On July 1, 2011, artist Cho Se-hee gives a lecture at the foundation ceremony of the Human Rights Center held at the Mapo Art Center in Seoul. Kyunghyang Newspaper data photo
<난장이가 쏘아올린 작은 공>Cho Se-hee, the author of “Sung-hwan,” passed away on the 25th, said Myeong-won Lee, a professor at Humanitas College at Kyunghee University (literature critic). She is 80 years old.
Professor Lee spoke to the reporter on the phone that evening and said, “Mr. Cho Se-hee passed away at Kyunghee University Hospital in Gangdong around 7:00 pm on the 25th from Suk-hwan. It seems that her mortuary will be set up at the funeral hall of Kyunghee University Hospital in Gangdong.” Professor Lee confirmed the news of his death from his bereaved family.
On January 21, 2009, writer Cho Se-hee visited the site of the Yongsan disaster in Seoul. Kyunghyang Newspaper data photo
The deceased was born on August 20, 1942 in Mukan-ri, Seorak-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do. He attended Boseong High School and the Department of Creative Writing at Seorabeol Arts College. He graduated from the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Kyunghee University.
In 1965, while studying at Kyunghee University, he made his debut after winning the Kyunghyang Shinmun New Year Literary Contest for ‘Jugs without Masts’. He had a long hiatus without writing a novel after that, and in 1978, his representative work depicting the lives of the urban poor suffering from industrialization <난장이가 쏘아올린 작은 공>(Nansso Gong) was published. It was a series of novels depicting the lives of the urban poor with the stories of the ‘dwarf’ family and their neighbors living in an unauthorized house in Haengbok-dong, Nakwon-gu, Seoul. <난쏘공>is evaluated as a masterpiece in the history of Korean literature, which confronts the contradictions of Korean society in the 1970s squarely and enhances aesthetic possibilities by mobilizing fantastical techniques.
The deceased longed for an era in which this masterpiece would not be sold. <난쏘공> In an interview with the Kyunghyang Shinmun in June 1996, which marked the 100th printing, “In the 1970s, an era of martial law and emergency measures, <난쏘공>was written because of the urgency to put up a ‘warning sign’ in our lives driven to the edge of a cliff. It is a great joy for an artist to have a work break through 100 prints, but it is no longer <난쏘공>I hope there will come a time when this is not necessary.”
The time the deceased hoped for has not come. The book reached 300 printings in 2017. At that time, the cumulative circulation was 1.37 million. This work was ranked first (76 votes) in a survey of ‘the most outstanding novels in the history of Korean literature’ conducted in 2002 by the quarterly ‘Literary Person’, targeting 109 literary officials, including professors of Korean literature and creative writing, literary critics, and editors of literary magazines. was also cited.
The work is a text that evokes issues of workers and the poor, capital, redevelopment and demolition, and social justice. The deceased said that he had always thought about the issue of Korean labor and class. Professor Lee said that he met with Cho in the winter of 2020. “What the teacher continued to worry about at that time (Kim Yong-gyun’s death, etc.) was the workers and the tragic situation they faced. ‘It seems that (people) are losing interest in labor issues as time goes by. Writers and critics have to speak deeply,” he said. In a lecture in 2011, author Cho said, “Those in their 20s, never let go of hope. If you fall into cynicism, you can’t get out of it. We cannot do common work or common homework. Cynicism is our enemy’s favorite.”
Professor Lee <난쏘공>was defined as the most beautiful and outstanding labor literature in Korea. He said, “Since the 1970s <난쏘공>Because of the tendency to read <<> as an allegorical allegory, people did not know or misunderstood the class nature of the novel. What the teacher was deeply concerned about was the issue of justice for workers, the urban poor, and the underprivileged at the bottom of our society. It needs a reexamination of literary history,” he said.
In January 2009, the deceased visited the site of the Yongsan disaster along with poet Song Gyeong-dong and others. he is “<난쏘공>It’s been 30 years since it was published, and nothing has changed in those 30 years. On the contrary, the situation got worse.” In an interview with the Kyunghyang Shinmun at the time, he expressed bitterness and anger at the ‘remaining reality’ of Nakwon-gu and Haengbok-dong in the novel. .
After the news of the death was announced, condolences continued on social media. Hong Myeong-gyo, a platform C activist, prayed for his soul by linking to an article he said at the site of the deceased’s Yongsan disaster, “I will write ‘If I write, this is a massacre’.”
Kwon Seong-woo, a professor at Sookmyung Women’s University (literature critic), posted on Facebook, “The big star of our society and literary world has lost. It’s so sad that I can’t express it. It looks like condolences will be available from tomorrow. He deeply wishes for the rest of the deceased.” The funeral is on the 28th.