidate gender

bias and bigotry symbolized by the in-law lady. Kyónghúi has already
secured a job, which was offered unsolicited even before her gradua
tion. The fact that her potential income far exceeds even the male salary
standards of her day, at a time when many men were having trouble
finding work, eloquently deconstructs prejudices against women's educa
tion. Most important, Kyónghúi commands respect from her Japanese
supervisor—the colonizer of her homeland. The in-law lady comes to
read Kyónghúi in an entirely different light. The young woman's educa
tion is justified.
Here we recognize the author's conceptualization of new women
from a concrete, unsentimental, and practical perspective. She sees edu
cation aimed at equipping women for paid professional work as the
answer to the dilemma of Korean women's male-dependent and servile
mode of living. Such pragmatic and profitable job skills would provide
women with an independent livelihood, and this economic autonomy
would bring them the much-needed self-esteem, social status, and re
spectability equal to men. In other words, the economic competence of
women would be the most decisive and effective strategy to subvert the
patriarchal strictures faced by educated Korean women and to acquire
control of their destiny. Kyónghüi's victory over the in-law lady in terms
of gender ideology underscores Na Hye-sôk's emphasis on the impor
tance of women's economic empowerment in redefining womanhood for
the better and in producing changes in gender asymmetry.
It is important to note that the embroidery skills that offer Kyóng
húi such opportunities for liberation from the vitiating patterns of female
life derive from a syncretic combination of her own cultural heritage
(hand sewing) with modern technology (sewing machines). And the fold
ing screens with landscapes—the central motifs of Korean traditional
brush painting—embroidered on are no longer for dilettantes' personal
aesthetic pleasure but for profit and financial sustenance. Kyónghúi's art
thus becomes a harmonious fusion of tradition and modernity, and this
new avenue of self-expression is also financially compensated, unlike the
kuyôsông s monetarily unrewarded domestic labor in the service of others.

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Na Hye-sók's artistry is apparent in the first section in th

course on yóhaksaeng is presented through the conversation b
two in-laws, without Kyónghüi's direct participation, althoug
continued focus of their talk. For the duration of this dialogu
has a fine advocate in her mother, who, because of her own f
about her daughter's education, makes a more objective an
case for her. Kyónghüi is thus spared the onerous and p
pleasant direct confrontation with the invasive in-law lad
gaining the upper hand over her elderly, overbearing adve
intermediation of her mother takes on a warm, genial hum
by virtue of her mother's quiet persuasion and unruffled pre
her daughter's irrefutable performance and credentials in lieu
rhetoric or confrontational argument.
Parts of the first section of the story are also devoted
light on Kyónghüi's commendable character traits. She i
having warmth, thoughtfulness, and compassion, finely delin
interaction with her older sister-in-law and the family maid,
of whom are symbolic outsiders or marginals in the tradi
family system. Kyónghüi feels genuine empathy for them, or
with them. Taking initiatives, she satisfies the inner thirst o
bound women for fresh and stimulating information fro
world and is generous in offering them relief from the mono
domestic routine. There is no pretense, condescension, or post
dealings with them. She thus becomes an idol for these w
undivided center of their attention and adoration. In para
affable relationship with her mother, Kyónghüi is instrumen
a sisterhood with her sister-in-law and Siwól based on her
goodness of heart.
The descriptions of Kyónghüi's student life in Japan a
to build up her character profile—mostly from positive
Contrary to popular perception of yóhaksaeng studying
were often accused of laziness, irresponsibility, dependency, a
personal care, Kyónghüi is in charge of her daily life, compet
care of her clothing, food, and laundry. Her maturity an
personality are further authenticated by her sensible adju
new environment in the foreign land and culture. Kyóngh
dispelling the popular myths about yóhaksaeng and by ext
terizes the lifestyle of kuyôsong as outmoded, warped, and de
Korean women of the new age. This idealization of Kyóng
able and exemplary model of a "new woman" thus presente
section becomes a recurring leitmotif throughout the story.
The second section of the narrative presents a further

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Kyónghüi from more female visitors—the rice

mother, a long-time family friend. The former
lady, while the latter is a more elaborated illustr
kuyôsông. The itinerant vendor, economicall
stands at the opposite end of the social spectr
Nonetheless, she replicates her counterpart's atti
only in a more vulgar and insinuating manne
talizing on her door-to-door sales life, relishes th
the sexual escapades of yôhaksaeng, reportedly g
In this sense, she serves as an index to the
yôhaksaeng in Korean society as well as to th
press for sensationalism. Surreptitiously, eith
fawning, the peddler tries to test out Kyônghùi
falls neatly into the category of yôhaksaeng she
and self-possessed Kyônghùi, however, defeats
her intents through the tactic of reticence an
stooping to the guileful woman's level. In a fe
onstrates in action her fundamental difference from the scandalized
yôhaksaeng—she voluntarily and with pleasure works side by side with
Siwól with no smugness or self-absorbed elite consciousness, often asso
ciated with yôhaksaeng or sinyôsông. In the figure of a chastened peddler
hurriedly beating a retreat, the author presents a prescription for stamp
ing out idle female gossips and the press rumor mill given to unsavory
defaming of yôhaksaeng and sinyôsông in general. Once again, Kyônghùi
emerges victor in this contest over the definition of sinyôsông.
The portrait of Sunam's mother, on the other hand, is a close look
at the meaninglessness and suffering of the other-dependent life typically
led by the majority of traditional Korean women, especially that of a
widow with an only son. She exemplifies Korean women who faithfully
subscribe to the time-worn credo of woman's life, inculcated to find
meaning for their lives vicariously first through their husbands and later
through their sons, as is encapsulated in the so-called samjong chido
(Three Rules of Obedience): women should follow their father before
marriage, their husbands after their marriage, and their sons after their
husbands' death. This womanly principle that defines women's identity
and happiness through the men in their lives, however, is found to be the
very source of despair and anguish for its adherents like Sunam's mother.
Part of her life died with her husband's early death, and her hopes for a
better life with her only son are dashed by his marriage to a thickheaded
and brash young woman—all this in spite of her kindheartedness and
good intentions. As she finds an image of an ideal daughter-in-law in
Kyônghùi, the realization of her unhappiness further aggravates her

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heartache: "And every time Sunam's mother saw how ha

worked, it was only natural for her to sigh over her fai
daughter-in-law as nimble as Kyónghúi." Her despair, mis
tration find an outlet in her fatalistic sighing that has now b
nature. Sunam's mother depicts the classic martyrdom of K
and the woes of male- or other-oriented woman's life. A
no other inner resources of their own to fall back on, women such as
Sunam's mother remain hapless captives of circumstance trapped and
wallowing in their misfortune.
Sunam's mother therefore negatively epitomizes the futility and
debilitating consequences of seeking self-fulfillment by living an other
centered life. This point is emphatically expressed in Kyónghüi's avowal
not to repeat such a mistake: "My future home won't ever be like that. I
will allow no such misery not only in my own home but also in those of my
offspring, of my friends, and even of my my followers. Yes, I bet I will."
One distinguishing feature in this section of the narrative is the
touching vignette depicting Kyónghüi's special relationship with Siwól,
the family maid. Although a social and economic gap exists between the
two women, Kyónghúi possesses an instinctive understanding of Siwól's
needs and her hardships, especially as a single mother. She touches the
maid's heart when she brings gifts from Japan for Siwól's son (they are
better than those she brought for her own nieces and nephews) and also
when she gives her a respite from household chores. Kyónghúi even
sweats together with Siwól in the kitchen, sharing in her menial work.
Thus, Kyónghúi's effort to lessen the hardships of her maid in various
areas of her life and to bring a measure of joy transcends the barriers of
class, education, and marital status and helps to accentuate Kyónghúi as
a woman of generosity and integrity. Kyónghúi's open-mindedness and
warmth of character are recapped at the end of the second section, as her
sister-in-law rejoins Kyónghúi and Siwól in their merriment. The sister-in
law's eagerness for Kyónghúi's companionship assumes the older wom
an's high esteem for Kyónghúi and a culturally progressive space that
precludes the proverbial animosity between sisters-in-law, and Kyónghúi
is attributed to be the creator of such an environment conducive to mu
tually nourishing relationships, especially for women. The camaraderie
among the three women suggests a new familial relationship, liberated
from the hollow formality and hierarchical oppression characterizing the
traditional Korean family culture, as seen in their enjoyment of each
other's company:
The kitchen became noisy with laughter. Kyónghüi's mother, who was in
the inner porch listening to the laughter, said: "There they are at it again!"

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"I don't know what's so funny," said Mrs. Yi to

"Whenever Kyônghùi comes back home, the three of
bunches day and night with their laughter driving u
saying that when you are young, even horse droppin
laugh. It really sounds true."
While revealing Kyónghúi's commendable

tion two on the whole presents the need for s
encounters with various sets of women. In each o
promotes new images of sinyôsông even as she r
assumptions about them, implicitly demonstrate
in women's subculture, and advances new, rest
relationships. Kyônghùi is presented as a bona fi
and social reforms, a true proponent of the e
project set in motion in the late 1890s in Korea.
The third section of the story continues th
This time it is done from two perspectives: one
other from Kyónghúi's view of herself. Kyó
occupied with her future, with her marriage
well-meaning, concerned, but autocratic fathe
embodiment of patriarchal power and domin
part of the in-law lady. Like the latter, he se
women and proclaims marriage to be the only
womanhood. In his astuteness and seasoned pra
marriage proposal from Judge Kim's family a
nomic comfort and social prestige and status for
This marriage proposal shouldn't be passed up; I
another like it again. Because I've known the groom's
there's nothing more to look into. The person in que
besides, who else would be out there? As the firstbor
the large fortune of the family, and Kyônghùi would
daughter-in-law in such a distinguished family.
This is a classic marriage script based on eco

pedigree, class privilege, and female dependency,
perspectives on women. It represents a materi
marriage of convenience, with its focus on th
life designed for a genteel, domesticated woma
fall, as Kyónghúi's father assumes. According
Kyônghùi cannot bring herself to go along with
"Kyônghùi says that she won't get married no m
finishes her studies. Moreover, she cannot even in he
herself living in grand style luxury in such a wealthy
Kyônghùi gave all the fine clothes prepared for her o
sister when she got married."

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Kyónghúi has clearly chosen to stand up against Korea

popular idea about a successful marriage, which requires
carry out the decreed wifely role, content with being inactiv
and husband-dependent. Kyónghüi's highest priority is ed
marriage is secondary, as was demonstrated in her giving
her dowry to her younger sister—a deviant action for a w
twentieth-century Korea. Such a nonconformist streak in
pursuit of an atypical, individualistic lifestyle, in fact, compe
to push for her speedy marriage before matters get out o
This marriage issue presently turns into a battleground wher
views of a woman's life clash in full force and in a troubling
Faced with her husband's adamant intention to overr
hüi's wishes and hustle her into marraige, Kyónghüi's mother
in her earlier parley with the in-law lady, takes upon herself
her daughter's defender. But Kyónghüi's father, who rem
by his wife's circumspect dissent and even becomes more rigi
it, suggests the enormity of the difficulty facing Kyónghüi
woman who might attempt to challenge the patriarchal
women's happiness with marriage. His unyielding obstin
bodes Kyónghüi's forthcoming headlong collision with him
The second part of this section further argues for wo
tion by detailing its salutary effects on Kyónghüi. It plac
phasis on the enthusiasic and easy manner with which she
room knowledge to practical use to improve the quality and b
with her attention mainly on the immediate surroundings
such as household goods, furnishings, and kitchen utensils:
But not, Kyónghüi's manner of cleaning was totally changed. I

she had cleaned things mechanically. She simply dusted and scrubb
utensils in the eastern corner of the loft and the small gourd vesse
the western wall and then put them back in their places. Her idea
had been just get rid of cobwebs and brush away piled-up dust. Bu
methods had changed—it became creative and innovative. She com
changed the arrangement of items, applying her knowledge of ord
in home economics, tidiness in her hygiene class, color harmony i
rhythmic variation in music class. Kyónghüi checked the effect of
placed next to earthenware and that of a seven-dish set placed on
ware. She tried to see how a brass rice bowl propped up by a large
look. She tried displaying a yellowish casserole pan on a white silve
lined up a bottle beside a large vase for contrast.
Kyónghüi's education is not an impractical, bookish l

the sake of it, but a life-related and problem-solving set o
over, her schooling has produced maturity, motivation, r
intellectual curiosity in her, reinforced by a sense of ind

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appreciation of the value of hard work, and a sel

of external approval. Most of all, she now ex
subjectivity:
Formerly, Kyônghùi not only frowned at the sme

but also did the daylong cleaning job, sweating all ov
from her family. But her attitude had also changed
the variety of physical work she did in the dark loft
up mouse droppings and smelled them after laying d
the work throughout the day with no expectation of
was her work. Thus, Kyónghüi every movement was
consciousness and was carried out consciously, and at
external work to be done increased now and them. T
lot of work to do.
Another dimension in Kyónghüi's educational development is her

growing aesthetic sensibility and unique view of the relationship between
art and life. This is an area where Na Hye-sók's seminal but unique aes
thetic sensibility and views of art as a young artist are clearly recogniz
able. She believes that true art is in the same continuum with life; it exists
in the small and simple daily unfolding of life. Kyónghüi finds aesthetic
stimulation and inspiration in the sparks of burning wheat straw, in
mouse droppings, dirt, and grime, as she notices beauty everywhere. To
capture it, as Kyónghüi does, one only has to defamiliarize the familiar,
discover novelty in the common, greatness in the ignoble, and beauty in
the disagreeable. This special gift that enables Kyónghüi to find and ap
preciate beauty in things that usually elude people's attention has already
been introduced in the previous section of the story in an extraordinary
manner:
Kyónghüi kept the fire going and Siwôl stirred the starch p
fire, the starch paste sizzled noisily and bubbled up, while below
furnace wheat straws crackled and snapped. They sounded to Ky
orchestral music she had heard at the concert at the Tokyo Mu
changing intensity of the fire—at first its flames spread intensely
wheat straws in the far depths of the kitchen furnace and then
as they advanced toward the front of the furnace—reminded Ky
melody played on the piano from one end to the other, changin
heavy plunk to light tinkle.
Kyónghüi's extraordinary observation here verges on

a mystic interpénétration, transference, and fusion of dif
perceptions.
Furthermore, the maid Siwól also functions to highligh
extraordinary aesthetic perception and impressibility. Whe
with amazement Kyónghüi's idiosyncratic way of findin
lation and excitement in the most banal, outlandish, and ev

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she helps add another dimension to Kyónghúi's unconven

uniqueness as an artist as well as her strong individualistic fla
"Little Miss, how come you find fun in everything? You say th
water dripping from the wash is interesting when doing laundry. W
the floor, you say the hazy dust on the uncleaned part is interestin
sweeping the yard, you say you enjoy the dust piling up. I wonder
go at this rate. Aren't the maggots swarming in the outhouse inter
The last section of "Kyónghúi" is an account of the spi

gle the heroine undergoes until she obtains the final liberation
enormous forces around her to obstruct and thwart her quest
discovery of a new womanhood. Her success is accomplish
a terrifying confrontation with her father, her rejection of
her ensuing excruciating and relentless self-examination. T
crucifying battle with self takes up the entire section and is
interior monologue charged with unsurpassed intensity an
by Kyónghúi's repeated litany, "Oh my goodness, what am
do?"
First of all, it needs to be understood that Kyónghúi
tion with her father is not simply filial disobedience. Give
able authority and power of the father in Confucian fami
Kyónghúi's time, which required of children, especially da
lute submission to his bidding, Kyónghúi's backtalk is nothing
willful declaration of war on the patriarchal order itself. She
the first, cardinal taboo in Confucian patriarchy:
When he [her father] said, "It's enough for girls to get married
children, serve parents-in-law, and be respectful to their husbands,"
"That's an old-fashioned idea, Father! Nowadays they say that gir
human beings, and as such, they are expected to do anything. Just
can make money and hold public office. The time has come for wo
everything men do!"
Kyónghúi's open rebellion here spells out an intrepid fea

patriarchal voice and to refute unexamined acceptance of w
iting familial role and function as daughter, wife, mother, an
in-law, preprogrammed by patriarchy. What she promote
this patriarchal circumscription of women is a new femi
based on gender parity and affirmation of women's birthrigh
their full potential. According to this new liberating, fem
women would be able to prove their competence in the fiel
and politics, the exclusive bulwark of male professions, o
men. Understandably, Kyónghúi's defiance triggers outrage
rebuke from her father:

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Thereupon, her father raised his long pipe

just a nobody! Is this gibberish all that you pick
our expectations for you to study and wasting p
father's terrifying glare, Kyonghüi shrank with f
Kyônghùi's father's verbal flaying sum

stereotypical attitude toward modern-educ
formulaic criticism of them. It presumes
women, habitual belittling of women's p
mentable waste of education on women.
Her father's incriminating scolding in turn becomes a lightning rod
to produce in her a deep, nagging self-doubt and second thoughts about
the validity of her individualistic conviction and compels her to face her
own true self:
Kyonghüi was lost in thought: "Yes, Father is right. I'm indeed useless.
Am I not aping what others say? Ah, ah, it's indeed not so easy to play the role
of a human being. Only exceptional women should be able to carry on
everything just like men. It will take women of brilliant scholarship and
extraordinary talent to break away from the four-thousand-year-old tradition.
Precipitated by this uncertainty and confusion, Kyônghùi sets out a

tortuous journey of self-examination. She is now changed from an object/
text read by others into a subject/reader, whose role it is to decipher and
define herself on her own terms. It is interesting to note here the system
atic way in which the appraisal of Kyônghùi is presented in the narrative.
It has progressed in reverse order of relational intimacy between Kyông
hùi and the characters who size her up each from différent angle: It begins
with the outsider furthest removed from her, the in-law lady, and then
shifts to the rice-cake peddler, Su-nam's mother, and Siwól; then to
Kyônghùi's parents, and finally to Kyônghùi herself. Each move closes in
on Kyônghùi until it enters the innermost depths of her consciousness,
where she finds herself in complete isolation from the rest of the world,
both physically and mentally.
The air-tight, dark storage room of her parents' house in which
Kyônghùi secludes herself from the rest of her family at lunch virtually
becomes a crucible for her self-interrogation. In this symbolic womb, she
subjects herself to a variety of self-scrutiny in an attempt to sort out her
internal turmoil and chaos triggered by her father's disparaging chastise
ment. Her priority is to identify and get a good grip on the core of her
problems.
The first realization that strikes Kyônghùi into shock is the enor
mity of difficulty, risks, and alienation to be met on her chosen course of
life. This is the very price she has to pay as she has dared to break the

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power relations with the patriarchal order and rebelled ag

tates. Kyónghüi is compelled to confess with apprehension to
future reality of hers, and her recognition of her proble
namable, but nonetheless real and acute, is rendered in a
phorical manner:
Everywhere on this road, one was to meet with mistreatment

even dream of tasting love. One had to step on rough rocks until t
toes bled, and there were steep precipices and craggy mountain pe
cross waters and climb hills, and the road had numberless crooked
more one walked on it, the rougher and more inaccessible it got.
Overwhelmed by such an alarming and uncertain pros

requires thankless self-sacrifice, unwavering commitment
strength, Kyónghüi is momentarily tempted to retreat
trodden, easy path of a domesticated woman, suggested b
She almost feels a compulsion to comply with the age-ol
scheme. In a sense, this analysis of her own motives recog
even internalized in her own psyche, which identifies a w
with her attractiveness in the eyes of others:
Kyónghüi surveyed herself from head to foot again. Then she

"Should I try on trailing silk skirts and try jade and pearl ornamen
my hair? How magnificent it would be to become the first daughte
powerful family! What fun to play the role of a new daughter-in-l
How much I'd be loved by my parents-in-law! How much my own
would adore me, child of scorn now! How much even my relatives
and look up to me!"
A wave of regret torments her, and she comes near to rec

decision in order to follow her father's behest:
Kyónghüi exclaimed, "I've made a mistake. Oh, I've made a mistake!

Why did I say 'No' instead of 'Yes' when Father said, 'Let's go ahead'? Ah, ah,
why did I say so? What possessed me to answer like that? Why did I say 'No' to
such fame and fortune? What would become of me later, once I let this golden
opportunity go? Maybe it's because I don't know what the world is like and lack
judgment, just as Father had said. Maybe it's already too late for regret, exactly
as Father had said, 'You'd feel sorry later.' Ah, ah, I don't know what to do.
Maybe, before it's too late, I should go to the front quarters right now and ask
for Father's forgiveness. Should I say, 'I was wrong'? Yes, that will do. That's
the proper way to go about it. And I'll give up burdensome studying, too. I
won't have to go back to Japan again, just he told me not to. Maybe that is the
path! This may be the direction I should take. Ah, I should go this way. But—"
And yet, Kyónghüi can't bring herself to back down.

The next challenge to Kyónghüi is the question of whether she has
the ability to follow through on her decision. She feels compelled to as

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certain her qualifications and inner resources

steps on her own. First, Kyónghüi seeks her
in Western culture. The paradigms that come
female luminaries such as Madame Slaru,119 M
Arc, who are known for their achievements in
cultural fields and dedication to patriotic and
wishes to participate in cultural and feminist dia
accomplishments. Measuring her life against
minates for Kyónghüi the unattainability of
quacy and limits, and ultimately the truth about
these women, Kyónghüi felt she was nothing, ev
she had together."
Kyónghüi then turns toward her own native
models. There she encounters traditional Kor
submit to their society's female role expectation
marriage and motherhood. Seemingly laudable
them far from her ideals. These women simpl
patriarchy with no sense of their entrapment in
system. In fact, they represent negative prot
her inner friction, which only work to thwart h
authentic female paradigm:
Kyónghüi pondered, "How in the world could th

with such ease? They go on living in peace, bearing a
How amazing they are!" The more Kyónghüi though
admirable they appeared to her. And she couldn't qu
found getting married so difficult. She puzzled over
extraordinary? Or, is it I? Are they real human bein
agonizing conflicts had wakened Kyónghüi from her
"Then, what makes a person great?" had given her
It is apparent that neither foreign nor native

supply Kyónghüi the kind of exemplar germane
guidance. Her search for external props to sho
This impasse throws Kyónghüi into an abyss o
close to mental breakdown: "Oh my goodness
do? How would I have known I'd come to this
In this darkest night of the soul, Kyónghü
apocalyptic vision. It seems as if a rupture in
curred, propelling her into a higher positiona
sense of liberation and empowerment, she flings
the darkened storage room—a symbolic gest
deadly vault of her solitary consciousness-rais
her own:

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YUNG-HEE kim: Na Hye-sôk's "Kyónghüi" 45
... Kyónghüi suddenly felt her hair stand on end. She felt as t
broad face, large mouth, and lanky limbs had all vanished and felt
had glimpsed something like a flame floating in the air—like a spar
a small wheat straw. Only the room got muggy and hot. Without
Kyónghüi threw open all the windows.
Kyônghûi's long, dark night of self-inspection ends in th

of the summer day. Returning from her self-imposed, rar
exile, she is now reunited with ordinary reality. Her meta
coming" is accompanied by a renewed appreciation of he
habitat, a loving rediscovery of the beauty of its commonplac
and quotidian nature:
A blazing, hot sunlight poured in surprisingly strong, just like
of ruffians charging at each other with their six-cornered cudgels wi
"Come on!" Over the many-hued crepe myrtles and small-leafed lo
large-spotted butterflies and yellow butterflies were ceaselessly fly
the magpie's nest on the pear tree, small, black heads of chicks bo
out, waiting for their mother to bring food. The plump, pot-bellied
lay sprawled snoring away in the shade under the bush clover plan
a dozen chickens waddled after their mother as she searched for gr
hedge.
The prime outcome of Kyônghûi's internal journey is an autono

mous agency that enables her to construct the meaning of her world on
her own, but most crucially, a power to name and determine her own
identity as a nongendered being:121
In the midst of watching this scene from where she was sitting as if in a
daze, Kyónghüi moved deliberately. She shouted, "That's a dog over there!
That's a flower and that's a hen. That's a pear tree. And the things hanging on it
are pears. That's a magpie flying in the sky. That's ajar and that's a mortar." In
this manner, Kyónghüi began to call the names of things as they came into her
view. She even touched the bedside chest next to her and stroked the folded silk
bedding placed on top of it. Kyónghüi blurted out: "Then, what is my name?
I am a human being! I am really a human being."
The new and firm gender identity forged through her successful in
dividualization project helps Kyónghüi to reauthenticate her humanist/
feminist position that a life worthy of human beings, especially of women,
consists in dignity grounded on independence, self-awareness, and self
reliance. She categorically rejects all lifestyles that fall short of these
standards, such as the stereotypical married life of women idolized by
her father, labeling it parasitic, slavish, subhuman, and despicable. Her
newly obtained self-awareness and world view simply won't permit her to
duplicate such other-determined categories of life. Kyónghüi boldly pro
claims her new identity by claiming for herself the inalienable universal
personhood and proceeds to write a new version of her story as a free

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citizen of the universe that transcends restric

familial ties, patriarchal order, and nationalit
Kyónghúi's repudiation of her father's conven
and ideology, and by extension, of the cultural a
in her masculinist society that keep women dow
decision was correct, and she is now a full-fledg
Kyónghüi said, "Ah, ah, I answered well!"...

[She] said to herself: "Yes, if human beings live on
the brutes of a lower order. Besides, all sorts of trag
families whose male members squander the property
their ancestors on drinking and kisaeng without lifti
don't know how to use their inheritance, let alone m
men are not human beings but beasts, which die afte
Such men are not human beings at all but beasts wit
grafted on them Human beings have the capacity
is impossible for animals. What makes human beings
that they seek with their own effort and acquire on
animals depend on human beings First, I am a hu
a woman. This means that I am a human being bef
Moreover, I am a woman belonging to the human ra
being a woman in Korean society. I am the daughter
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Yi Chól-wón."
Another ideological metamorphosis on the par

in yet another flash of epiphany in which she r
accepts the difficult mission that seemed so form
to her earlier. The seemingly unattainable diffic
as challenges within her reach and even as dynam
action:
"All right! I am a human being! If, as a human being, I don't seek the
uncertain, rough road, who am I to ask others to do so? To stand on top of a
mountain and look down below is what human beings are expected to do, too.
All right! What do I need this arm and this leg for?"
Kyónghüi raised her arms high and leaped up.
These revelations of Kyónghúi's regeneration are celebrated, as the

author synchronizes them with striking celestial occurrences. The sudden
rise of fragrant soft winds, lightning, thunder, and an imminent shower
with which nature prepares its own release of tension correspond to and
resonate with Kyónghúi's inner transformation and portend symbolic
cosmic sanction for her newly won status as a liberated being:
The burning sunlight softened. The sky of a deep-blue color was veiled by
slowly gathering dark clouds. The wind from the south gently blew in, carrying
with it pollen and fragrance. Kyónghüi saw lightening flashing in front of her
eyes, closely followed by claps of thunder above her shoulders. In no time, a
summer shower would come pouring down.

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The story "Kyónghúi" is brought to a close with a clim

that exalts the heroine's ultimate attainment of freedom from
based hegemony that had shackled her. The sublimity of
is conveyed through an outburst of Kyónghúi's rhapsodic
prayer dedicated to God:
Kyónghúi felt ecstatic. She seemed to have experienced a sudd

extension—being stretched out like rice taffy. Her eyes seemed obl
world. She dropped to her knees and offered a prayer, joining her
together:
"Dear God, here is your daughter. Father, my life has been greatly
blessed!
"Please take a look! My eyes and ears are filled with life.
"Dear God, please bestow on me lasting glory and strength!
"I pledge to do my best.
"I am at your disposal, and you are the source of reward and
punishment."
Kyónghúi's prayer is a rhetorical exuberance expressing her exhilaration

at her own successful finalization of her quest for individuality and gender
identity and her sense of empowerment. It also promulgates an absolute
authenticity and inviolability of her new being and her life purposes, as
they originate in and are validated by the transcendental order. It seems
that the new order to which Kyónghúi pledges her supreme fealty is be
yond the parameters of the gender-bound world culture and that Kyóng
húi's commitment is unburdened with concerns for its future outcome.
Kyónghúi is finally at peace with her own rebellious subversion and
decision.
"Kyónghúi" maps out the onerous internal process of a young
female who "performs her own isolated acts of self-transformation,"122
solely on her own internal strength in the absence of a received tradition
to rely on. In this sense, the narrative of the story bears close affinity with
the archetypal rite of passage undertaken by adolescents when they cross
the threshold of youth into adulthood.123 And the problems of adolescent
woman have special implications that apply to "those of all women writ
large," as Spacks elaborates:
The position of the adolescent woman epitomizes that of women in general,

limited in opportunity by the assumptions of society, forced toward indirection
to retain any illusion of force. The theme of adolescence has special poignance
for women, the fate of that defiance being, almost always, to fail at last. The
failure matters, but so does the effort that precedes it.124
Thus seen, Kyónghúi's attempt to deconstruct her society's patriarchal

premises and conventions and her success in re-visioning her self and
future make her atypical as well as emblematic of adolescent girls' pre

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carious liminal position. Especially in light

obviously, is the 'normal' conclusion, the or
clare herself adult,"125 Kyónghúi's rejection
for an alternative life course represent a new
its implications for her time and culture. I
hüi" belongs to the rubric of "the female bi
Ellen Morgan as a form
admirably suited to express the emergence of wom

into struggle with institutional forces, their progre
personhood, and the effort to restructure their liv
own visions of meaning and right living.126
The narrative of "Kyónghúi" also has a plo

one variety of "consciousness-raising novel,
defines as narratives whose "protagonist move
odds with others' expectations of her, into con
with institutions, and into a new and new
of herself and her society."127 This means
some of the tangled issues in contemporary
in Korea but also in the West.
The new paradigm of womanhood presented in "Kyónghúi" is the
end result of the protagonist's final reconfiguration of her self based on
feminist vision of gender balance and women's inherent potential to be
used for purposes outside the domestic space and marital confinement. It
signifies a new engranchisement of Korean women through the elimina
tion of the ideology of gendered hierarchy in both domestic and public
spheres. Na Hye-sok's concept of the "new woman" emblematized in
Kyónghúi endorses neither kuyôsông nor popularly known and often
misunderstood sinyosóng; Kyónghúi provides correctives for both less
than-ideal conceptualizations of Korean women. Na makes it very clear
that such a "new woman" can only be produced through woman's
awakening to her subjugation to masculinist supremacy, which was to be
followed by an unsparing self-critique and by acquisition of a new indi
vidual consciousness. The author stresses that the kind of sinyosóng she
has in mind is not the flippant and thoughtless woman of her times
popularized by media and uncritically accepted by the masses. To the
contrary, she insists that becoming sinyosóng means a deadly serious
battle with one's self and an unflinching will to follow the dictates of
one's own soul.
"Kyónghúi" is basically autobiographical with its trajectory lying in
the author's family background, education in Japan, training in art, and,
most important, in her earlier difficult personal experience in trying to

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YUNG-HEE kim: Na Hye-sôk's "Kyónghúi" 49
dodge a marriage proposal arranged by her father (see p

tagonist, Kyónghúi, therefore, is the persona of the autho
justify her decision to go against his wishes, explaining th
action. Much of her contention is inspired by her affirmative
sions, conviction about the need for ideological and pragma
Korean family systems, marriage institutions, gender ord
mately, her passionate commitment to contribute to upgr
riching the quality of life for herself and those around her. T
of Kyónghúi as an iconic representative of the "new wom
Na Hye-sók's reformist position with a vibrant dynamic an
and credible edge.
As the finest and most substantial and significant of N
works of fiction, "Kyónghúi" suggests a remarkable soph
narrative strategies, formal structure, stylistic polish, an
depths. The protagonist's lucidity in logic, force of argument
all, her strength of character and humanity make her a f
cretized and articulated version of the "ideal woman" Na f
in her earlier essays, "Isangjók puin," "Chapkam," and
K ônni ego yóham." The person Kyónghúi became the first fu
female character in modern Korean literature who revolted head-on
against a father figure and patriarchal discrimination against women. In
this sense, Na Hye-sók created what might be called a subgenre of femi
nist polemic-oriented narratives with their young female protagonists
facing matrimonial crises. Her contemporaries and colleagues followed
suit, as seen in Kim Myóng-sun's short story, "Ch'ónyó úi kanún kil" (A
Maiden's Path; 1920), and Kim Wón-ju's "Ónú sonyó ùi sa" (Death of a
Girl; 1920). In contrast to Kyónghúi's uncompromising self-assertion and
life-affirming stance, however, the young heroine in Kim Myúng-sun's
story takes an escapist approach to her parentally imposed marriage pro
posal by running away from home in hopes of uniting with her boyfriend,
while the young protagonist in Kim Wón-ju's narrative resorts to suicide
as a solution to her dilemma.
In its thematic concern and import, "Kyónghúi" bears close sim
ilarities to some of Yi Kwang-su's progressive tracts, specifically his
"Honinnon" (On Marriage; Maeil sinbo, Nov. 21-30, 1917) and "Chan
yó chungsimnon" (On Children-Centered Philosophy; Ch'óngch'un, no.
15; Sept., 1918). They are strong statements against parental tyranny over
children, calling for structural changes in the existing parent-children
hierarchical order in Korea, especially in the matters of children's educa
tional, marriage, and professional choices. These were the very problems
the classes of educated, young Koreans contemporaneous with Yi had
to wrestle with. And Na Hye-sók's "Kyónghúi" is the first novelization

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of these weighty concerns, addressed from an

absorbing perspective of an elite woman.
"Kyónghüi" engages in an exceptional lite
ing a new paradigm of Korean woman based
the dynamics between gender and patriarch
and familism and individualism informed
vision, courage, and craftsmanship with wh
orchestrates her work make "Kyónghüi" a
in modern Korean literature. The story als
poignant reminder of its author's literary gift
turely destroyed by her personal tragedy.
NOTES
This article was partially funded by a National Endowment for the

manities Summer Stipend Grant in 1993. All works mentioned in the notes
published in Seoul, unless indicated otherwise. The author expresses her de
gratitude to Mrs. Nyle (Na-yól) Kim, the oldest daughter of Na Hye-sok
generously providing information on her family genealogy and copies of p
graphs related to Na's life and work.
1. Mujông was serialized in Maeil sinbo from January 1 to June 14, 1917
126 installments. At this time, Yi Kwang-su, aged twenty-five, was a stude
Waseda University in Tokyo. Reportedly, young readers ran the whole dist
of five miles to get copies of the newspaper in order to follow the plot d
opment of the novel; see Ku In-hwan, Yi Kwang-su sosól yôngu, rev. ed.
(Samyôngsa, 1987), 24. Yi Kwang-su also said numerous letters reached him from
his readers inquiring about the characters in the novel; see Yi Kwang-su chônjip
(Samjungdang, 1962), 14: 400.
2. The first extensive criticism on Yi Kwang-su was by Kim Tong-in in his
"Ch'unwôn yôn'gu," serialized in Samch'ôlli, Dec. 1934- June 1939. See Kim
Tong-in, Chônjip (Samjungdang, 1976), 6: 79-144. For comprehensive coverage
of Yi Kwang-su and his works, see Kim Yun-sik, Yi Kwang-su wa kü üi sidae,
3 vols. (Hangilsa, 1986); also see Han'guk Munhak Yón'guso, Tongguk Tae
hakkyo, ed., Yi Kwang-su yon'gu, 2 vols. (T'aehaksa, 1984).
3. Cho Yôn-hyôn, Han'guk hyóndae munhaksa (Sóngmungak, 1969), 130
33. Cho states that three characteristics qualify Mujông as a modern novel: (1) in
content, it expressed the modern individualistic consciousness; (2) in style, its text
is written in regular prose form and treats its subject matter realistically; and (3) in
literary technique, it employs description of psychology and character traits. See
also Paek Ch'ól, Sinmunhak sajosa (Singu Munhwasa, 1980), 96; Kim Tong-uk
and Yi Chae-són, Hanguk sosólsa (Hyóndae Munhak, 1990), 396-97.
4. The last known Korean woman writer in narrative genre would be Lady
Hyegyóng (1735-1815), the author of Hanjungnok (The Record of Lasting Re
gret), her memoir about the gruesome death of her husband, Prince Changhón (or
Sado, 1735-1762), ordered by his father, King Yóngjo (1694-1776).
5. The total number of works submitted to the contest was about twenty;
see Yi Kwang-su, "Hyónsang sosól kosón yóón," Ch'ôngch'un (no. 12; March
1918), 97. The magazine was published by Ch'oe Nam-sôn (1890-1957) in 1914

81.182.141.8 on Mon, 08 Apr 2024 12:10:37 +00:00
but folded under pressure from the Japanese government in 1918 w

last issue.
6. See Yi Kwang-su, "Hyónsang sosól kosón yóón," 99-100; 10
(The Crossroad) by Yi Sang-ch'un won first prize, while Chu Y
1979) "Nongga" (A Farm House) won the third prize. Yi Kwang-s
say that Kim Myóng-sun's story, in its total lack of moralizing, in
the work that won first prize, and Yi even lauded Kim's story as e
Mujông in this respect. Later, however, in reminiscence with C
Kwang-su mentioned (without specific details) that Kim Myón
turned out to be a result of her plagiarizing. Yi's remark triggered
for a long time and tarnished Kim's literary reputation, although
evidence has ever been found. See "Ch'unwón Yohan kyodamnok
su chônjip (Samjungdang, 1962), 20: 256.
7. Yôjagye was a journal published by the Association of Kor
Students in Japan whose first issue came out in June 1917. The
magazine was to introduce new ideas to women back in Korea fo
enment. It ceased publication in August 1921 (no. 7) but was revi
1927. The date of its demise is not known; see Yi Ok-jin, "Yôsôn
t'onghae pon yókwón sinjang—1906 nyón puto 1929 nyón kkaji
üro" (M.A. thesis, Ehwa Yója Taehakkyo, 1980), 41-42. For deta
nal, see Só Chóng-ja and Pak Yông-hye, "Kündae yósóng üi mun
Han'guk kündae yôsông yôn'gu (Asea Yôsông Munje Yón'guso, Su
Taehakkyo, 1987), 198-201.
8. Kim Tong-in's first work, a short story, "Yakanja üi sülp'u
of a Weakling), was published in Ch'angjo (no. 1; February 191
magazine financed and run by Kim himself. The magazine, firs
Tokyo, was an organ of a literary circle organized by Kim, Ch
Chón Yóng-t'aek (1898-1968) and was the first purely literary
Korea. In May 1921 it ceased publication, no. 9 being the last issu
Seoul.
9. Sinyôja, published in Seoul with Kim Wôn-ju as its editor, was short
lived, ceasing publication after its fourth issue (June 1920) due to Japanese cen
sorship as well as financial problems. For details regarding the magazine, see
Yung-Hee Kim, "From Subservience to Autonomy: Kim Wôn-ju's 'Awaken
ing,'" Korean Studies 21 (1997): 5-7.
10. For an analysis and translation of the story, see Yung-Hee Kim, "A
Critique on Traditional Korean Family Institutions: Kim Wônju's 'Death of A
Girl,'" Korean Studies 23 (1999): 24-42.
11. The word Iryôp is a Korean equivalent of Ichiyô, taken from the name
of Higuchi Ichiyô (1872-1896), the best-known woman writer of Meiji Japan.
Yi Kwang-su thus expressed both a compliment and his expectations that Kim
would achieve literary stature comparable to that of Higuchi; see Yi Wól-song,
"Mannyón üi Iryôp sünim," Yôsông tonga 48 (October 1971): 145.
12. For a clear overview of developments in the fiction genre of the time,
see the list of names and works of writers in Kwón Yông-min, éd., Han'guk
hyôndae munhaksa nyônpyo 1 (Seoul Taehakkyo Ch'ulp'anbu, 1998), 33, 36, 39,
41-42.
13. For instance, the text of Na Hye-sók's short story, "Chôngsun," and an
essay, "Aejông e unora (Samch'ôlli, April 1937), have not been found. Further
more, Kim Wôn-ju's short story, "Sunae üi chugüm," serialized in Tonga ilbo in

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nine installments (Jan. 31-Feb. 8, 1926), has not b

her works, Miraese ka tahago namtorok, 2 vol
haeng Wiwónhoe (Inmul Yón'guso, 1974). In 1995
Tongmyông the following works never mention
lections of the works of these women writers
"Hyangsu" (Nostalgia; v. 2, no. 1; Jan. 1, 1923)
hoesanggi" (A Recollection), v. 2, no. 8 (Feb. 18,
14. Some of the most representative works in
Tong-in's Kim Yón-sil chón, originally serialize
December 1941); see Kim Tong-in chônjip (Sam
Yi Myóng-on, Hüllógan yóinsang (Ingansa, 1956
No-sun, éd., Hüllógan sôngjwa (Kukche Munhwa
remained single throughout her life, is known to
young Korean writers and artists during her youn
even ventured into the cinema field, playing star
successful in her film career, poverty-stricken, a
Kim went to Japan in the late 1930s and reporte
Tokyo around 1951. Likewise, Kim Wón-ju went
ships and two marriages, while having become the
born of her affair with a Japanese law student du
1921-1922. Kim's interest in Buddhism began to
and in 1933 Kim finally joined the Buddhist ord
Temple, where she maintained a leadership positio
Kim's life, see Yung-Hee Kim, "From Subservie
Hye-sôk's glorious days as a promising painter and
children abruptly ended with her divorce in 1930
affairs. Thereafter, she led a life beset by social
physical pain, and financial problems, which ca
charity hospital with no one recognizing her ident
15. Such endeavors were led off by an article c
and Sô Chóng-ja, "Kündae yósóng úi munhak h
yôsông yón'gu (Asea Yósóng Munje Yón'guso, Sukmyóng Yója Taehakkyo,
1987), 185-237. See also Yósóng haebang üi munhak {Tío liana üi munhwa, v. 3,
1987); Song Myóng-húi, Yósóng haebang kwa munhak (Chip'yóng, 1988); and
Chóng Yóng-ja, Han'guk hyóndae yósóng munhangnon (Chip'yóng, 1988).
16. The most representative works to date are: Kim Chóng-ja, Han'guk
yósóng sosól yón'gu (Minjisa, 1991); Kim Hyông-ja, Han'guk yósóng sosólsa
(Minjisa, 1991); Chóng Sun-jin. Han'guk munhak kwa yósóng chuüi pip'yông
(Kukhak Charyowón, 1992); Han'guk yósóng munhak pip'yóngnon, ed. An Suk
wón et. al. (Kaemunsa, 1995); Peminijüm kwa sosól pip'yông: kündae p'yón, ed.
Han'guk Yósóng Sosól Yón'guhoe (Hangilsa, 1995); Kim Mi-hyón, Han'guk
yósóng sosól kwa peminism (Singu Munhwasa, 1996); Peminijüm kwa sosól
pip'yông: hyóndae p'yón, ed. Han'guk Yósóng Sosól Yón'guhoe (Hangilsa, 1997)
Só Chóng-ja, Han'guk kündae yósóng sosól yón'gu (Kukhak Charyowón, 1999)
Yósóng Munhak Yón'gu (published by Han'guk Yósóng Sosól Yón'guhoe), 1999—
Kim Kyóng-su, ed., Peminijüm munhak pip'yông (Press 21, 2000); and Ch'oe Hye
sil, Sinyósóng türün muósül kkumkkuónnünga (Saenggak úi namu, 2000).
17. The reason for this uncertainty is that in issue no. 10 of Ch'óngch'un
(Sept. 1917, p. 12) Ch'oe Nam-sôn mentions that the no. 1 issue of Yôjagye pub
lished a short story by a woman writer, but he doesn't specifically identify the

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author or the title of the story. There is a strong possibility that it m

Na Hye-sók's stories, but no copy of the issue has yet been found.
prove true, "Kyónghüi" should be reconsidered as a later work
meantime, Só Chóng-ja has promoted a proposition that a story
Na but still missing, "Pubu" (A Man and Wife), supposedly publish
issue of Yôjagye (June 1917), should be considered Na's first fictio
sók üi ch'ónyójak 'Pubu' e taehayó: ch'oech'o ûi yôsông chakkar
munhak yôn'gu 1 (1999): 307-29. If this turns out to be true, Na w
modern Korean woman writer, making Kim Myóng-sun the seco
mean that Na's "Kyónghüi" is her second short story, and the chro
short stories may have to be revised accordingly.
18. Yi Ku-yól's Na Hye-sók iltaegi: Emi nün sôngakcha y
(Tonghwa Ch'ulp'ansa, 1974), the first biography of Na, incorpor
ings and a number of her works directly related to her life, wa
effort that contributed to the rediscovery of Na as a pioneering m
intellectual. The second, meticulously researched biography of
gyóng, Ingan uro salgosipta: yôngwônhan sinyôsông Na Hye-sôk (H
improved upon Yi Ku-yól's book by filling in more details abou
works. Also available are Yi Sang-gyông, éd., Na Hye-sôk chôn
1999), and Wônbon Chôngwôl Ra Hye-sôk chônjip, edited by Só Ch
Na Hye-sók Kinyóm Saóphoe (T'aehaksa, 2002). These two bo
great number of photo reproductions of Na's pictures, paintin
people and matters related to her work and life. My article is in
publications.
19. Her great-grandfather was a minister of internal affairs in the Chosón
court, and her father served as the local magistrate of Yong'in and Sihüng in
Kyônggi Province; see Yi Ku-yól, Emi, 13.
20. The short report, along with Na's photograph, appeared in the April 1,
1913, issue of the daily. Maeil sinbo was the only Korean newspaper published in
Korea after the Japanese annexation in 1910.
21. Ko Hüi-dong (1886-1965) and Kim Kwan-ho (1890-?) were the only
male artists senior to Na in studying Western oil painting in Japan at the time,
both at Tokyo Art Institute; see Yi Ku-yól, Emi, 31-32.
22. See Noriko Mizuta Lippit, "Seito and the Literary Roots of Japanese
Feminism," International Journal of Women's Studies, 2, no. 2 (1979): 157.
23. The word "Bluestocking" referred to groups of British women in the
mid-eighteenth century who invited to their meetings learned men and aristocrats
to discuss literary or intellectual matters. For the origin of the word and the pur
pose of Bluestocking activities, see New Encyclopaedia Britannica (1997), 2: 302.
24. Raichó's aspiration is expressed in her long poem titled "Genshi josei
wa taiyô de atta" (In the Beginning, Women Were the Sun). The journal ceased
publication after its February 1916 issue. For details of the history and activities
of the Seitô group, see Sharon L. Sievers, "The Bluestockings," in her Flowers
in Salt: The Beginnings of Feminist Consciousness in Modern Japan (Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1983), 163-88.
25. The discussion on "Hedda Gabier" continued into the second issue of
Seitô (October 1911).
26. The entire issue of vol. 2, no. 1 (1912) was dedicated to discussions of
"A Doll's House."
27. Ellen Key was the foremost contributor to European feminist ideas

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from the turn of the twentieth century. For a summ

Ofifen, "Liberty, Equality, and Justice for Wom
Feminism in Nineteenth-Century Europe," in Be
pean History, ed. Renate Bridenthal, Claudia Ko
Houghton Mifflin, 1987), 358-59. Love and Marr
Sons, 1911), with a critical and biographical intr
an English translation by Arthur G. Chater of
extensive work in Swedish, Lifslinjer (Lifelines,
the English version into Japanese and the seriali
(January 1913) to vol. 4, no. 11 (December 1914),
covering about half the length of the original (nine
1, "The Course of Development of Sexual Morali
of Motherhood." Key's name was briefly ment
Mujông, indicating his knowledge of her ideas;
207. The first formal introduction of Ellen Key
was by No Cha-yóng in his "Yósóng undong üi c
no. 8 (Feb. 1921): 46-50; no. 9 (March 1921): 45-
28. Cheri Register, "Motherhood at Center:
Women's Studies International Forum, 5 (1982): 60
Ellen Key's ideas on women, see Torborg Lun
Feminist Views on Motherhood," Scandinavian S
29. See Seitô, vol. 3, no. 1 (Jan. 1913): 20-65.
30. See Lippit, "Seito," 161.
31. Sievers, Flowers in Salt, 173, 187; see
"Yosano Akiko and the Taishô Debate over the
Japanese Women, 1600-1945, ed. Gail Lee Bern
California Press, 1991), 175-98.
32. Hakchigwang (1914-1930) was published b
Students in Japan, a fraternal group composed of
contribution to the journal by a Korean woman st
33. The heroine of Leo Tolstoy's novel, Resurr
34. The heroine of a drama of the same nam
German dramatist Hermann Sudermann (1857-1
35. Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), a
the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852).
36. Here, Na used the Japanese expression ny
mother) rather than Korean usage, hyônmo yangc
37. His essays published in Hakchigwang inc
wal üi yogu" and "Nam chosón üi sinbu" (no. 3,
same issue that debuted Na Hye-sók's "Ideal Wom
as Ch'oe's is "Belgium üi yongsa" (Hakchigwang
he left about twenty-five poems in total. For a
poetry, see Kim Hak-tong, Hyôndae siin yón'gu
38. See Yi Ku-yól, Em i, 25. Ch'oe, already a m
friend of Na Hye-sók's brother, Kyóng-sók, and
39. Background information on this developm
"Na üi yókyowón sidae," Samch'ôlli (July 1935);
40. Na reportedly visited the ailing Ch'oe a few
brother's home in Kohüng, South Cholla Provinc
salgosipta, 123.

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YUNG-HEE KIM: Na Hye-sók's "Kyónghüi" 55
41. It is not clear to whom this Mary refers, but it may be Ma

stonecraft (1759-97), the British feminist writer and author of A Vindicat
Rights of Woman (1792).
42. Madame Jeanne Roland (1754-93) was a French revolutionis
home was a center for like-minded French intellectuals. When she was
lotined, she is said to have left the words, "O Liberty, what crimes are
in thy name!"
43. See Yi Ku-yól, Em i, 44-46.
44. See Na, "Mo toen kamsanggi," Tongmyóng, 2, no. 2 (Jan. 17,
45. During the period 1920-1929, about two hundred magazine
published in Korea; see Kim Kün-su, Han'guk chapchisa (Ch'ông
p'ansa, 1980), 98.
46. Kim, a lawyer educated at Kyoto University, was a widower t
her senior and a friend of Na's older brother, Kyóng-sók. He had te
courted her for four years after they became acquainted in Japan foll
death of Na's former love, Ch'oe Süng-gu. Kim U-yóng reportedly ac
three conditions for marriage: to love her for the rest of her life; to
painting career; and to live apart from her mother-in-law and his daug
his previous marriage. During their honeymoon, they even visited the g
Na's dead love, Ch'oe Süng-gu, and erected a tombstone. For detail
background and his marriage to Na, see Yi Ku-yól, Emi, 47-50.
47. This short diary reveals parts of Na's relationship with Kim U-
Japan prior to their marriage.
48. In a postscript to P'yehô, Na remarked that she and Kim O
1950; Ansó) edited the first issue of the magazine; see P'yehô, no. 1 (19
49. Na, "Mo toen kamsanggi," 16.
50. Na, "Mo toen kamsanggi," 16.
51. Na's drawings appeared in the March 2, 4, and 5 issues.
52. The first one-man art show in Korea was that of Kim Kwan
top graduate of Tokyo Institute of Art, held in Pyongyang in Decembe
Yun Póm-mo, Han'guk kündae misul üi hyôngsông (Mijinsa, 1988), 142
53. For instance, the highest-priced painting, titled "Sinch'un
Spring), was sold at 350 won, and many other works were sold in a
Maeil sinbo, March 20 and March 21, 1921. At this time, a teacher's
salary was about seventy won, and a sack (sóm) of rice cost about twen
54. Kim, the first pianist in Korea, was a graduate of Ueno Mus
in Tokyo and was also a member of the P'yehô literary circle.
55. The daughter's name, Kim Na-yól, born April 29, 1921, sign
joy of the conjugal union of Kim U-yóng and Na Hye-sók.
56. Since Singajông ceased after the publication of its first issue, N
which was supposed to be continued, also remains incomplete.
57. Yi Ku-yól, Emi, 64.
58. Na's family took up residence in the city of Andong, locat
across the Yalu River facing Sinüiju, North P'yóngan Province, wh
strategic point between China and Korea. Kim's assignment was the fir
diplomatic position assumed by a Korean. The creation of this post was
of Japanese colonial policy to reinforce its control of Koreans in M
Kim's successive favorable treatment by the Japanese government w
ably due to the connection and support of the Japanese teacher unde
had studied; see Yi Sang-gyóng, Ingan uro salgo sipta, 235.

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59. During this period, Na gave birth to two m

Emi,70. Na's first son, Son, was born in 1924, and
December 19, 1926.
60. Na's essay immediately provoked a scathing c
her article, obviously a male; see Paekkyôlsaeng,
pósün piae: Na Hye-sók yósa üi 'Mo toen kamsang
(February 4 and February 11, 1923). Na retorted to
"Paekkyôlsaeng ege tappam" (Tongmyóng, March 1
61. Yi Ku-yól, Emi, 71-72; Yi Sang-gyóng, Inga
68.
62. The children were entrusted to the care of their paternal grandmother
in Tongnae, near Pusan.
63. Na studied at the art institute run by French painter Roger Bissier
(1888-1964), who, with a leaning toward Fauvism and Cubism, concentrated on
figure and landscape painting; see An Nawôn, "Na Hye-sók üi hoehwa yón'gu:
Na Hye-sók üi hoehwa wa peminijüm üi kwangye rül chungsim üro" (M.A. the
sis, Ewha Woman's University, 1998), 45.
64. See Yi Sang-gyóng, Ingan üro salgo sipta, 320-22; also see Na Hye
sók, "Kumi sich'algi: Pullansó kajóng ün ólmana tarülkka," "Paengnim üi kü
saebyók—iyók üi sinnyón saebyók," "P'ari üi ómóni nal," "Pamkóri üi ch'ukha
sik (ku)," "Tajóng hago silchilchók in Pullansó puin—kumi puin üi kyoyang
innün kajóng saenghwal," and "Pullansó kajóng ün ólmana tarülkka" in Só
Chóng-ja, Ra Hye-sók chónjip, 665-71, 680-82, 683-94.
65. Yi Ku-yól, Emi, 329-30. Mrs. Pankhurst was a British suffragist.
66. Ch'oe was one of the thirty-three signers of the March 1919 Declara
tion of Independence. He joined the Sin'ganhoe in 1927 and was dispatched as
one of the association's representatives to anti-imperialism and anticolonialism
conferences held at Brussels and Cologne in the spring of 1927; see Andrew C.
Nahm, Korea: Tradition & Transformation—A History of the Korean People
(Elizabeth, N.J.: Hollym International, 1988), 279.
67. Undoubtedly Na's husband learned about this affair. However, he kept
the matter between them by warning her never to see Ch'oe again, to which she
consented; see Yi Ku-yól, Emi, 185. For details of this development, see Yi Sang
gyóng, Ingan üro salgo sipta, 316-27.
68. Their association with Koreans included Chang Tók-su (1895-1947),
a student at Columbia University, and Kim Maria, who had been imprisoned
with Na during the 1919 Independence Movement. During a Christmas party
in 1928 in New York, which Na's husband, Kim U-yóng, attended alone, Kim
was attacked with a knife by a Korean resident who condemned him as a pro
Japanese traitor; for details, see Yi Sang-gyóng, Ingan üro salgo sipta, 334-39.
69. See Yi Sang-gyóng, Ingan üro salgo sipta, 352-56. During this stressful
transitional period, Na gave birth to her third son, Kón, June 20, 1929.
70. Under the same title, Na contributed six different observations on
French and Western families to Tonga ilbo, March 28-April 2, 1930. This series
was followed by her "Kumi sich'algi," also in six installments, contributed to
Tonga ilbo, April 3-10, 1930.
71. One painting, Aidül (Children), depicts Na's daughter, Na-yol, carrying
her newborn brother, Kon, on her back—a work completed after Na's return
from her foreign travel. This work is considered to show Fauvist influence; see Yi
Ku-yól, Emi, 174. The other, Hwagach'ón (Painters' Village), paints a Paris street

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scene—a piece from her stay in France; see Só Chóng-ja, Ra Hy

629. For photographie reproductions of these paintings, see Yi S
Hye-sôk chônjip, 71, 72.
72. For details of Na's divorce, see Yi Ku-yól, Emi, 196-203
Sang-gyóng, Ingan úro salgo sip ta, 359-71.
73. See Yi Sang-gyóng, Ingan úro salgo sipta, 375; So Chón
sôk chônjip, 693.
74. The painting is a picture of the stone gate of the Cluny
Paris, and Na observed that it was the result of her stay in Eur
gyóng, Ingan úro salgo sipta, 376-77.
75. It seems that during this stay in the mountains, she beg
her interest in Buddhism, as will be revealed later. Around this tim
was also staying at Mt. Kümgang, undertaking Buddhist studies an
Miraese 1: 497.
76. When Na suggested her intention to submit her works to the exhibition,
she was reportedly encouraged by Abe Yoshie, her acquaintance and a Japanese
government cultural information specialist, who once served as the president of
Maeil sinbo; see Yi Sang-gyóng, Ingan úro salgo sipta, 379-81.
77. See Yi Sang-gyóng, Ingan úro salgo sipta, 381.
78. This sentiment is well revealed in her articles published in July 1932,
which criticized the low and lackluster quality of the exhibition; see Só Chóng-ja,
Ra Hye-sôk chônjip, 746.
79. See Yi Sang-gyóng, Ingan úro salgo sipta, 389.
80. See Só Chóng-ja, Ra Hye-sôk chônjip, 747.
81. Published by Kim Tong-hwan (1901 —?; P'ain), Samch'ôlli was noted
for its emphasis on special scoops of popular interest, its trendiness, sensitivity
to political developments, and general concern for promoting Koreans' cultural
awareness. See Kim Kün-su, Han'guk chapchisa, 148-49.
82. In this sense, Na's series seems to be the first such work since the pub
lication of Yu Kil-jun's (1856-1914) Sôyu kyónmun (Observations from Travels to
the West, 1895).
83. Her devotion to Buddhism is well reflected in her article, "Hwaga ro
ômôni ro naüi simnyón'gan saengwhal" (Sindonga, January 1933), a reminiscence
about her life as the wife of a diplomat, mother, painter, a free soul in Paris, and
currently a single woman.
84. See "Hwasil üi kaebang—Yója Misul Haksa," Samch'ôlli, March 1933
(most likely written by Ch'oe Chóng-hüi); Pang In-gün, "Ch'oegün ilgi," Sam
ch'ôlli, May 1933. Both articles mention a Buddhist statue placed on the altar in
her studio. The fund for this studio must have been from the sales of her paintings
in 1931; see Yi Sang-gyóng, Ingan úro salgo sipta, 399.
85. See Pang In-gün, "Ch'oegün ilgi," Samch'ôlli, May 1933. After her
own vicissitudes of life, Kim herself was preparing to join the Buddhist order as a
nun and in September 1933, she entered Sudók Temple to concentrate on Bud
dhist training and received ordination in 1935; see Miraese 1: 498; also see Yung
Hee Kim, "From Subservience to Autonomy," 8-9.
86. Na was working on two paintings for the show; see Yi Sang-gyóng,
Ingan úro salgo sipta, 402-403.
87. See Yi Ku-yol, Emi, 242.
88. An anonymous letter from a housewife addressed to her and published
in Singajóng (October 1934) was one such reviling criticism. It is suspected that

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the letter was written at the instigation of the edito

Yi Ku-yôl, Emi, 242-50; also see Yi Sang-gyóng,
89. Ch'oe Rin had turned pro-Japanese and b
tral Council (Chungch'uwón) in 1934 and also se
sinbo. Using his social influence, he pressured T
which contained the details of Na's lawsuit.
90. In fear of ruining his reputation and future, Ch'oe is known to have
settled the suit out of court by paying Na a handsome amount of money; see Yi
Ku-yôl, Emi, 250-51.
91. Na seems to have intended to use the money received from Ch'oe Rin
to finance her travel to Paris to make a fresh start.
92. Ch'ónggu (Blue Hills) was the pen name of her husband.
93. See Yi Sang-gyóng, Ingan üro salgo sipta, 446-47.
94. Kim Wón-ju noticed symptoms of a nervous breakdown in Na—loss of
focus in her eyes and a degree of palsy—and also heard Na relate how her chil
dren's faces haunted her sleepless nights, driving her nearly insane, and how she
avoided children on the streets in order to spare herself the pain of missing her
own children of the same age. For details, see Kim Iróp, "Chilli rül morümnida,"
Miraese 1: 287-97.
95. See, Yi Ku-yól, Emi, 282.
96. Kim Wón-ju's love affair with Ota and its long-lasting and often pain
ful effect on their son are graphically rendered by Kim T'ae-sin (priest Ildang) in
his autobiography, Lahulla üi samogok, 2 vols. (Hangilsa, 1991). Kim Wón-ju
obviously did not want to acknowledge the existence of her son, keeping it a secret
to the end of her life.
97. Na occasionally left Sudôk Temple to see her children, now going to
school in Taejón, where her husband, who by then had married a fourth time, got
a position as a high-ranking Japanese government official. Na's husband, how
ever, reportedly used the police to prevent Na from seeing her children; see Yi
Ku-yôl, Emi, 282.
98. See Kim T'ae-sin, Lahulla üi samogok 1: 158, 206. Kim stressed this
point during my interview with him at Pulün Temple in Honolulu on February
26, 2000.
99. Yi Ku-yól, Emi, 281-82.
100. For fragmentary information on Na's wandering life after 1937, refer
to Kim T'ae-sin, Lahulla üi samogok 1: 158, 206, 233-35, 269, 276; Yi Ku-yól,
Emi, 282-83; Yi Sang-gyóng, Ingan üro salgo sipta, 402-403.
101. At one point in her wandering, she visited her daughter, Na-yól, who
was teaching in Kaesóng, but could not stay there long, either; see Yi Ku-yól,
Emi, 282.
102. See Yi Ku-yól, Emi, 282-83.
103. The name of the nursing home was Ch'óng'un Yangnowón, located in
the foothills of Mt. Inwang. Na's sister-in-law, Na Kyóng-sók's wife, was re
sponsible for this arrangement, admitting her under Na's Buddhist name, Kokün,
as an alias; see Yi Ku-yól, Emi, 283.
104. Yi Ku-yól, Emi, 284; Yi Sang-gyóng, Ingan üro silgo sipta, 474-76.
105. With the establishment of the Panmin T'ükwi (Special Committee to
Investigate Korean Collaborators with Japan) in January 1949, these prominent
Koreans were put on trial and imprisoned. This special committee, however, was
officially dissolved on August 22, 1949, amidst growing protests among Koreans.

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YUNG-HEE kim: Na Hye-sók's "Kyónghui" 59
106. Kim suffered from a serious case of erysipelas of the

transferred to Severance Hospital in Seoul, where he stayed unti
Kim U-yóng, "Hoegorok," in his Minjok kongdong saenghwal kw
Kongnonsa, 1956), 280. Hoegorok—Kim's memoirs—was publish
(pp. 197-313) of Minjok kongdong saenghwal kwa toüi, which is a c
essays on Korean political matters. This Hoegorok must be a r
Hoego (Sinsaeng Kongnonsa, 1954), as the content is more elab
organization and structure of the book are slightly different from
sion. In this Hoegorok Kim idealizes his relationship with his first
her early death, and also pays tribute to his fourth wife, Yang
selfless dedication to him, while acknowledging with fatherly prid
(Chin and Kón) care for him during his trying times; see 219-22, 2
contrast, in this memoir, Kim mentions Na Hye-sók only in on
allusion to his family problem in March 1930: "there was a sham
my home." See Hoegorok, 254.
107. For details of these activities, see So Chóng-ja, Ra Hye-
751.
108. Sô Chóng-ja unearthed the texts of "Kyónghüi" and "H
sonyó ege" and reported her discoveries at the first symposim
Han'guk Yósóng Munhak.
109. Representative research includes; Chóng Sun-jin, "Chón
sók üi ch'ogi tanp'yón sosól ko—tong sigi Ch'unwón tanp'yón k
rül chungsim úro," in her Han'guk munhak kwa yósóng chuüi pi
Charyowón, 1993), 242-65; Yi Ho-suk, "Wiakjók chagi pang'ó k
tijüm: Na Hye-sók non," in Peminijüm kwa sosól pip'yóng—kün
Han'guk Yósóng Sosól Yón'guhoe (Hangilsa, 1995), 92-101; and A
"Na Hye-sók sosól 'Kyónghüi' üi tamhwanoniók yón'gu," Yósóng munhak
yón'gu, 1 (1999): 331-56.
110. This literary technique makes it extremely difficult to convey the in
tention and flavor of the original in a translation, because such a convention does
not work well in English. For my translation, therefore, I have changed the whole
text into the past tense.
111. See Sin Yóng-suk, "Ilcheha sinyósóng üi sahoe üisik—Sinyósóng kwa
Kaebyôk chi rül chungsim üro," ¡due sawón, no. 21 (1985): 92-97.
112. For a comparison of sinyósóng and kuyôsông, see Sin Yóng-suk,
"Ilcheha sinyósóng üi sahoe üisik, 100.
113. See Yi Chong-wón, "Ilcheha han'guk sinyósóng üi yókhal kaltüng e
kwanhan yón'gu—1920 nyóndae rül chungsim üro" (M.A. thesis, Han'gukhak
Taehakwón, 1982), 42-47. These women were quickly associated with eyeglasses,
short hair, high heels, watches, shawls, Western short skirts and parasols. The
Western-style leather shoes especially were considered symbolic of free love.
114. See the following works on the topic of sinyósóng: Chôn Tae-ung,
"Sinyósóng kwa kü munjejóm," Yósóng munje yón'gu, 5-6 (1976): 351-62; O Suk
hi, "Han'guk üi sinyósóng yón'gu," Yósónghak yón'gu (Yósónghak Yón'guhoe,
Ihwa Yója Taehakkyo), 1 (1985): 101-116; Sin Yóng-suk, "Ilcheha han'guk yó
sóng sahoesa yón'gu" (Ph.D. dissertation, Ewha Woman's University, 1989); and
Yi Chong-wón, "Ilcheha han'guk sinyósóng."
115. Sin Yóng-suk, "Ilcheha han'guk yósóng sahoesa yón'gu," 54-55; Yi
Chong-wón, "Ilcheha han'guk sinyósóng," 55-61.
116. For discussions on "new women" in America, see Dorothy Dunbar

81.182.141.8 on Mon, 08 Apr 2024 12:10:37 +00:00
Bromley, "Feminist—New Style," Harper's (Oct

Freedman, "The New Woman: Changing Views of
of American History, 61 (1974): 372-93.
117. The debate raged on in the newspapers
Tonga ilbo, Kaebyôk and Sinyôsông; see Sin, "Il
yón'gu," 38-43.
118. Probably, the woman character Pyong-u
could be considered a literary precursor of an id
in Korea.
119. Judging from the context of this reference, Madame "Slaru" may
have been a mistaken transcription of Louise Germaine De Staël (1766-1817), a
French-Swiss woman of letters popularly known as Madame de Staël. With her
salon serving as the center of intellectual high society during the French Revolu
tion and the Napoleonic era, she was interested in the emancipation of women
and wrote fiction about them, such as Delphine (1802) and Corinne (1807). Her
work De l'Allemagne (1811) was enormously influential in European thought and
culture but was at one time destroyed by Napoleon on the grounds that it was
"un-French," an implicit reference to Madame de Staël's enthusiasm for German
romanticism.
120. As in the preceding example of Madame de Staël, this may be another
incorrect Korean transcription, in this case for Beatrice Webb (1858-1943), the
British socialist, who was one of the leading intellectuals of her day. She collabo
rated with her husband, Sidney Webb, to write books on trade unionism and on
industrial democracy and a nine-volume history of English local government. She
also wrote a pamphlet, The Wages of Men and Women: Should They be Equal
(1919). The Webbs were instrumental in the founding the London School of Eco
nomics. See Janet Todd, ed., British Women Writers (New York: Frederick Ungar
Book, 1989), 697-98.
121. The correlation between naming, language, and female subjectivity
has been an important feminist issue as it relates to women's acquisition of and
claims to knowledge about the world as well as themselves, which provide women
measures of control over reality. See Lorraine Code, What Can She Know? Femi
nist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University
Press, 1991), 59-60. For a more detailed study on this topic, refer to Dale
Spender, Man Made Language (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980).
122. Lisa Maria Hogeland, Feminism and Its Fiction: The Consciousness
Raising Novel and the Women's Liberation Movement (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1998), 41.
123. This issue of fictionalization of female adolescents' problems is in
sightfully addressed in Patricia Ann Meyer Spacks, The Female Imagination (New
York: Knopf, 1975).
124. Spacks, The Female Imagination, 115, 150.
125. Spacks, The Female Imagination, 114.
126. Ellen Morgan, "Humanbecoming: Form and Focus in the Neo
Feminist Novel," in Images of Women in Fiction: Feminist Perspectives, ed. Susan
Koppelman Cornillon (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular
Press, 1972), 185.
127. Hogeland, Feminism and Its Fiction, 23. Hogeland locates parallel dy
namism between these consciousness-raising novels and the Women's Liberation
Movement's concern in the United States in the 1970s.

81.182.141.8 on Mon, 08 Apr 2024 12:10:37 +00:00

Creating New Paradigms of Womanhood in Modern Korean Literature Na Hye-Sok's Kyonghui

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Creating New Paradigms of Womanhood in Modern Korean Literature Na Hye-Sok's Kyonghui

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Creating New paradigms of Womanhood in Modern Korean Literature: Na Hye-sŏk's

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Na Hye-sók (1896-1948) lived a pioneering life as an individual woman, artist,

Women Writers and Modern Korean Literature

Modern Korean literature saw some of its landmark developments

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versy,2 this full-length novel has been recog

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Tokyo.7 This work was followed six months later by the

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Korean fiction through such illustrious male heirs as Kim

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This critical adjustment will permit a frui

Na Hye-sôk: A Multidimensional Life

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throughout most of her life.20 Immediately after grad

In Key's ethical system, marriage was a potentially useful leg

The introduction of Ellen Key's concept of love-cente

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to have on the Japanese public. Alongside

[These women are]: Katusha [Katerina Maslova], who embraced revolution as

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Although the original is stylistically very archaic and often

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Sowôl), a student at Keio University and the th

In my dormitory room, I once said to you, older si

In July 1917, Na's third essay, also epistolary, was published in

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(Miscellaneous Thoughts Addressed to An Older Sister, "K

The ideas of ancient Greece and Rome, which exalted men an

In March 1918, Na's landmark work, "Kyónghúi," was published

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Her rather stabilized life, however, was sud

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period, which she spent in total concentration to make up for

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Let Nora go,

2. I have a sacred duty to myself,

4. Ah! young girls,

The poem clearly demonstrates Na Hye-sók's understanding of the

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niton by Korean society of Na's artistic expertise. This ho

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Tonga ilbo in seven installments (Jan. 24-30,

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Fig. 2. Na Hye-sók and her husband, Kim U-yóng, prior t

Pankhurst's (1858-1928) suffrage movement. Na also visite

Na's carefree, blissful, and culturally enriching sojourn in Europe

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Fig. 3. Na Hye-sók in Paris, circa 1928. (Photo cour

who met Na while on an official visit to Paris in October 1927.66 This

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Upon her return home, Na immediately began experiencing te

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husband proceeded to divorce her with threats of possible adultery

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Fig. 5. Na Hye-sók at her art studio, 1932. Her

sonal celebrations, transportation, family live

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of palsy in her arm, apparently a combined effect of her