Counting Stars

Kye Yong-muk

noy 2014 · 20th Century Korean Literature Kitab 22 · Literature Translation Institute of Korea

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“Counting Stars” was first published in 1946 in the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper. The story is set in post-liberation Seoul, and captures a contemporary perspective on the tremendous upheavals taking place in Korean society at that time. The main character and his mother have returned from Manchuria to find that Korea has radically changed in their absence. Landing in Incheon, they discover that the 38th parallel prevents them from returning to their old home in the north, while the influx of returnees makes it impossible for them to find a house in Seoul. The relations between people have changed, and the main character soon realizes that society has entered into a state of silent war with itself: an emotional war that prefigures the fratricidal hostilities that would erupt on the Korean peninsula less than four years later.

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Kye Yong-muk (1904 - 1961), was born Ha Tae-yong on September 8, 1904, in Seoncheon, Pyeonganbuk-do, Korea. He attended Whimoon Normal School (present day Whimoon High School), and began his literary pursuits alongside the pioneers of modern Korean literature, including authors such as Yom Sang-seop, Nam gung-byeok, and Kim Dong-in. In 1928, he travelled to Japan to enroll in Toyo University.

The real beginning of Kye’s career as a writer began with the publication of his short story “Mr. Choi” (Choi Seobang) in the literary magazine The Joseon Literary Sphere (Joseon Mundan). His reputation as a writer would then be firmly established with the publication of works such as “The Human Arachnid” (Indujiju), “Idiot Adada” (Baekchi Adada).

Following independence, Kye attempted to maintain neutrality even as the Korean literary world was riven by an increasingly fractious left-right divide, and published the literary journal Joseon with Jeong Bi-seok. He passed away in 1961, in the midst of the serialization of a novel for Modern Literature (Hyeondae Munhak). His stories in this collection include “Like a Chicken on a Folding Screen” (Byeongpung-e Geurin Dalk-i), “Idiot Adada,” and “Counting Stars.”