Kang Sok-kyong

Korean spelling
Hangeul	강석경
Hanja	姜石景
Revised Romanization	Gang Seok-gyeong
McCune- Reischauer	Kang Sŏkkyŏng
See also : Korean name

Kang Sok-kyong (born January 10, 1951 in Taegu ) is a South Korean writer.

Life

Kang Sok-kyong was born in Taegu City in 1951 and studied sculpture at Ewha Womans University .

In 1974 she received the “ Munhak Sasang ” ( literary thought ) prize for debutants for her debut works Die Wurzel (Kŭn) and Open Game (Opŭn Keim) . Since then she has written works in which the characters are subtly characterized. The protagonists suffer from their living conditions, which make it impossible for them to find the real thing in life. Therefore, the characters set out in search of redemption.

To date, the author has published seven volumes of short stories and novels. The blue time , the night and the cradle , the room in the forest , the valley nearby , the stars in the sky above Lhasa , the deep staircase in me , the rice-grain Buddha as well as two essay volumes report of a trip to India and the way to the barrows . An anthology has also been published on interviews she conducted with some artists under the title Working Artists and a storybook for adults: Toto, who went to India .

If a woman who has studied sculpture still chooses the literary world, she must have had a special incentive. “But no, it was pure coincidence,” she says. Before that, she would never have dreamed of becoming a writer. In her fourth year at university, her father's bankruptcy made her unsure how to raise her tuition fees. By chance she became aware of a literature competition advertised by the university newspaper and took part in it. That was the beginning of her literary career. Those who received her debut positively saw this as a happy coincidence. Since then, she has published works in which the characters, like their favorite authors, Pak Kyong-ni , Hong Myeong-hi and Dostoevsky , deal with the seriousness of life, the dignity of women and emotional conflicts. Although she switched from the visual arts to literature, she is still concerned with the same question that she asked herself since studying sculpture : what are artists or what is art ?

The will to ignore the trivialities of everyday life and only stand in front of the essentials is a theme that runs through all of her writings like a red thread. “Sculpture reduces the design to the essentials. Modeling with clay, too. You put clay on a figure and have to remove it at the same time. […] While writing, I keep thinking which words should I cross out. It may be a habit that I subconsciously learned while modeling. Everything has to be necessary so that I keep removing what is superfluous. Whether literature or sculpture, when it comes to expressing something, they are identical. Nevertheless, literature can express itself much more specifically with the medium of language than sculpture. "

The writer, addicted to travel and books that will bring her to enlightenment, hopes to be able to write a novel about utopia , people's eternal dream , in a village community in southern India .

Work

• The night and the cradle ( Pam-gwa yoram , Mineum, 1978/2008).
• Artist at work ( Ilhanŭn yesulga-dŭl , Yŏlhwadang, 1986) ISBN 978-89-301-0937-6 .
• The room in the forest ( Su'psok-ŭi pang , Mineum, 1986/2005) ISBN 89-374-2014-7 .
• The blue time ( Ch'ŏngsaek sidae , Hanbŏt, 1989).
• TtoTto in India ( Indo-ro kan Ttotto , Yŏllimwŏn, 2000/2008) ISBN 89-85247-42-5 .
• The valley nearby ( Kakkaun koljjagi , Mineum, 1992) ISBN 89-374-0042-1 .
• The stars in the sky over Lhasa ( Sesang-ŭi pyŏl-ŭn ta Rasi-e ttŭnda , Sallim, 1996) ISBN 89-85577-50-6 .
• The deep stairs in me ( Nae an-ŭi kipŭn kyedan , Ch'angjak-kwa pip'yŏngsa, 1999) ISBN 978-89-364-3334-5 .
• Have i come too far ( Na-nŭn nŏmu mŏlli wassŭlkka in 2001-nyŏn che-8-hoe 21-segi Munhaksang susang chakp'umjip , Isu, 2001) ISBN 89-88047-08-7 .
• Travel reports from India ( Indo kihaeng , Mineum, 2001) ISBN 978-89-374-0068-1 .
• Residue ( Mibul , Mineum, 2004) ISBN 89-374-8036-0 .
• Kang Sŏk-kyŏng's walk through Kyŏngju ( Kang Sŏk-kyŏng-ŭi Kyŏngju sanch'aek , Yŏllimwŏn, 2004) ISBN 978-89-7063-436-4 .
• Why do I write literature? ( Na-nŭn Wae Munhak-ŭl hanŭnga , Yŏlhwadang, 2004) ISBN 978-89-301-0087-8 .
• The temple that remains in my heart (Nae maŭm-e namŭn chŏl, San ch'ŏrŏm, 2007) ISBN 978-89-90062-21-5 .
• The room in the water ( Mulsok-ŭi bang in Hanguk sosŏl-ŭi ŏlgul 1980–1989 , Purŭn sasang, 2008) ISBN 978-89-5640-619-0 .
• The holy spring ( Sinsŏnghan pom , Mineum, 2012) ISBN 978-89-374-8609-8 .

Translations

German

• Behind glass (story) in: Korean stories (dtv, 2005)

English

• The Valley Nearby (Portsmouth, NH, Heinemann Asia, 1997)
• Words of Farewell : Stories by Korean Women Writers (Seattle, The Seal Press, 1989)

Awards

• 1974: 01. Munhaksasang sininsang
• 1986: 06. Nokwŏn munhaksang
• 1986: 10. Onŭl-ŭi chakkasang
• 2001: 08.21-segi munhaksang
• 2013: 16th Tongni munhaksang

Web links

• KANG Sok Kyong (PDF file) LiteraTOUR Korea for the Frankfurt Book Fair

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Naver Person Database: 네이버 인물 검색: 강석경 , accessed January 17, 2014 (Korean).
2. ↑ Mun Hye-won, under the title: Thousand Years of Solitude - Interview with the writer Kang Sok-kyong, in the magazine "Munhak Sasang" ( Literary Thought ), July 2001.
3. ↑ LTI Korea: 문인 DB: Kang Sok-kyong ( Memento of the original from September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 2, 2013 (Korean). 
4. ↑ LTI Korea: Author Database: Kang Sok-kyong  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on July 2, 2013.  

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Kang is the family name here, Sok-kyong is the first name.