Novel
황혼
Not translated into English
Han Seol-ya · 1936
Synopsis
Park Yeo-sun, an educated young woman, is a governess in the household of the wealthy Kim Jae-dang and is at risk of losing her place. Kim Gyeong-jae finds her a job in the spinning mill run by An Jung-seo. They grow closer, but those around them object, and Gyeong-jae marries Hyeon-ok, An's daughter. Giving up the security he could have offered her, Yeo-sun becomes involved with Jun-sik, who leads the factory workers, and works with him, while management treats the staff harshly.
Context
The novel appeared as a serial in the Chosun Ilbo from 5 February to 28 October 1936. It was the first long novel its author devoted to the working world; he wrote it after leaving prison, in the last months of 1935, when the proletarian federation had just been dissolved. The book is divided into two parts, the torments of an intellectual and then the world of the workers facing the employers, and rests on two love triangles. Lee Kyung-jae's study sees in the heroine the character who changes most, guided by Jun-sik and by Hyeong-cheol.
Who it is for
A long novel in two parts, first sentimental then working-class, which exists neither in French nor in English.
Prizes and reception
The critic Im Hwa judged it a failure when it was published, according to the weekly Kyunghyang; it was translated into Russian as early as 1958.
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