Uncle Sooni

Hyun Ki-young's Complete Short Stories, Part 1: Uncle Sooni

Sword play.
Uncle Sooni.
The crow of Doryungmaru.
The story of the sea dragon.
Gaeodong with my wife.
Spring breeze.

First rite.
beggar.
In front of winter.
father

Uncle Sooni

April in Jeju, where "Uncle Sooni" is found.
The 40-Year Literary Life of Hyun Ki-young, a Master of Modern History

A collection of short stories (3 volumes) by Hyun Ki-young, who has lovingly delved into the history of Jeju Island's suffering through a mature style that combines solid composition and lyrical description, and has focused particularly on restoring the historical truth of the "April 3 Incident," has been published.
From his debut work "Father" (1975) in the Dong-A Ilbo New Year's Literary Contest, which caused a great stir in the literary world when it was published in the quarterly journal "Changjakgwa Bipyeong," to "Uncle Suni" (1978), which can be said to be the pinnacle of the "April 3rd Novels" and the "April 3rd Incident" itself, to the masterpiece of short stories "The Last Teuri" (1994), a total of 30 short and medium-length works (including the courtyard play "Ilseokpuli" and the play "The Bird Crying in the Borderland") are revised and presented with new covers.
Although it is a masterpiece, this collection, which allows one to savor the essence of Hyun Ki-young's novels, which demonstrate outstanding literary achievement, commemorates the 40th anniversary of the author's debut and sheds new light on his work.
These masterpieces, imbued with profound reflection on history and affection for humanity, still evoke unwavering emotion, and the author's steadfast and thoughtful literary life resonates deeply.


It was precisely because of that sadness that the old man could not leave the meadow.
But that sadness was no longer passion.
That gentle sadness was like having a cold spring in my heart that never dries up, and it actually purified my heart.
But sometimes, seized by a terrible passion, he would cry out towards the fields like a spirited ox.

The mists of the prairie still swarmed with the sad souls of the dead, and the ownerless skeletons still rolled in some cave or another, and some cows died of intestinal ruptures after accidentally eating rusty bullet casings hidden in the grass while grazing, but the world no longer remembered the past of the prairie.
(The Last Teuri, page 25)

The first volume, “Uncle Sooni,” contains ten short stories, including the title story.
Among these, the early trilogy stands out: "Uncle Sooni," which first brought the long-tabooed "April 3 Incident" to the world's attention; "The Crow of Doryeongmaru," which vividly recreates the brutal scene of "that day" using historically present-day techniques; and "The Story of the Sea Dragon," which highlights the tragedy of the "April 3 Incident" not as a past history but as a present-day event.
His debut work, "Father," which depicts the anxious psychology of a boy whose father joined the "riot," is also connected to the "April 3 Incident."
In particular, his masterpiece, "Uncle Sooni," is a controversial work that vividly uncovers the truth that had been thoroughly concealed for 30 years through the process of retracing the life of "Uncle Sooni," who miraculously survived a massacre but suffered from hallucinations and a nervous breakdown and eventually committed suicide. It is worthy of being considered a work that will remain in the history of modern Korean history and literature.


But no matter what anyone says, it was clearly a sin.
Yet, for thirty years, that sin has never been denounced.
It was something that was completely out of the question.
This was because the islanders believed that the military commanders and police officers of the time were still in power and had not yet fallen.
I was afraid that if I brought it out rashly, I would be branded a communist.
I didn't even have the courage to hold a joint memorial service, let alone report it.
They were so frightened that they were scared.
Yes, that's right.
What they wanted was never accusations or revenge.
The idea was simply to hold a joint memorial service and erect a monument to console the souls of those who died unjustly.
(Uncle Sooni, pp. 85-86)

In addition, works such as “Wife and Gaeodong,” which delicately depicts the agony of intellectuals and the helplessness of individuals, and “The Beggar,” which paradoxically criticizes the consciousness of the petty bourgeoisie, clearly reveal the author’s social consciousness. In works such as “Kkochsambaram,” “Chohongut,” and “In Front of Winter,” which aesthetically explore the world of individual consciousness, the tendencies of his early novels can be glimpsed.
"Sword Play," a satire of the corruption of the ruling class of the Joseon Dynasty, strikes a chord with today's society with its outstanding imagination and symbolism.


Why is it that great injustice is not a sin, but only small ones are?
Does the larger the scale of injustice, the more it escapes the mask of injustice? Yes.
A thief is much more like a petty thief.
When it becomes bold and becomes a masterpiece, the thief's mask is already taken off.
Even corruption needs to have a petty and petty side to be truly corrupt. Stealing a single grain of rice or a single strand of thread while burning one's heart is corrupt, but embezzling two hundred seoks of Hwan-gok rice is no longer corruption.
(…) That was no longer a denial, but a high authority.
The greater the corruption, the more it was transformed and transformed into a great success in managing the country.
(Sword Playing Game, pp. 27-28)

The second volume, "Asphalt," contains works that cover a variety of subjects, including "Lost Days," "Asphalt," and "Road," which are classified as "April 3rd Novels," as well as "Return Ship," which depicts the joys and sorrows of poor people from Jeju Island, "Mr. Nakamura's English," which exposes the educational environment where colonial remnants still persist, and "Ilshikpuri," which uses the form of a madanggeuk (outdoor play) to awaken the people through the conflict between good and evil.
Rather than vividly reenacting the scene of suffering here to denounce the violence and tragedy of the incident, the author presents a serious exploration of the possibility of overcoming the wounds of history through reconciliation and forgiveness.
If the previous works were narratives of requiem for the dead, these three works can be said to be narratives of comfort for the survivors.
In particular, "Asphalt" ends with a glimpse of reconciliation between the perpetrator and the victim, and in "Road," instead of anger, the emotions of those who live with the scars of the April 3 Incident as if it were their fate are depicted in a sorrowful manner.

So it was not an inevitable and inevitable death.
It was not the death of one person, but a meaningless death added to the death of others.
How could a human life be so casually disposed of? I barely managed to suppress the anger that surged through me.
Arthur.
You shouldn't hate Hwijin's father.
Isn't it the logic of times of chaos that countless things happen that are impossible to imagine with ordinary eyes?
People often say that it is because of the times, but the perpetrator was not an individual, but rather an era that made the individual crazy.
(The Road, pp. 122-123)

The third volume, “The Last Teuri,” includes the title work “The Last Teuri,” which was praised by Yeom Mu-woong as “a masterpiece that will shine in the history of our short story literature, possessing all the elements required for a short story,” as well as works related to the April 3 Incident such as “A Holy Life,” “Thirsty Gods,” “Iron and Flesh,” and “Hometown,” as well as the autobiographical novel “The Man in Crisis,” “The Savage Time” that deals with the reality of the time, and seven other short stories, as well as the play “The Bird Crying in the Borderlands,” which is an adaptation of the full-length novel “The Bird Crying in the Borderlands.”
In "Iron and Flesh," which breaks away from the traditional grammar of the novel and shows an unconventional formal experiment, the author tells the story of a tragic scene, crying out in a rather passionate tone about the barbaric era that "made individuals crazy."


Oh, it's so mysterious.
I can't believe it.
I can't understand.
It is an unprecedented and unparalleled disaster.
Humans cannot destroy humans, or their own kind, so mercilessly.
It is not human death.
Even animals don't die in such a mass death.
The perpetrators called it 'hunting'.
It was called 'Red Hunt'.
The communists were not human.
“All those who died then were communists.
“If he wasn’t a communist, why would he die?” I can’t understand.
I can't understand.
It's so mysterious.
When the carcasses were doused with gasoline and set ablaze, the smell was similar to that of a burning pig.
So did the perpetrators smell that savory smell and confirm once again that what they had killed was not a human but an animal?
(Iron and Flesh, p. 177)

If we take a closer look at the works of author Hyun Ki-young, only one-third of them are novels about the 'April 3 Incident'.
The rest are stories other than 'April 3rd', and in his early novels, he showed a world of works preoccupied with skepticism about the lives of petty bourgeois people, criticism of the absurd reality of the time, and exploration of the world of the desolate inner consciousness of humans.
He also presented a self-confessional novel based on his experiences as a teacher.

The arrow accurately targeted only the flesh, avoiding the bones.
His body felt as if it had been thrown into a blazing fire.
Oh, if only I could shed this painful body! A body that betrays the spirit, who would have thought my body so damned?
If only my soul and body could be separated and I could die! If only I could at least get a good laugh… … (…) When the beating was over, he was neither a teacher nor a writer, nor a father of three nor a husband to one woman, nor anything else, but a prey animal with a shitty mouth.
(Man in Crisis, p. 223)

Nevertheless, Hyun Ki-young has established himself as a writer who truly represents Jeju and the ‘April 3rd Literature.’
This shows that when looking at the entirety of April 3rd literature, Hyun Ki-young is the most unique, and that the 'April 3rd Incident' is a literary inspiration and foundation for the author himself.
The 'April 3rd Incident' was "a remote place that the central government on land did not care about, a place of exile where enemy soldiers who had been exiled traveled two thousand miles by land and sea to arrive after enduring great hardships.
A land of ruins where there was no administration for the people, only for the horses, and no intention of pastoring the people, and only the care was given to fattening the national horses.
It is a symbol of the trauma of the Jeju people who have lived through a history of hardship in “The Cursed Land, the Land of Heavenly Punishment” (Sea Dragon Story, p. 159), and of the life and history that completes the writer’s literary career.
As Lim Gyu-chan evaluated, author Hyun Ki-young, who has maintained a “thoughtful literary life that transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary” (“Commentary”), has not “written novels” but “lived novels.”


Swan's Hands, what a wonderful saying.
Of course, that's how the April 3rd ancestors should be honored.
It would have been right for all the islanders to become one descendant, regardless of whether they were my ancestors or your ancestors.
What kind of business can you do, what kind of study can you do, what kind of life can you talk about without knowing about April 3rd?
It will all be in vain.
What effect would it have if a lowly idiot like me were called here and there to perform a shamanic ritual?
In order to appease the souls of those who died at the same time on the same day, the entire village, no, the entire island people, as one family, should come together and publicly perform a large ritual at the same time on the same day.
Tens of thousands of soldiers, flowing in groups along the wind and clouds, will protect us as the most miraculous ancestral gods, as this is the most unjust death ever experienced.
Oh, Baekjoilson, what a wonderful saying.
Clump, lump, lump, lump.
(The Thirsty Gods, p. 99)