Song Ki-suk

Song Ki-suk
Hangeul	송기숙
Hanja	宋 基 淑
Revised Romanization	Song Gi-suk
McCune- Reischauer	Song Ki-suk
See also : Korean name

Song Ki-suk (born July 4, 1935 in Changhŭng , Chŏllanam-do ) is a South Korean writer .

Life

Song Ki-suk was born on July 4, 1935 in Changhŭng , South Chŏlla Province . Before his literary debut, he wrote critical articles about Yi Sang and Son Ch'ang-sŏp , which were published in the magazine Modern Literature (Hyŏndae munhak). However, he eventually turned to prose to tell the story of the suffering the Korean people endured. He studied Korean literature at Chonnam University . While he was working as a professor at that university, he was arrested for writing the "Declaration for the Democratization of Education" (교육 민주화 선언문). He was later released but lost his position as a lecturer. In 1980 he was arrested again for his involvement in the Kwangju uprising . He was not released until the following year. He is currently working as a professor at his alma mater.

The need to describe the lives of ordinary people and record their continuation in Korean history is a motivating aspect in Song's works. This need becomes clear in his work Trauergesang in Charitgol (자릿 골 의 비가), which is about the tragedy that three generations of a normal family go through in a remote village in the province of Chŏlla. With the cemetery in Charitgol as a background, a series of events is retrospectively told that bring conflict and grief to the small village. However, the story ends with a happy ending as the younger generation manages to remove the cause of the tragedy.

Work

Korean

Novels

• 자 랏골 의 비가 Funeral song in Charitgol (1977)
• 암태도 Amtae Island (1981)

Short stories

• 백의 민족 The white people (1969)
• 도깨비 잔치 The Festival of the Kobolds (1978)
• 재수 없는 금의환향 The Unfortunate Journey Home (1979)
• 개 는 왜 짖는가? Why do dogs bark? (1983)
• 테러리스트 Terrorist (1986)

Essay collections

• 녹두 꽃 이 떨어지면 When the Mung Bean Blossoms Fall (1985)

Awards

• 1996 - 제 13 회 요산 문학상 ( Yosan Literature Prize )
• 1995 - 제 12 회 금호 예술상 ( Kŭmho Art Prize )
• 1994 - 제 09 회 만해 문학상 ( Manhae Literature Prize )
• 1973 - 제 18 회 현대 문학상 ( Prize for Contemporary Literature )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Korean Literature Authors Name Authority Database: 송기숙 ( Memento of the original from October 6, 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 June 12, 2014 
2. ↑ Depending on the source, July 4th or 5th is given as the date of birth. This article uses Naver People Search's birth date (네이버 인물 검색): 송기숙 Retrieved June 12, 2014 (Korean)
3. ↑ Author Database of LTI Korea: Song Gisuk ( Memento of the original from June 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been 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 June 12, 2014 

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Song is the family name here, Ki-suk is the first name.