One of Korea’s most renowned 20th century authors, Pak Kyongni often wrote stories set in the aftermath of the war and during the several military dictatorships. Pak passed away in 2008, but her work has been revived in English with a recent collection in translation, The Age of Doubt. These seven stories are all set in the 1950s and ’60s, a far cry from the glitz and glamor of modern-day Seoul. Each of the seven stories, furthermore, is translated by a different translator. While the stories differ, and not just in translator, a similar sense of darkness pervades all of them.
There are autobiographical elements as well, in at least some of Pak’s stories. Her husband was accused of being a communist and disappeared during the war, later dying in prison, and her son died at a very young age. In “The Age of Darkness”, translated by Dasom Yang and first published in 1958, Soonyoung is a mother of two and a widow. Her husband was killed in the war and since then she has tried to eke a living by running a small shop selling fruit, snacks, and a few bottles of alcohol. Her widowed mother lives with the family, too.
Tragedy strikes Soonyoung’s family when her young son is suddenly injured badly in a fall. He’s rushed to the hospital, but, as Soonyoung soon learns, the standard of care is not equal amongst all patients.
Then enter two young men in white gowns, either interns or assistants. Soonyoung stops crying and raises her head. They take a cursory look at the boy, and one of them says, “You’ll need to go buy some blood. His blood pressure is too low, he might die during the operation.” Soonyoung buries her face by the boy’s feet again, avoiding looking at her mother who is thudding her chest with her fists. As she closes her eyes, she sees a red ocean of blood.
The search for blood and lack of help from the hospital drives the urgency and frustration of this story.
“The Age of Doubt”, whence the collection gets its title, is translated by Anton Hur and was first published in Korean in 1957 and follows a similar storyline as “The Age of Darkness”. Another young boy suffered an accident and was neglected by doctors in the hospital. His mother Jinyoung turns to religion to find solace. She first tries a Catholic church on the advice of a distant relative. Yet she doubts she will find consolation there.
When Jinyoung had decided to go to the church for the first time, she’d thought that while religion was an artificially created presumption, she would willingly turn herself into a clown or a tumbling doll if it meant it brought Munsu relief. But her forced intentions refuse to set in her heart.
She then visits a Buddhist temple and finds that people in both places of worship just care about money.
In other stories, like “Retreat”, translated by Emily Yae Won and first published in Korean in 1958, Pak writes moody scenes to frame what’s to follow.
Snow was falling over the night streets. Hyein was at Mimosa Western Dress, her shop at the entrance of Myeongdong. She was cutting pieces from a blue wool she’d spread out on the worktable. There was a hint of desolation in her profile. Outside, the snow continued its descent. The shop was empty but for the arced shadow of Hyein’s slightly stooped shoulders darkening the opposite wall. A long mannequin stood watch from a corner behind her. Hyein was working late as the customer had requested the item be ready by next evening. She could have passed the work on to another tailor if she’d had reason to hasten back home, but she didn’t. After a spell of work, Hyein stilled her hands and glanced at the window. A vague light flitted across her thin, forlorn face.
Moments later a drunk man would come crashing through her storefront window, shattering glass everywhere. Hyein recognized him as Kim Byoung-gu, the man her sister had left for a communist in the North. “Retreat” centers around Hyein’s own affection for Byoung-gu and whether he can get past his affection for her sister.
The remaining stories also involve personal relationships and complex characters—mainly women—who find themselves making difficult decisions that often result in heartbreak.
Pak’s stories were so popular in South Korea that many were the basis of film and television dramas. The Age of Doubt is a unique collection because it was put together for English readers and the translators seem to have resurrected her somber and contemplative tone, reminiscent of her era. And as Professor Kang Ji Hee of Hanshin University writes in an afterword, translated by You Jeong Ki: