Literature as Encounter and Discovery, as exemplified by Hahn Moo-Sook’s novel Encounter

Literature as Encounter and Discovery, as exemplified by Hahn Moo-Sook’s novel Encounter

The Italian explorer Columbus (1451-1506) discovered the American Continent in 1492. Of course, the unknown continent had existed even before he discovered it. But through Columbus’ discovery the unknown entity has emerged above the surface of the historical waters as a "New World." Literature is like a voyage in search of a new continent, and the author is like Columbus. In the course of our lives, undiscovered subject matters abound like countless islands in the gigantic ocean of awareness. If perchance such a continent is not discovered through the eyes of a writer, it would sink to eternal oblivion. An author, therefore, is like an explorer who, through an endless literary voyage, discovers and reveals a fascinating New World. Accordingly, an author may be called a christener of a particular subject matter just as Columbus who, upon discovery of an unknown continent, finally helped it exist by naming it America. Just as a conductor’s baton directs a violinist in an orchestra or a drummer’s dance, when a writer names something, he or she confers upon it both its existence and meaning.

In classical Korean literature, two great literary pieces, The Tale of Ch'unhyang and The Tale of Shimchong, represent two prototypes to which modern Korean literature can be related. In the classical tale of Ch’unhyang, the important motif is none other than "encounter." Love sprouts from an encounter at the Kwanghan Pavilion in Namwon in the Southwestern Province of Cholla, between Yi Mong-nyong, son of the county magistrate, and Ch’unhyang, daughter of a retired kisaeng (a woman entertainer, similar to Japanese geisha). For them, their class...

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Just as the moon is somewhere in the sky, even if it is sunken into the

eastern mountain, my faith is constant in my heart. Just as the water is still in

the pond, even if it is evaporated from the surface, my faith is constant.

Saint Francis said the following:

Flower petals fall, but the flowers never wither forever.

Indeed, the author Hahn Moo-Sook has died and left us. However, just as the moon is still in the sky and the flowers come back every year, although flowers fall, she is still meeting us and she is living next to us through her work Encounter. The greatness of literature is none other than that.

1Encounter: A Novel of Nineteenth-Century Korea by Moo-Sook Hahn, Translated by Ok Young Kim Chang. Foreword by Don Baker. University of California Press, 1992. ISBN(s): Cloth-- 0520073800 Paper-- 0520073819