Mujong (The Heartless)
Yi Kwang-su and Modern Korean Literature
Kwang-su Yi, Ann Sung-Hi Lee
- 444 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
Mujong (The Heartless)
Yi Kwang-su and Modern Korean Literature
Kwang-su Yi, Ann Sung-Hi Lee
About This Book
Yi Kwang-su (1892â1950) was one of the pioneers of modern Korean literature. When the serialization of Mujong (The Heartless) began in 1917, it was an immediate sensation, and it occupies a prominent place in the Korean literary canon.
The Heartless is the story of a love triangle among three youths during the Japanese occupation. Yi HyĂ
ng-sik is a young man in his mid-twenties who is teaching English at a middle school in Seoul. Brilliant but also shy and indecisive, he is torn between two women. Kim SĂ
n-hyĂ
ng is from a wealthy Christian family; she has just graduated from a modern, Western-style school and is planning on continuing her studies in the United States. Pak YĂ
ng-ch'ae is a musically gifted young woman who was raised in a traditional Confucian manner; due to family misfortune, she has become a kisaeng but remains devoted to HyĂ
ng-sik whom she knew as a child.
The Heartless goes beyond the level of romantic melodrama and uses these characters to depict Korea's struggles with modern culture and national identity. A long critical introduction discusses Yi Kwang-su's life and work from his birth in 1892 to the publication of his first novel The Heartless in 1917. It contains in-depth analyses of the novel, Yi Kwang-su's literary theory, and early short stories.