Hyun Kil un

Life

Hyun Kil-Un was born on February 17, 1940, on Jeju-do Korea. Hyun graduated from Jeju University and then Hanyang University's Graduate School. Hyun is currently a professor of Korean Language and Literature at Hanyang University.

Work

Hyun's work can not be separated from his birthplace, Jejeu-do, the largest island of Korea. Hyun's Jeju-do was not a vacation destination, but the land of the first mass rebellion after the Korean national division. Hyun visits and re-visits the events of the time, and the scars that they caused.

The stories contained in his first collection, The Dream of Pegasus (Yongma ui kkum, 1984), deal specifically with the traumatic historical event remembered as “April 3rd Uprising”, in which masses of ordinary civilians were slaughtered by the police in an attempt to rout communists. Hyun tries to reinvestigate this event and properly mourn the death of innocent people in order to console their hovering spirits. Often it is the unique customs and folklore of Jeju Island that suggests a way toward healing: “The Journal of Gwangjeong Pavillion” (Gwangjeong dang gi, ) and “Ceremony on the Last Day of the Month” utilize the traditional legend of a “strong woman” to describe the hope people of Jeju harbor for the return of a hero who will save them from the tyranny of politicians and bureaucrats. Hyun has also been concerned with ideological or historical distortions of truth. Private truth is to be privileged over official accounts; The Skin and the Inner Flesh (Kkeop-jil gwa soksal, 1993) employs the sustained metaphor of surface and depth to characterize the relationship between official, often ideologically manipulated versions of “truth” and enduring human truths buried beneath. It is precisely these surface distortions or historical fallacies that he seeks to expose in “Fever” (Sinyeol) and “A Strange Tie” (Isanghan kkeun).

Works in Translation

Works in Korean (Partial)

Story Collections

Novels

Critical Studies

Awards