The Human Arachnid

Kye Yong-muk

Kas 2014 · 20th Century Korean Literature Kitap 24 · Literature Translation Institute of Korea

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“The Human Arachnid” was first published in 1928 in Joseon Jigwang (The Light of Joseon), a journal affiliated with the proletarian literature movement of the late 1920s and early 1930s. This story deals with the chance meeting of two friends, Gyeong-su and Chang-o, who had labored together in a place that was presumably Japan, before being separated in the chaos and violence following an earthquake that was presumably the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. With the story’s focus on the labor conditions faced by Koreans under the Japanese Empire, it is unsurprising that many of the details linking the story to contemporary events have been redacted by the censors. The overall arc of the story, beginning with an account of the despair of the working classes and ending with a hopeful message of the benefits if workers come together, reflects a theme common in proletarian literature.

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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 can be said to have begun 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.”