Kim Won-il

Kim Won-il
Korean spelling
Hangeul	김원일
Hanja	金 源 一
Revised Romanization	Gim Won-il
McCune- Reischauer	Kim Wŏnil
See also : Korean name

Kim Won-il (born March 15, 1942 in Kimhae , in the Keishō-nandō Sub - Province, Chōsen Province , then the Japanese Empire , now South Korea ) is a South Korean writer who has already won numerous literary prizes. Many of his works have been translated into English, French and German.

Life

His father was a communist activist who defected to North Korea during the Korean War , leaving Kim Won-il and his mother and siblings alone in the south. Not only was the position of an abandoned woman very bad there at the time, but also that of her children. In addition, there was political pressure, as the family was constantly being spied on because of the father's political views. He attended Taegu Agricultural High School and then studied literature at Sorabol College of Art and Yŏngnam University, and received his Masters in Korean literature from Dankook University. He belongs to the generation of authors who had to systematically learn their mother tongue and script ( Han'gŭl ) again after the Japanese colonial rule . He was an active participant in the April Revolution of 1960.

In 1966 he won a competition in the Daegu Daily with his short story Algeria in 1961 , which was also his debut as a writer. The following year, his story, Festival of Darkness, was published in the magazine Modern Literature ( Hyŏndae munhak ).

Since 2013, Kim has been working in the Creative Writing Department at Sunchon National University , where he works with the Korean poet Kwak Jae-gu .

family

His brother Kim Wŏn-u is also a writer.

subjects

A classic theme for Kim Won-il is the division of Korea after the Korean War (1950–1953). Its main characters often spin helplessly back and forth in the historical pull and become victims of their circumstances.

Works

Korean

Novels

• 푸른 혼 The blue soul (Seoul: Irum, 2005)
• The Firs (3rd edition, Seoul: Irum, 2002)
• 슬픈 시간 의 기억 Remembering sad times (Seoul: Munhak-kwa chisŏngsa, 2001)
• 히로시마 의 불꽃 The fire in Hiroshima (Seoul: Munhak-kwa chisŏngsa, 2002)
• 가족 The family (Vol. I, II, Seoul: Munidang, 2000)
• 사랑 아, 길 을 묻는다 love, I ask for directions (Seoul: Munidang, 1998)
• 불의 제전 The Festival of Fire (7 volumes, Seoul: Munhak-kwa chisŏngsa, 1997)
• 아우라지 로 가는 길 The way to the Aurasi (2 volumes, Seoul: Munhak-kwa chisŏngsa, 1996)
• 마당 깊은 집 The House at the Deep Court (Seoul: Munhak-kwa chisŏngsa, 1988)
• 깊은 골 큰 산 The deep valley, the high mountain (Seoul: Chakka chŏngsin, 1987)
• 겨울 골짜기 The Winter Valley (2 volumes, Seoul: Minŭmsa Co., 1987)
• 바람 과 강 Wind and Water (Seoul: Munhak-kwa chisŏngsa, 1985)
• 어둠 의 사슬 The Black Chain (Seoul: Koryŏwon, 1980)
• 노을 sunset (Seoul: Munhak-kwa chisŏngsa, 1978)
• 어둠 의 축제 The Black Festival (Seoul: Yemungwan, 1975)
• 어둠 의 혼 The Spirit of Darkness (1967)

Volumes of stories

• 물방울 하나 떨어지면 When a drop of water falls (Seoul: Munidang, 2004)
• 세월 의 너울 The Years (Seoul: Sol, 1960)
• 그곳에 이르는 먼 길 The long way to get there (Seoul: Hyŏndae sosŏlsa, 1992)
• 이상 문학상 수상 작품집 The Cell of the Soul: Collected Works of the Yi Sang Literature Prize Winners (Seoul: Munhak sasangsa, 1990)
• 환멸 을 찾아서 Looking for disappointment (Seoul: Tongsŏ munhwasa, 1984)
• 도요새 에 관한 명상 Meditation on plover (Seoul: Hongsongsa, 1979)
• 오늘 부는 바람 The wind that blows today (Seoul: Munhak-kwa chisŏngsa, 1976)

Translations into German

• Wind and water . Translated by Heidi Kang and Ahn Sohyun, with an afterword by Heidi Kang. Pendragon, Bielefeld 1998, ISBN 3-929096-53-6 .
• The house in the deep courtyard . Translated and introduced by Gwi-Bun Schibel-Yang and Wolfgang Schibel. Iudicium, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-89129-721-1 .
• Afterglow . Translated by Kim Hyuk-Sook and Manfred Selzer. Iudicium, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-86205-394-0 .

Awards

• 2012 - Silver Medal for Cultural Merit
• 2005 - Manhae Literature Prize
• 2003 - Isu Literature Prize
• 2002 - Republic of Korea Art Prize
• 2002 - Hwang Sun-won Literature Prize
• 1998 - Isan Literature Prize
• 1998 - Han Mu-suk Literature Prize
• 1997 - Yŏngnam University Prize ( charangsŭrŏn yŏngdaeinsang )
• 1993 - Sŏrabŏl Literature Prize
• 1992 - Ugyŏng Art and Literature Prize
• 1991 - Christian Culture Prize
• 1990 - Yi Sang Literature Prize
• 1987 - Yosan Literature Prize
• 1984 - Tongin Literature Prize
• 1979 - Korean Prize for Prose Literature
• 1978 - Literature Prize of the President of the Republic of Korea
• 1978 - Korean Literature Prize for Narrative Literature
• 1974 - Prize for Contemporary Literature

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 네이버 인물 검색: 김원일 , accessed January 20, 2014 (Korean).
2. ↑ LTI Korea Author Database ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2013 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. 
3. ↑ KTLIT: A place to learn to write: Sunchon National University has Kim Won-il AND Kwak Jae-gu (김원일, 곽재구) (English).
4. ↑ LTI Korea: Author Database: Kim Wonil ( Memento of the original from April 7, 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 on August 8, 2013. 
5. ↑ Daum 책: 김원일 , accessed August 8, 2013 (Korean).

Web links

• Literature by and about Kim Won-il in the catalog of the German National Library

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Kim is the family name here, Won-il is the first name.