<난장이가 쏘아올린 작은 공>Cho Se-hee, the author of “Sung-hwan,” passed away on the 25th, said Myeong-won Lee, a professor at Humanitas College of Kyunghee University (literary critic). 80 years old.
Professor Lee spoke to the reporter on the phone that evening and said, “Mr. Cho Se-hee passed away at Gangdong’s Kyunghee University Hospital around 7:00 pm on the 25th from Suk-hwan. It seems that Vinso will be set up in the funeral hall of Gangdong’s Kyunghee University Hospital. Professor Lee confirmed the news of the death from the grieving family.
The deceased was born on August 20, 1942 in Mukan-ri, Seorak-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do. Lui attended Boseong High School and Seorabeol Arts College, Creative Writing Department. He graduated from the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Kyunghee University.
In 1965, while studying at Kyunghee University, he made his debut after winning the Kyunghyang Shinmun New Year Literary Contest for “Jugs without Masts”. After a long break without writing a novel, in 1978 she wrote a representative work describing the life of the urban poor affected by industrialization. <난장이가 쏘아올린 작은 공>(Nansso Gong) has been published. It was a series of novels depicting the life of the urban poor with the stories of the “dwarf” family and their neighbors who lived in an unauthorized house in Haengbok-dong, Nakwon-gu, Seoul. <난쏘공>it is rated as a masterpiece in the history of Korean literature, addressing the contradictions of Korean society in the 1970s and enhancing the aesthetic possibilities by mobilizing fantastic techniques.
The deceased longed for a time when this masterpiece would not sell. <난쏘공> In an interview with the Kyunghyang Shinmun in June 1996, which marked the 100th printing, “In the 1970s, an era of martial law and emergency measures, <난쏘공>it was written out of an urgency to put a ‘warning sign’ in our lives pushed to the edge of a cliff. It’s a great joy for an artist to have a break from working through 100 prints, but it’s not anymore <난쏘공>I hope there will come a time when that won’t be necessary.”
The time hoped for by the deceased has not arrived. The book reached 300 printings in 2017. At the time, the cumulative circulation was 1.37 million. This work was ranked No. 1 (76 votes) in a 2002 poll of “Most Important Novels in the History of Korean Literature” by Literary Person Quarterly of 109 literary officials, including professors of Korean literature and creative writing. , literary critics and editors of literary magazines were also cited.
The work is a text that evokes the themes of workers and the poor, of capital, of redevelopment and demolition, of social justice. The deceased said that he always thought about the issue of Korean labor and class. Professor Lee said he met Cho in the winter of 2020. “What the teacher kept worrying about at the time (Kim Yong-gyun’s death, etc.) was the workers and the tragic situation they faced . ‘It seems that (people) are losing interest in labor issues as time goes on. Writers and critics need to speak deeply,” he said. In a lecture in 2011, author Cho said, “Twenty-somethings never lose hope. If you fall into cynicism, you can’t get out of it. We can’t do common jobs or common tasks Cynicism is our enemy’s favorite.”
Professor Lee <난쏘공>it has been called the most beautiful and outstanding work literature in Korea. He said: “Since the 70s <난쏘공>Due to the tendency to read <<> as an allegorical allegory, people either did not know or misunderstood the classy nature of the novel. What the teacher was deeply concerned with was the question of justice for the working people, urban poor, and underprivileged at the foundation of our society. He needs a re-examination of literary history,” she said.
In January 2009, the deceased visited the Yongsan disaster site together with poet Song Gyeong-dong and others. he is “<난쏘공>It’s been 30 years since it was released and nothing has changed in those 30 years. In fact, the situation has gotten worse.” In an interview with the Kyunghyang Shinmun of the time, she expressed bitterness and anger at the “remaining reality” of Nakwon-gu and Haengbok-dong in the novel. .
After the news of the death was announced, condolences continued on social media. Hong Myeong-gyo, an activist from Platform C, prayed for his soul by linking to an article that said about the deceased’s Yongsan disaster site, “I will write ‘If I write, this is a massacre’.”
Sookmyung Women’s University professor Kwon Seong-woo (literary critic) posted on Facebook: “The great star of our society and the literary world has lost. It’s so sad that I can’t express it. It seems that condolences will be available from tomorrow. I sincerely wish rest to the deceased.” The funeral on the 28th.
