What is the most important post-war Korean novel?
The Dwarf by Cho Se Hui (1942 – ) was published in 1978 and is the writer’s most famous work. It’s said to be the most important post-war Korean novel as it depict the lives of the working classes in the 1970’s when Korea began its economic development.
It’s actually a collection of 12 stories told from different points of view. And the stories have a dark, unstable vibe in an atmosphere where the threat of violence is never far away. Slum dwellers fight the men who come to demolish their homes. Labourers come to blows with their bosses. The rich are involved in dodgy deals. Rich and poor carry weapons!
SETTING & BACKGROUND
To understand the book we need to know about Korea at the time. It’s hard to imagine Seoul in the 70s. Few cars on the streets. Pavements lined with pay phones. Fridges and TVs owned only by the well-to-do. President Park Chung-hee’s ambitious economic development plan was in full swing.
And Seoul was industrialising fast. The south of the Han River (Yeouido and later Gangnam) was developed and the first high rise apartments were built there for an emerging middle class. But much of Seoul was still made up of shanty towns. See this article from the Korea Times.
picture: Korea Times, Cheonggyecheon stream, Seoul 1970s.
However, the Park administration was a military government suppressing free speech and human rights. This meant that conglomerates were able to treat workers as they chose, all in the name of economic growth. And whilst the company owners grew wealthier, the poor labourers worked under terrible conditions – reminiscent of workers in the cotton factories in northern England in the 19th century.
There are details of this later on in the book, when the dwarf’s family moves to the fictitious port city of ‘Ungang’ near Seoul (probably Incheon). It has factories built by the chaebol ‘Ungang group’. The story ‘City of Machines’ shows how the workers are not only treated like machines, but worry constantly about their health. When the wind is blowing in the wrong direction it can blow toxic air across the city.
TITLE STORY: A LITTLE BALL LAUNCHED BY A DWARF
The title story follows the fate of a dwarf and his family when they get an eviction notice – their home is going to be demolished. Their area is being developed and their home which is illegal must be knocked down. But they have no money and nowhere to go. Different members of the family deal with the problem in different ways with a tragic ending.
(I’ve done several posts on this kind of low income mountain housing in Seoul)
The character of the dwarf symbolises the powerlessness of the ordinary working class folk. He is small – not only in stature, but also in power. The dwarf’s wife is afraid when her son tries to fight the system. She is right to be afraid. It can’t end well.
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The Struggling Working Class
The stories jump around from different points of view. Some are written in the third person and others in first person. So it can take some time to work out who is speaking or who the story is about.
For instance, there are the struggles of the dwarf’s son with labour unions, the rich grandchildren of the conglomerate boss who live in luxury, and the men profiting from real estate.
The class divide is pronounced. The dwarf’s family lives in slum illegal mountain housing by a brick factory and sewer ditch. The middle class live in the new high rise apartments, and the wealthy chaebol families live in houses in the gated area of Mount Bugak in Seoul.
In The Spinyfish Entering My Net the grandson of the chaebol group shows how he has no sympathy for the workers and sees them as others, disgusted by how dirty and smelly they are and by their worn skin and haggard physical appearance (due to hard labour) which make them different to him.
Still relevant today
Though written 40 years ago the issues dealt with in the book are still relevant today. Cho criticises how the rise in wealth has brought a decline in morals and humanity. The social criticism is hammered home. In some parts it gets a bit repetitive as the writer highlights the plight of the factory labourers. The writer made the novel easy for anyone to understand by writing in a simple style and short sentences.
However, this is not light reading. But it’s thought provoking. The normalisation of violence is shocking. And it’s the social and historical perspective that makes this the most important post-war Korean novel.
related posts
The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness by Shin Gyoung Sook. a semi-autobiographical account of the the working conditions in the factories from a female perspective.
What’s a good book on Korean Buddhism?
Who are some contemporary female writers?
