Ha Geun-chan

Ha Geun-chan
Hangeul	하근찬
Hanja	河 瑾 灿
Revised Romanization	Ha Geun-chan
McCune- Reischauer	Ha Kǔnch'an
See also : Korean name

Ha Geun-chan (born October 21, 1931 in Yŏngch'ŏn , Kyŏngsangbuk-do ; † November 25, 2007 ) is a South Korean writer .

Life

Ha Geun-chan was born on October 22, 1931 in Yŏngch'ŏn, North Kyŏngsang Province , and died on November 25, 2007. He attended Ch'ŏngju Pedagogical College and later worked as a primary school teacher. In 1954, he began to study civil engineering at Dong-A University , but dropped out in 1957.

While still a student, in 1955, he won the "National Literature Prize for Students" with his short story Blutsverwandte (혈육). However, he did not officially debut until 1957 with the story The Suffering of Two Generations (수난 이대), which was published in the Hankook Ilbo . The literary significance of this story is reflected, among other things, in its use in school books.

Although Ha Geun-chan is counted among the authors of the post-war generation, his literature does not, as usual, deal with the destruction of cities and the consciousness of the petty bourgeoisie. He uses the rural area and the simple rural population to represent another dimension of the traumatic effects of the Korean War . The Suffering of Two Generations (수난 이대) is about a man who lost his arm in World War II and his son who returns from the Korean War and lost a leg. Both accept this tragedy as their fate that they have to deal with. In The King's grave and the occupation forces (왕릉 과 주둔군) is about a grave guard who tries to protect the sacred burial site from being abused as a place for prostitution to be, and finally horror discovers that his own daughter a sexual relationship with foreign soldiers. Even if Ha Geun-chan's characters are sometimes funny or even rather dense, they all have the will to survive, the sincerity to endure blows of fate, and the belief that everything can get better. The author always remains sympathetic towards his characters and avoids bringing in sentimentality.

Work

Korean

• 홍소 laughter (1960)
• 왕릉 과 주둔군 The Royal Tomb and the Occupation Forces (1963)
• 붉은 언덕 The Red Hill (1964)
• 삼각 의 집 The triangular house (1966)
• 수난 이대 The Suffering of Two Generations (1957; 1972 as a novel)
• 야호 chamber pot (1972)
• 흰 종이 수염 White Paper Beard (1977)
• 산 에 들 에 Mountain and Field (1984)
• 화가 남궁 씨 의 수염 The beard of the painter Namgung (1988)
• 작은 용 Little Dragon (1989)
• 여제자 schoolgirl (1990)
• 검은 자화상 Black Self-Portrait (1991)
• 내 영혼 이 꿈꾸는 섬 Island of my dreaming soul (1998)
• 내 마음 의 풍금 The Organ of My Heart (1999)

Translations into English

• The Suffering of Two Generations (수난 이대), ASIA Publishers (2013)

Awards

• 1970: 한국 문학상 ( Korean Literature Prize )
• 1983: 조연현 문학상 ( Cho Yŏnhyŏn Literature Prize )
• 1984: 요산 문학상 ( Yosan Literature Prize )
• 1988: 유주현 문학상 ( Yu Chuhyŏn Literature Prize )
• 1998: 보관 문화 훈장 ( Order of Culture in Bronze )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 네이버 인물 검색: 하근찬 , accessed February 24, 2014 (Korean)
2. ↑ Author Database of LTI Korea: Ha Geunchan ( Memento of the original from June 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. PDF, accessed on February 24, 2014 (English) 
3. ↑ ktlit: "Review: The Suffering of Two Generations (수난 이대), by Ha Geun-chan (하근찬)" , accessed on February 24, 2014 (English)
4. ↑ Author Database of LTI Korea: Ha Geunchan ( Memento of the original from June 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. PDF, accessed on February 24, 2014 (English) 

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Ha is the family name here, Geun-chan is the first name.