Yeom Seungsuk

Yeom Seungsuk (1982 – ) is a South Korean novelist. Since 2005, she has steadily published literary works as novelist, and she has also been working as a literary critic since 2017. Her novels deal with the desperate realities facing ordinary people in contemporary society and the issue of lost identity, in magical and fantastical narratives.

Life

Personal life and literary practice

Yeom was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1982. During childhood, she would repeatedly read an anthology of Korean contemporary stories and imagine their backstories. To pursue her dream of becoming a novelist, she studied creative writing in college. During her college years, she used to recall her favorite Korean authors and write literary pieces as if she were one of those writers. Then, during her days of literary practice, she used to carry a Korean dictionary with her and memorize words as if she were studying a foreign language, or sometimes she used to invent her own words. Before her formal literary debut, Yeom had already won several literary awards from her own college, which made her professors call her yeomjak (Author Yeom).

Two literary debuts

She made her literary debut in 2005 by publishing a short story entitled “Baemkkoriwangjwi” (뱀꼬리왕쥐 The Big Rat with a Snake’s Tail), followed by the short story collections Chaepeullin, chaepeullin (채플린, 채플린 Chaplin, Chaplin) (2008) and Noweeomaen (노웨어맨 Nowhere Man) (2011) as well as the novel Eotteon naraneun neomu keuda (어떤 나라는 너무 크다 Some Countries are Just Too Big) (2013).

In 2017, she also had her debut as a literary critic. According to Yeom, she gradually came to write literary criticisms because she continued to read works of other authors and asked herself questions as a reader. Her debut work “Eomneun miraewa gulchakgiui sokdo-baksolmoe 《dosiui sigan》ron” (없는 미래와 굴착기의 속도-박솔뫼 《도시의 시간》론 No Future and the Speed of an Excavator: Criticism on Time of a City by Park Sol-moe) received positive critical reviews for its firm critical consciousness of and serious interest in issues facing younger generations of Koreans who cannot expect any stable future.

Other activities

Yeom Seungsuk has also been actively engaged in diverse fields outside the literary world of writing novels and criticisms. To begin with, she attended graduate school and studied Korean literature, receiving a master’s degree for her study on post-Korean War writings of author Han Moo-sook.

Since 2017, she has been hosting a podcast show entitled Table Talk by Novelists Yeom Seungsuk and Yun Ko Eun (소설 쓰는 윤고은, 염승숙의 테이블). Yeom says that she launched this podcast show because she wanted to communicate with aspiring writers and readers about novel writing as she used to have lots of concerns about how to write a novel before becoming an author herself.

Writing

Yeom Seungsuk’s novels are characterized by fantastical narratives that unfold situations that are impossible in ordinary realities. Yet, the fantasies in her novels are not that far removed from our realities. In Yeom’s novels, fantasy and reality coexist without discomfort, their boundaries ambiguous. For this reason, it is almost impossible to clearly distinguish fantasy and reality in her novelistic spaces. Through such novelistic strategies, the author asks a fundamental question about human existence, including Who am I? Do I really exist here and now? If so, how can I prove this? If Yeom’s novels contain any truth, it will be the fact that we cannot be certain about any truth at all. By immersing themselves in her stories that are amalgamations of fantasy and reality, readers come to ask themselves about what kind of world we live in and who we are as beings living in such a world.

Short story collections

The characters in Chaepeullin, chaepeullin (2008) are all nobodies, with almost no presence. They have ordinary jobs, for instance, as a public servant working at a city hall, a real estate agent, and a physical therapist. They lead an oppressed existence burdened by repetitive daily routines. Then one day, strange, fantastical things happen to them: They come across a big rat with the tail of a snake, which pursues human tailbones, their teeth are replaced by the bones of an iguanodon, and a strange plague, which paralyzes one’s body fixed in a slanting position, breaks out. These bizarre circumstances provide them with opportunities to restore identities that were gradually lost in familiar daily routines.

Similarly, in Noweeomaen (2011), fantastical accidents, such as metamorphosis, the disappearance of a person and the outbreak of an epidemic, occur commonly. However, unlike in Chaepeullin, chaepeullin, the realities facing characters in this novel are much more realistic. Most of them are those excluded from social safety nets, such as a bankrupt debtor, an irregular worker, a person removed from the resident registration. For this characters, who were alienated from a society filled with cutthroat competitions, survival is much more important that moral issues such as truth and lies, the good and the evil. A sense of crisis felt by these individuals on the verge of a devastating end do not stay as their personal experiences but spread to an ever-increasing number of people. In this respect, Yeom’s novels approach the invisible crisis looming from each individual’s daily life and inner self as a common phenomenon occurring throughout the entire society.

Novels

Yeom’s critical consciousness of issues in ordinary people’s lives later leads to her satirical novels. In Eotteon naraneun neomu keuda (2013), she creates “Bingo World” consisting of too big a world and too small humans. In Bingo World managed by a large construction firm, people live uniformized lives as equally shaped Bingo pieces. The novel also contains an allegory of political incidents that sent shock waves through Korean society, such as the 2012 NIS public opinion manipulation scandal. Such literary devices effectively satirize the social conditions of this age that constantly shake one’s individual identity.

In Yeogie eopdorok haja (여기에 없도록 하자 Let’s Not Be Here)(2018), adults who do not work turn into hams. Every day, television news reports on “today’s ham” as if it were a weather forecast, with subtitles detailing the information on unidentified hams. Fearing that they can turn into hams, then dried, twisted and crushed, people are unable to quit their labor even though they experience unfair treatment or get injured. Instead, they desperately continue their labor as if the avoidance of becoming a ham were their life’s goal. In this respect, against the backdrop of such dystopia, Yeom contemplates on what it means for a human to make money and sustain their living in this capitalist society while asking how humans should exist in this world that defies any predictions on the future.

Works

Anthologies

• 《채플린, 채플린》, 문학동네, 2008 / Chaepeullin, chaepeullin (Chaplin, Chaplin), Munhakdongne, 2008
• 《노웨어맨》, 문학과지성사, 2011 / Noweeomaen (Nowhere Man), Munji, 2011
• 《그리고 남겨진 것들》, 문학동네, 2014 / Geurigo namgyeojin geotdeul (And the Remaining Things), Munhakdongne, 2014

Novels

• 《어떤 나라는 너무 크다》, 현대문학, 2013 / Eotteon naraneun neomu keuda (Some Countries are Just Too Big), Hyundae Munhak, 2013
• 《여기에 없도록 하자》, 문학동네, 2018 / Yeogie eopdorok haja (Let’s Not Be Here), Munhakdongne, 2018

Themed Short Story Collections, Co-Written Works, and Other Collections

• 〈자작 나무를 흔드는 고양이〉, 태기수 외 공저, 《캣캣캣》, 현대문학, 2010 / Tae, Gi-su et al. “Jajang namureul heundeuneun goyangi” (The Cat Who Shakes a Birch Tree. In Kaetkaetkaet (Cat Cat Cat). Hyundae Munhak, 2010.
• 〈결국엔, 아픈 것〉, 〈따뜻한 농담들의 세계와 만나다〉, 김이설 외 공저, 《불가능한 대화들》, 산지니, 2011 / Kim, I-seol et al. “Gyeolgugen, apeun geot” (It Hurts in the End) and “Ttatteutan nongdamdeurui segyewa mannada” (Meeting the World of Warm Jokes) In Bulganeunghan daehwadeul (Impossible Conversations). Sanjini, 2011.
• 〈마음을 쓰는 일〉, 윤이형 외 공저, 《작가와 고양이》, 폭스코너, 2016 / Yun I-hyeong et al. “Maeumeul sseuneun il” (Caring) In Jakgawa goyangi (Author and the Cat). Fox Corner, 2016.

Children’s Books

• 염승숙 글, 김수현 그림, 《SOS 과학 수사대 2: 공룡 시대에 가다》, 아이즐, 2009 / Yeom Seungsuk. SOS gwahak susadae 2: gongnyong sidaee gada (SOS Scientific Investigation Squad 2: A Journey to the Age of Dinosaurs). Illustrated by Kim, Su-hyeon. Aijeul, 2009.
• 염승숙 글, 김령언 그림, 《SOS 과학 수사대 3: 금개구리를 구하라》, 아이즐, 2009 / Yeom Seungsuk. SOS Gwahak Susadae 3: Geumgaegurireul Guhara (SOS Scientific Investigation Squad 3: Save Seoul Pond Frogs!). Illustrated by Kim, Ryeong-eon. Aijeul, 2009.

Awards

• Hyundae Munhak Magazine New Writer’s Award (현대문학 신춘문예) (2005) for “Baemkkoriwangjwi” (뱀꼬리왕쥐 The Big Rat with a Snake’s Tail)
• Kyunghyng Daily News New Writer's Award (2017) for “Eomneun miraewa gulchakgiui sokdo-baksolmoe 《dosiui sigan》ron” (없는 미래와 굴착기의 속도-박솔뫼 《도시의 시간》론 No Future and the Speed of an Excavator: Criticism on Time of a City by Park Sol-moe)

Further reading

• Gang. Ji-hui. “A Crown Who Returned from the Moon: Chaepeullin, chaepeullin by Yeom Seungsuk.” Munhakdongne, 2009 Summer Issue.
• Park, In-seong. “An Unborn Human: Criticism on Yeom Seungsuk.” Munhakdongne, 2013 Winter Issue.
• Jeon, Cheol-hui. “Dampened Daydream: And the Remaining Things by Yeom Seungsuk.” Munhakdongne, 2015 Spring Issue.