Your Paradise - Yi Cheong-jun, part.1

Your Paradise

Author

Yi Cheong-jun (author)

Publisher

Munhakgwajiseongsa | Published 2012-09-28

Category

Novel

Book intro

Yi Cheong-jun, a giant of Korean fiction, at the pinnacle of his literary world! The essence of Yi Cheong-jun's literature...

Writer's rating

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For nearly a year now, when reading books I had a strong tendency to choose almost exclusively foreign literature. I'm not sure exactly why, but if I try to organize my thoughts roughly, I think I had something like a conquering urge toward the title 'World Literature Collection.' As it happened, the layout of the library here had the Minumsa World Literature Collection right at the entrance, so my desire to read books seemed to turn into a desire to conquer the 'World Literature Collection,' and before I knew it, in my hands were works like 'The Scarlet Letter,' 'Jude the Obscure,' 'Anna Karenina,' 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being,' and 'Pornografia.' I don't regret choosing those works, but one thing is certain: the fact that I had paid no attention to Korean literature all that time is worth reflecting on.

Recently, Korean literary works can be clearly divided into literature that pursues 'entertainment' and literature that seeks the title of 'literariness.' In fact, 'literariness' too can be said to be something attached by critics and reviewers, because the definition of the word 'literariness' is so varied that it's hard to say any single one is superior. For example, among the relatively well-selling literary works of Shin Kyung-sook, if you were asked to pick a work about 'motherhood,' you'd choose something like 'Please Look After Mom,' and if you were asked to pick a work about living in the present while carrying memories of the past, you'd choose 'I'll Be Right There.' But it's hard to call these proper serious literature; I get the feeling that the works were written using subjects that were 'hot topics' at the time each book was published.

Since each work clearly shows the color the author carries in common, I'd like to say they all have 'value,' but the world doesn't say so. That's because there exists today's literary establishment that divides 'serious literature' from 'general literature.' Still, I'm someone who would not call a novel like Park Min-gyu's 'Pavane for a Dead Princess' serious literature, and I tend to prefer works that carry a bit of 'literariness.' (Of course, I'm not talking about Park Min-gyu's entire body of work.) What I mean is that a book that's just 'fun' and nothing more leaves me feeling a bit uneasy. In that sense, my impression of the author 'Yi Cheong-jun' is that I'd call him a very 'social' writer. But I hope no one misunderstands that 'social' to mean this person merely created works for the sake of social criticism; rather, it's because he wrote books using truly important subjects.

If you were to pick the work by Yi Cheong-jun that we've most easily encountered, I'd choose 'Snowy Road' ('Nungil'). 'Snowy Road,' which made me think naturally about my mother, was a work included in the Korean-language textbook. 'Ieodo' also appeared in textbooks, and works like 'The Falconer' and 'The Wall of Rumor' were ones I'd brushed past at least once while working through language-section passages in studying for the college entrance exam. 'Your Paradise' too was a passage I'd only really seen in test questions, but I had often heard of its literary quality, and I happened to discover Yi Cheong-jun's complete works at a large bookstore. So just as I was starting to think I might read Yi Cheong-jun's complete works, having until then taken interest only in world literature, Ki-hwan hyung said a word to me: 'How about taking an interest in Korean literature too?'

The story begins with a narrator named 'Sang-uk.' 'Lee Sang-uk,' a department head at a hospital on Sorok Island, conveys the situation of Sorok Island to the narrator little by little through the newly appointed director, Army Colonel 'Cho Baek-heon.' The story of Part 1 was mostly about 'former director Joo Jeong-su,' whom Sang-uk recalls through Colonel Cho Baek-heon. Former director Joo Jeong-su was a director appointed to Sorok Island during the Japanese colonial period; at first he wanted to make Sorok Island a 'paradise,' but in the end he became someone who wanted to make a paradise only for himself. It is, in the literal sense, 'your paradise.' The past story of Joo Jeong-su, who became busy realizing not a space for the patients but his own dream, his own ideals, the things he held in his own heart rather than the hearts of the patients, seemed to apply to the space I live in now as well.

The excessive performance-ism, this organization that thinks not about the people who actually do the work but about how to make a space look more efficient to those above and earn the 'word that it's doing fine,' only brings me growing regret and disappointment. If I think about how my taxes will flow into this society over the long term, this society must not become one that strives to erect 'statues' but must become one truly for the people, yet there's no sign whatsoever of that happening. Why can't this society escape from being a society that increasingly tries to erect statues? Is it perhaps because under the banner of individual justification, everything else becomes invisible? I really don't know..

They say those below don't really understand the thoughts of those above. How would you ever know that feeling without becoming one of those above? But in the organization I'm in, such things happen frequently. Yet the reason is not merely the imbalance of information. Erecting 'statues' also happens frequently when people force their own convictions and justifications onto others. Such things happen so often that I've been feeling deep skepticism lately. Will the day ever come when, in a place like this, the thoughts of individuals are respected and felt to be valuable? I'm skeptical about that question too. It seems like it will never change.

In any case, in this book that depicts the subtle conflict between Colonel Cho Baek-heon and department head Lee Sang-uk, and at the same time the things happening on Sorok Island, I feel I'll somehow receive a different impression than the one I couldn't get from world literature. I suppose that impression will mostly be a feeling close to 'criticism of society' or 'disappointment,' but through this book I think I'll be able to mature a little more. I'll have to post Part 2 again before long.