Koreana Summer 1997 (English) by The Korea Foundation

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KSRFANAIR BEYOND YOUR IMAGINATION

Ching

This ching is used by the SamulNori percussion troupe.

The ching is a large gong made of hammered brass and suspended from a cloth cord. The musician holds the ching in the left hand and with the right hand strikes it with a large male~ the tip of which is tightly wrapped in cloth. The ching's rich, sonorous sound sets the beat for much of Korea's traditional music. Originally, it was used in military signaling; the ching sounded a retreat whereas a drum was used to sound an advance. Later, the ching was used in military processional bands, farmers' music and dance, shamanic and Buddhist ritual music, and in

royal ancestral rites. It remains an important part of Korean music today. The ching provides the basic beat for the rhythmic cycles found in traditional music. The small gong, or kwaeng1~ is used to produce rhythmic flourishes. What the sound of the ching lacks in variety it makes up for in depth. Its reverberating echo seems to draw the listener into a mysterious other world. No Korean can hear the ching without swaying to its beat It is the sound of Korea, the signal of new beginnings. +

Cover: On the occasion of the

Korea on Stage

Performing Arts Today

\Vorld Congress of the Internationa! Theater Institute (IT!) to he held in Seoul in September

1997, KOREANA takes a look

ROUND TABLE

at Korea's performing arts as well as performing arts venues

and festivals. Featured on the cover is a scene from a tradi-

Theater Now and in the 21st Century

12 The 1997 Theater of Nations hy.fung}in-soo

tiona! mask dance drama.

16 The Roots and Transmission of Korean Performing Arts hy Lee Mee-won

22 Major Theatrical Groups hy Koo Hee-sue

32 Theater in the 1990s by Kim Yun-cheol

Performing Arts Venues

FOCUS

Namsadang: Wandering Folk Troupes hy Sim Woo-sung

The opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily represent those of the editors of KOREANA or The Korea Foundation.

Korean Masks Depicting Skin Diseases

KOREANA, registered as a quarterly magazine with the Ministry of Information (Registration No. Ba-Hl33, dated Aug. 8, 1987), is also published in French, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese.

ON THE ROAD

by Lee Sung-nack

54 Ch'odang Village in Kangnung hy Kim .faa-young

62 KOREAN ARTISTS ABROAD

Lee Ki-soon hy Lim Young-ju

Korea Foundation

Vol. 11, No. 2 Summer 1997

66 Rediscovering Indigo Blue: Dye Craftsman Han Kwang-sok by Lee Hyoung-kwon

72 INTERVIEW

Yu Miri Writing and Self-Discovery by Park Hae-hyun

KOREAN A Published quarterly by The Korea Foundation 526 Namdaemunno 5-ga, Chung-gu, Seoul 100-095, Korea PUBLISHER-EDITOR

Kim ]oungwon EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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DISCOVERING KOREA

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Summer Insects

Kim Young-uk

by Nam Sang-ha

EDITORIAL BOARD

81 CURRENTS

In Search of Plum Blossoms by Kim jong-kyu

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Han Myung-hee, Kim Hyung-kook, Kim Kwang-on, Kim Moon-hwan, Kim Seong-wou, Lee Ku-yeol, Shim Jae-ryong SUBSCRIPTIONS

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J ROUND TABLE

eater

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In September 1997, the 27th World Congress of the International Theater Institute (ITI) will be held in Seoul, the first Asian city to host the event. Approximately 90 countries will send delegations to the event, which brings together ITI members for a world theater festival, a university theater festival, symposiums and other performing arts activities. KOREAN A takes this opportunity to gather four experts on Korean theater to discuss the significance of the ITI World Congress for Korea and for world theater, the role of Korean theater on the international stage today, and its future as globalized theater.-Ed. Kim Moon-hwan President, Korean Cultural Policy Institute; Professor, Seoul National University Kimjeong-ok President, ITI Worldwide; Dean, Graduate School of Art, Chung-ang University Sohnjin-chaek Artistic Director, Theater of Nations (ITI World Congress 1997) Limjin-taek Chairman, Executive Committee, International Open-Air Theater Festival

Kim M. H. The focus of our discussion today is Korean performing arts on the occasion of the ITI World Congress in Seoul this fall. Professor Kim Jeong-ok was elected president of ITI Worldwide at the Caracas World Congress in 1995 to much fanfare in the Korean and world theater communities. Let's begin by examining the ITI. How is it organized and what kind of work does it do? Professor Kim, as ITI president, could you give us some background on the ITI? KimJ. 0. The International Theater Institute was founded on June 28, 1948, to facilitate international exchanges of knowledge and practice in theater arts in order to promote peace and friendship among peoples, to deepen mutual understanding, and to increase creative cooperation between all theater people. It is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) with formal associate relations with UNESCO and is UNESCO's principal Âˇinternational NGO partner in the field of the performing arts. At present, over 90 countries have national and associate ITI centers, which form the basis for the ITI's membership. The ITI also has seven committees, each with its own program of activities to promote the performing arts and enhance international exchanges. These committees cover dance, music theater, playwrights, theater education, communications, cultural identity and development, and the dramatic theater. Kim M. H. The ITI is celebrating its 50th anniversary next year, and Korea has been a member since 1958. That's a long time! How did Korea become involved with the ITI? I've heard that Messrs. Yu Chi-jin and 0 Yong-jin, two major director-producers, and Pak Sokin, a prominent stage designer, were involved. Kim J. 0. The Korean ITI Center was established on January 24, 1958.

We officially joined the ITI in 1959 when a Korean delegation attended the 8th World Congress in Helsinki. Korea has sent a delegation to all subsequent World Congres ~ and has actively promoted international exchanges and Korean theater overseas. During the Cold War era, the ITI was one of the few avenues for artistic exchanges with countries in the Eastern bloc, .with which South Korea had no diplomatic relations. The Korean ITI Center has since sponsored numerous international events, on its own and in cooperation with other organizations. Among these were the Third World Theater Festival and Colloquium in 1981, the Asia Theater Festival celebrating the 1986 Asian Games held in Seoul, the Seoul Olympic World Theater Festival held in 1988, and the Asia-Pacific Theater Festival held in celebration of the Korean Year of Theater in 1991. Since 1994 the center has also participated in the annual Beseto Theater Festival, which is held on a rotating basis in the three major capitals of Northeast Asia Bei)ing, Seoul and Tokyo. I think the Korea National Center has made its greatest contribution since it joined the ITI's executive committee in 1981. The inclusion of countries such as Korea has helped the ITI move away from its Eurocentric approach. Kim M. H. The convening of the ITI World Congress in Seoul this year certainly suggests a significant shift away from Eurocentricism. How was Seoul selected? Kim). 0. I was elected to the executive committee at the World Congress in Istanbul in 1991. Some of us hoped to stage the World Congress in Seoul but a majority said it was too soon. We suggested this again at the 1993 World Congress in Munich, and Seoul was tentatively selected. The final decision was made at the 1995 gathering in Caracas. The 1997 Theater of Nations, an international drama festival, was also scheduled for Seoul at that time. I think these decisions reflect the gener-

ally positive impression that the Korean ITI Center has made over the years as well as the growing interest in East Asia. We owe a great deal to the Chinese and Japanese ITI Centers as well. An organizing committee consisting of members of the National Theater Association of Korea and the Korean ITI Center is managing the events and encouraging participation from throughout the local theater community. Kim M. H. The ITI doesn't focus on theater alone. The World Congress embraces a broad variety of performing arts and will be a wonderful opportunity for the development of Korean performing arts in general. Could you tell us more about the subsidiary ~vents? Kim J. 0. As you mentioned, the Korean ITI Center is also sponsoring the Theater of Nations, the Open-Air Theater Festival, the International Festival of Higher Education Theater Institutes, as well as numerous symposiums. The exact number of participating delegations is still up in the air, but it looks like about 90 countries will participate as members or observers. That includes several countries that are reapplying for membership. We expect the foreign delegates will number some 300 to 400, excluding the casts and staffs of plays to be presented here. Mr. Sohn and Mr. Lim are responsible for two of the main events. Kim M. H. These international performing arts festivals look like they will provide a valuable opportunity for theater people and the general public to see performing arts from around the world. I'm' looking forward to it. As artistic director of the Theater of Nations, could you tell us more? Sohn The Theater of Nations, also called the International Theater Festival of Nations, is sponsored on a rotating basis by the member countries. This year's festival will serve as an international showcase for the Korean performing arts and will introduce trends in world theater and performing arts to

Kim Moon-hwan

It is important to.develop art

as a means of confirming our humanity, but it is also important to realize that art is inextricably linked to newly developing sectors such as the infGrmation, film and video industries. If we don't utilize our artistic potential, the products we put on the international market will suffer and we'll end up sfaves to cultural imperialism.

Kim]eong-ok

It is difficult

overcome

regional barriers, but we have to interact with other world cultures in order to rediscover ourselves. Lately, the exchange of information has become so rapid, we need

be careful

of imitation. Artists must

discover and express a unique sense of self

local audiences. Through this program we hope to contribute to an enhanced understanding of global culture. During this year's event we plan a world theater festival in Seoul as well as many outdoor performances throughout the Kyonggi region. There will be invitational performances of works from outside Korea and selected Korean works. The Theater of Nations was launched under the banner of multiculturalism through the performing arts so each continent is represented in the festival. Japan's noh and kabuki theater and China's Beijing Opera were introduced to Europe through this festival, and the Korean classic The Tale of Ch'unhyang was performed by a Korean troupe in 1957, shortly before South Korea officially joined the ITI. In the selection process, priority was given to works that reflect the unique characteristics and variety of each region. We've also selected works, the artistic excellence of which has been already proven in performances. The festival is noncommercial and all participants must endorse that position. Eight Korean works have been selected by local critics. They are all examples of New Drama. A number of other Korean works that have been introduced at the annual Seoul Theater Festival, but that have not yet been performed, were also selected. Mr. Lim can tell us more about the Open-Air Theater Festival, which is billed as an international madangguk. Kim M. H. The term madangguk (open-air theater) is a proper name exclusive to Korean. The concept developed in the 1980s out of t'alch'um, Korea's 'traditional mask dance. The Korean ITI Center has organized a festival around this concept because most nations have comparable forms of outdoor or free-flowing performing arts. I've also heard that a new Korean madangguk piece is planned to demonstrate the unique elements of Korean theater. Lim Yes, you're right. At first, we didn't plan an international madangguk

event. However, in the course of preparing for the Theater of Nations, part of which was to be held in (Jiwang in Kyonggi-do province, we ran into some difficulties. The scope of the project posed a threat to the local environment in lJiwang and the cost of the facilities was alarmingly high. And the local communities weren't sure how they would use the facilities after the festival ended. Ultimately that event was canceled, but the experience got us thinking: Isn't there an environment-friendly way of holding a drama festival which doesn't require immense investments in physical plant? Then at the National Theater Movement Conference we saw a potential solution: The theme of this year's World Congress is "A Paradigm Shift of Civilization and Performing Arts in the 21st Century." With that shift .in mind we decided to hold a festival of outdoor performances, much like the Korean madangguk. The Theater of Nations held in Seoul will be a kind of exhibition, gathering national theater troupes from around the world to perform some of the finest plays in the history of world theater, while our madangguk festival, which is now scheduled to be held in Kwach'on, will assemble ten overseas troupes and ten Korean groups to create a,kind of village festival. It will be a modern urban festival for the city with a population of 70,000 and a reputation for respecting the environment. The local self-government system is also working well there. That) why we selected Kwachon as the site. Kim M. H. The Beseto Theater Festival and symposium is also planned. Professor Kim, you're one of the cofounders of the Beseto Theater Festival. Could you explain what it's all about? Kim J. 0. The festival was founded in 1994. This year it is being held in Seoul and just happens to coincide with the ITI World Congress. The ITI's Theater Education Committee oversees the Beseto festival, which is an event

for university students. The ITI is 50 years old, so we're hoping the Beseto Theater Festival and the madangguk .festival will bring some new life to the . ~m accomorganization. The sympoiu panying the festival will focus on the theme Mr. Lim mentioned earlier: "A Paradigm Shift of Civilization and Performing Arts in the 21st Century." We've invited the Nobel Laureate W ole Soyinka, the Korean poet Kim Chi-ha, the theater scholar Eugenio Barba from the Netherlands, and others. A number of other events are linked to the ITr World Congress in Seoul. Within the ITI is a progressive group dedicated to the promotion of experimental theater. Generally speaking, the world theater community is becoming more conservative, but the group has continued to call for experimentation. Thus, on the occasion of the Seoul World Congress, the ITI's New Theater Project Group has collaborated on an international production of King Lear from an Asian perspective. The World Critics Association's Executive Committee will also hold its annual meeting in Seoul during the ITI World Congress, as will the Stage Design Committee of the International Stage Artists Association. An exhibition and symposium are associated with that meeting. In a sense, Korea is providing a stage for the world performing arts community. Dozens of groups from overseas will perform, as will many Korean performing groups. The ITI World Congress is the catalyst for all the events, just as it is the catalyst for our discussion today. Kim M. H. You're right. Many people argue that this event should focus on the globalization of Korean performing arts. Many Korean theatrical works have been performed overseas. As I recall, the critical response has been quite favorable. Perhaps we should turn now to the experiences of Korean theater groups abroad. How have they been received and where

A Korean version ofHamlet

does Korean theater stand on the international stage? Sohn I've accompanied several per. forming groups overseas. Each time I was concerned about our lack of overseas experience. We've never studied how Western audiences react to our peculiar performance vocabulary. We don't know how to establish a bond with Western audiences. And yet when our troupes perform overseas, the response is remarkably positive and encouraging. I wonder if we aren't underestimating our strengths because of our lack of international experience. Kim M. H. Could you tell us more about those performances? Sohn The first was a ch'angguk rendition of the classic Tale of Shimch'ong. Ch'angguk is a 20th century outgrowth of p'ansori, a popular vocal format in which a single vocalist portrays, with words and gestures, numerous dramatic personae. In ch'angguk the roles are played by different singers wearing costumes and

makeup on a stage that resembles those used in Western or Chinese opera. The Shimch'ong tour took us to Hungary and Yugoslavia. The response was remarkable. We tried to update the performance-we put all the dialogue in song and used overlapping lightingbut European audiences seemed most impressed by the ch'ang itself. I also accompanied the troupe that performed General Os Toenail at the Russia-Pacific Theater Festival. There too we were practically treated like state visitors! The play resembles a traditional exorcism aimed at appeasing disgruntled spirits. Non-Koreans can't understand the dialogue, but they really get involved in the play. During this year's Beseto Festival I'm producing Ch'oe ln-hun's To the Mountains and Fields When Spring Comes. This play has already been performed in China and .made a big impression there. Many theater scholars have been impressed by Korea's madangguk. They're amazed by its vibrancy, and I have to

Ch'oe In-hun'sTo the Mountains and Fields When Spring Comes

agree. Professor Kim has taken many plays abroad. I'm sure he has had similar experiences. Kim J. 0. Yes. My first overseas tour was with What Do You Want to Be?, an adaptation of Pak U-chun's dramatization of legends surrounding village spirit posts. Since then I've toured with Flowers Bloom Even on a

Windy Day, Blood Wedding, Hamlet and Flowers Without a Name Fall in the Wind. Each tour involved five or six performances in Europe or Japan, so I've had lots of experience. The advantage of overseas performances is the reviews. They offer another point of view, a chance for reevaluation and new discoveries. For example, we were invited to take What Do You Want to Be? to the Rennes Festival in France, which is a festival of new musical theater. We wondered why we were invited because we'd never thought of the play as a musical. When we asked the organizers, they said they had discov-

! .

ered new potential for musical theater in that play. So it is through the eyes of others that we often discover new posÂˇsibilities in our work. It is difficult to overcome regional barriers, but we have to interact with other world cultures in order to rediscover ourselves. Lately, the exchange of information has become so rapid, we have to be careful of imitation. Artists must work hard to discover a unique sense of self. When you send a work of art into the international marketplace, your efforts are judged by much more rigorous standards. Kim M. H. I've been in the audience during performances of several Korean works overseas and often wondered how our Koreanness can be effectively conveyed. Of course, Korea's artistic value and national character is recognized by non-Koreans, but as a Korean watching these works I've sometimes felt that portions of these works resemble Japanese or Chinese theater. In the eyes of a non-Korean, I wonder if these works are being applauded for their differences as something Asian-that is, non-Western. I've often wondered how we can convey the uniqueness of Korea while at the same time revealing the universality of the themes portrayed in these works. Kim J. 0. I understand what you mean. I think that the ultimate question is how to best harmonize national distinctiveness and universality. For example, I directed a Korean version of Federico Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding for overseas performances and have received numerous invitations to stage it again in Spanish-speaking countries. I've found that despite the obvious differences between our version and Garcia Lorca's 1933 original, there is a certain universality in theme. For a director, the staging and reinterpretation inÂˇ Korean terms of a worldfamous play that is known for its universality of theme are extremely attractive. Works that have universal appeal in the West can be expressed and

understood in Asian or Korean terms. That is what these works prove. The plays are Western, but when they are reborn in the Asian or Korean context we discover ourselves. Lim The upcoming ITI World Congress is the first to be held in Asia. As overseas troupes are invited to Seoul and Korean works are presented to an international audience I think we need to consider the issue of duality. This will be an opportunity to present Korean theater to non-Korean audiences and theater people, but it will also be an opportunity for us to taste the broad range of theater experiences that are available today. I think we need to discuss where our focus should be. Is the purpose of a theater festival to discover the universality of one's own experience? It is difficult for Korean artists to identify the unique nature of Korean theater if they've only been active in Korea. They have to see theater from the outside in order to recognize what is unique and universal in their own work. I think that the discovery of new seeds for the future, which lie hidden within all of us, will be the most important result of this fall's gathering. Sohn It's important to invite foreign troupes here to perform new works, but I think this event is most significant for opening a door to the globalization of Korean theater and the movement outward by Korean performing artists. Theater is often seen as the exclusive possession of the theater community or the relatively few people who go to plays. I hope that this event will inspire popular interest in performing arts throughout Korean society. Lim I would like to speak on the issue of future directions. Theater, especially theater in the West, revolves around language. That is why international exchanges have at times been difficult. There has been a tendency toward using this problem of language as a pretext for a dependence on gestures, movement and sound. At over-

SohnJin-chaek

The ITI World Congress is most significant for opening a . door to the globalization of Korean theater and the movement outward by Korean performing artists. Theater is often seen as the exclusive possession of the theater community or.the relatively few people whogo to pia ys. This event should inspire popular interest in all performing arts.

Hi seas venues I've noticed that some plays, which have been critically <3 acclaimed and well received, have lacked content. The function of language is lost and only abstract concepts remain. Some make a virtue of this situation, calling this genre "deconstructionism" or "alternative theater." I can't help thinking that the quality of theater has deteriorated as a result. Some theater people seem driven by a desire for popularity. Kim M. H. When you think of theater you can't deny the importance of entertainment and fun. However, any performing group that focuses on simple diversion and box office success is bound to be criticized for a lack of depth and content. Language is not simply a collection of phonetic symbols; it is a tool for the transmission of meaning. We can't ignore the function of language. However, in the process of assembling this thing called language, we can distinguish between the language of the period when Westernstyle rationalism and the worship of science were in vogue and language that is empowered as a tool for the expression of humanity. Some years ago, an international event was held under the theme "Cry of Asia," which provided an opportunity to discover the potential of language. Actors from many Asian countries gathered to experiment with the concept of an uniquely Asian sound or language. Of course, in many cases, English was used, but some actors used their native languages to express themselves and their meaning got across. Through this event I sensed that the diverse actions used in Asian theater and performing arts can express feelings as well as language. In the "Cry of Asia" event Asian actors and theater groups demonstrated the potential for an Asian, or even international, universality that could be expressed in their native languages and movements. Lim I was recently involved in a p'ansori performance in Hong Kong where we anticipated a serious com-

Lim]in-taek

In the future, we must work harder to attract a domestic and international audience while maintaining a fighting spirit that insists upon the highest artistic standards_ '\

Hopefully the works performed at the IT! gathering will serve as an artistic formula for the coming millennium, not simply as theater representing a passing era.

munication problem. P'ansori is an extremely powerful form of expression, but there is no way of expressing the content of the narrative to people who don 't understand Korean. We decided to use subtitles to get the story across, but the audience was actually more interested in p'ansori as a form, not as a narrative. There is a certain energy in p'ansori. Despite the linguistic barriers dividing the performer from the audience, that energy was passed on through the singer's voice. Kim M. H. In closing, let's discuss what we hope to achieve during this year's ITI World Congress. Everyone is working so hard, considering it is the first ITI gathering in East Asia. Fortunately, we've had some practice with smaller international festivals in provincial cities. There was a puppet theater festival in Ch'unch'6n. Inch'6n is planning to invite several overseas Korean theater companies to a festival aimed at promoting a better understanding of the history of Korean emigration, and Suw6n has already hosted a small international drama festival. Kwangju, host to the Kwangju Biennale, which will be held for the second time this autumn, has also hosted a number of international art gatherings. Through these events Korea's performing arts have broken out of their isolatLon. The performing arts community has begun to examine Korean theater as -part of world theater and, through continued international exchanges, to search for universal and unique aspects of their art. _ Kim J. 0. I hope that Korean artists will use the ITI World Congress to establish Seoul as the center for the performing arts in Asia. The public perception of the performing arts is still quite weak in Korea. In some societies, performing arts are a driving force that helps develop other cultural areas. Lim Because the theme of the congress is a paradigm shift of civilization and performing arts in the 21st century, I hope we can move in this direction ourselves. Over the years the Korean

People's Theater Association, which I'm associated with, has played the role of a somewhat combative social critic and hasn't gotten much sympathy from the public. In the future, we must work harder to attract a domestic and international audience while maintaining a fighting spirit that insists upon the highest artistic standards. I hope the festivals planned for the ITI gathering will serve as an artistic formu la for the coming millennium, not simply as theater representing a passing era as have the festivals of the last 20 years or so. Sohn As I mentioned earlier, I think our priority should be on effectively introducing Korean theater, which is in itself universal, on the international stage, not simply on inviting overseas companies to perform here. In my view, this fall's festivals will be successful if they provide an opportunity to reevaluate the roots and the unique characteristics of Korean theater. We

also must reconsider trends. in Korean theater: Have we cut ourselves off from tradition? Are we moving too far toward the West? Do we judge ourselves by a Korean yardstick or a Western yardstick? I hope that this gathering will serve as an opportunity to develop a theater culture which respects and preserves interregional relations, international relations and relations between different ethnicities. Kim M. H. Lately, the film industry has been getting a lot of attention. There's a tendency to focus on the hardware-that is, the making of films and other visual media-and to downplay the software, or content. I believe that this year's ITI gathering should deal with the issue of performing arts and other art forms as content for the film industry and other developing visual genres. We also have to develop the loca_l tourism industry. This is a high value-added sector but we must have

things to see, things to eat and things to do. Culture is important in all of these activities but particularly in the development of things to see. In my view, it is important to continue to develop art as a means of confirming our humanity, but it is also important to realize that art is inextricably linked to newly developing sectors such as information and the visual industries of film and video. If we don't utilize our artistic potential, the products we put on the international market will suffer and we'll end up slaves to cultural imperialism. This year's theater events must serve as an opportunity to confirm the power of art, but we can't allow it to end there. We have to carry on after the ITI World Congress is over. I hope that this fall's gathering opens the door for regular theater events on a somewhat smaller but equally. significant scale. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us today. +

Kiikdan

Chayu~Flowers

Without a Name Fall in the Wind 11

PREVIEW

The 1997 Theater of Nations jungjin-soo Chairman, National Theater Association of Korea

he Theater of Nations, an international festival of performing arts, will be held in Seoul and Kwach'on, Kyonggi-do province, this autumn, the first time the event has come to Asia. Begun under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1954, the Theater of Nations will be held in conjunction with the 27th World Congress of the International Theater Institute (ITI), due in Seoul at that time. Until 1965, the two-month-long festival showcasing plays from around the world was held regularly in Paris with subsidies from the French government. During the first ten years, 180 plays from 50 countries were performed. The theater companies that became known through the festival include the Berliner Ensemble, Picolo Teatro della Citla de Milano, Living Theater and the Peking Opera. Also, A Long Day's journey into Night, a work by the Nobel Prize winner Eugene O'Neill, was first performed at the Theater of Nations. During the initial period, the Theater of Nations became well known for facilitating international exchanges of knowledge and dramatic practices in the theater arts. In 1966, Jean-Louis Barrault took over its management and endeavored to expand its international aspects. Nonetheless, the festival shrank because of the negative influence of political and social circumstances, and in some years it was not even staged. In 1973, the ITI changed the rules so that the Theater

of Nations could be held in other cities; the festival began to follow the biennial ITI World Congress around the world. Members of the Korean theater community hope Korea will emerge as a center of preforming arts in Asia with the hosting of the ITI World Congress and the Theater of Nations.

The entire performing arts community is making a concerted effort with the full support of the government for the success of the event. The Theater of Nations will run from September 1 to October 15, coinciding with the 21st Seoul Theater

Festival, and will use theaters throughout Seoul. This festival is set to become an annual international event, albeit on a small scale, beginning in 1998. The Seoul Theater Festival has primarily been a competition for new drama with 8 to 12 works competing. But this year a new category will be added in which about ten works representative of Korean theater that have been staged since the 1960s will be invited to perform. Accordingly, Korean plays to be staged during the Theater of Nations festival in Seoul will number about 30; in addition to the revival of ten representative modern works, there will be eight new works and about ten works in an open category. The revival will include works by representative playwrights such as Pak Cho-yol, 0 T'ae-sok, Yi Kang-baek, Kim Kwang-rim and Yi Yun-t'aek and first-rate directors such as Im Yongung, Sohn Jin-chaek, Kim A-ra and Ch'ae Yun-il. The works include not only original Korean plays but also adapted versions of modern Western classics such as those by Samuel Beckett, Bertolt Brecht and others. . Although the focus of the festival is theater, six modern dance pieces have been included to demonstrate Korea's artistic diversity. In addition, ch'angguk, classical Korean opera, and a version with an all-female cast called y6s6ng kukkuk, will be presented along with a creative ch'angguk in the style of a Western musical. Supplementary shows will feature Korean traditional music, folk music and p'ansori (epic narrative singing).

Foreign Productions The schedule calls for foreign theater productions. Originally, the organizers intended to give more emphasis to Asian participants, considering that this is the first Theater of Nations to be held in Asia. But during the invitation process, it soon became apparent that budget constraints and scheduling conflicts would limit the number of Asian participants. Experimental and unusual performances from Western countries that widen the definition of theater will enliven the festival. Western participants include La Mama of the United States, Image Aigue of France, the Carlo Calla puppet theater of Italy, Les Deux Monde of Canada, Atlis of Greece and the Craiova National Theater of Romania. Other participating groups will come from Venezuela,

the Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Latvia and Iceland. The organizers failed to find appropriate Asian groups and works despite concentrated efforts. Information on performances by groups from the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Bangladesh was carefully reviewed, but no satisfactory works emerged because the invitation is limited to groups that perform modern theater works. Apare~tly, modern theater has yet to take root in Asia. In the end, invitations were extended to the Sopanam Theater of India, the Shanghai People's Art Theater of China, and three theater companies and an open-air theater (madangguk) troup~ from Japan. Though the concentration on Japan was not intentional, it would be a great boon if the festi-

val can lead to the promotion of theater arts exchanges between Japan and Korea. A regular meeting between the Koreans and Japanese engaged in theatrical activities began two years ago, and with the occasion of the Theater of Nations a new channel might be opened for more active exchanges focusing on the theater arts. Festival organizers have also invited some important dance troupes to participate. Maguy Marin from France and the New York City Ballet will participate as well as dance troupes from Hungary and Germany. It is regrettable that there will be no music theater companies performing. Although the organizers wanted to invite music theater companies, no appropriate works were found apart from traditional operas and American musicals. Âˇ

Shimch'ongga performed asch'anggiik, classical Korean opera 13

"' Diverse Forms of Theater Although diverse forms of theater including traditional works are scheduled, the festival may appear to be Jacking in new types of theater or originality. Perhaps this is because the theme of the festival has not been clearly established. Besides, the organizers are more or less preoccupied with giving Koreans a chance to see foreign performances, since this will be the first international festival of its kind in Korea. Nevertheless, it might be a good opportunity for foreign visitors to learn more about Korean theater. Compared with Chinese and Japanese theater, Korean theater is not "' well known in the world. Because of their prominent global status, Korea's two large neighbors have drawn international interest in their theater arts. Moreover, Japan's traditional' kabuki and noh and China's Beijing Opera are performed indoors, a venue that is more comprehensible to Western audiences. On the other hand, Korean traditional theater f9rms, including p'ansori and t'alch'um (mask dance), were mainly performed outdoors, which presented problems of preservation. But trends in world theater have recently favored a more open style of theater, providing an eye-catching atmosphere for Korea's traditional outdoor theater. What is more, Korea's "' global prominence has risen, and with the staging of the Theater of Nations festival, an international understanding of Korea's traditional forms of drama and modern performing arts can be promoted. In particular, madangguk (open theater) has not only retained its traditional form , but it has also influenced the development of modern Korean theater. Thus, efforts have been made to stage this form of theater during the Seoul festival. In this respect, an international open theater festival will be held in Kwach'6n in the southern suburbs of Seoul to complement the Theater of

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Nations in Seoul. Twelve madangguk pieces by groups from throughout Korea will participate. They were selected from works staged..since the 1960s. Four supplementary performances employing the theme of the open theater will also be staged. In addition, a collaborative team of madangguk performers will present a new work in an attempt to explore the possibilities of the new theater. Ten troupes from abroad have been invited to present outdoor and street theater performances, including troupes from Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Colombia, Russia, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand. The organizers plan to stage a regular madangguk

festival in cities other than Seoul, depending on the success of this first international event. The open theater could generate enthusiasm among people who do not usually attend plays, and it might be a good way to shift some cultural activities away from Seoul to provincial cities. Because the Theater of Nations festival will be held with the ITI World Congress, various workshops, seminars and symposiums are also scheduled, along with performances by youth theater groups. These many activities involving theater people from around the world will make this an international festival, a kind of Olympics for the theater arts. +

Clockwise from left: A vanti Display's The Spurting Man (Britain), Don Cossack Song and Dance Ensemble (Russia), MakamponsMaiai Monkol (Thailand)

e Roots an~ Transmission o Korean Arts LeeMee-won Professor of Korean Literature Kyung Hee University

orea's cultural and artistic tradition spans more than 5,000 years. Through most of the period, the performing arts were strongly influenced by shamanic and Buddhist rites. But with the sweeping introduction of Western culture in the late 19th century, Western performing arts have become the dominant forms of the 20th century. As in many Asian countries, Korean performing artists must find an identity-modern and yet truly Korean-that strikes a balance between the traditional arts and Western performing arts. Korean performing arts can be divided into six categories: 1) t'alnori, or mask dance; 2) kkoktugakshi-nori, or puppetry; 3) p'ansori, or epic narrative singing; 4) ch'angguk, or classical Korean opera; 5) shinp'a, or new-style drama; and 6) Western-style theater. The first three are traditional performing arts genres, whereas ch'angguk is a dramatic

form that has developed from p'ansori with the adoption of some Western theater techniques and shinp'a is an adaptation of a Japanese transitional form of drama. Western-style theater has been the dominant form in Korea since the introduction of the Western drama. Thus, these six categories can be grouped into traditional, transitional and Western forms.

Traditionai1 Theater "---, ' ~

T'alnori T'alnori, or mask dance, is perhaps the most theatrical of Korea's traditional performing arts genres. It was performed everywhere in the country, and for this reason it is Korea's most representative theater form. As is true with most folk arts, there is virtually no record of its origin or history, and the written recording of its texts began only in the 20th century. Also, like the comedia del arte of the West, t'alnori relies on

abundant improvisation, making it impossible to establish definitive texts. Yet, t'alnori is the traditional performing art most loved by Koreans because it contains theatrical acrobatics and also because it addresses real-life issues and problems. Because of the absence of accurate records, the origin and history of t'alnori can only be inferred from the dialogue of the characters and the citJ umstances they present. Scholars variously attribute its origin to shamanism, kisaeng (professional women entertainers), farmers' folk bands, or a combination of all three. Regardless of its origin, it is believed that t'alnori assumed its current form as early as the mid-13th century. This old form, referred to as village-type t'alnori, includes Hahoe py6lshin kut and Kangnung tanoje py6lshin kut. In particular, wooden masks for the Hahoe py6lshin kut have been handed down in Hahoe village for generations, and

carbon dating has established that they date from the mid-13th century. The masks helped researchers date the . Hahoe pyolshin kut, and they have been designated nationa r treasures because of their age and aesthetic value. The village-type mask dance still contains strong characteristics of religious rites, and thus it is not considered an independent theatrical development. It was part of. village rites and was never performed separately from such rites. The more prevalent type of t'alnori is believed to have been developed much later in commercial and administrative centers during the 18th century. Most representative t'alnori of today have their origins in such towns as Yangju, Pongsan, T'ongy6ng and Suy6ng. It is believed that these mask dances evolved when professional performers, looking for patrons after the abolition of the government office in charge of mask dances, Sandae Togam, came into contact with amateurs performing regional mask plays. For this reason, this form of mask dance is called town-type or Sandae Togam-type t'alnori. Âˇ Unlike the village-type t'alnori, the town-type t'alnori has no connection with rites. Although this type was usually staged on Buddha's birthday or Tano, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, it was performed for the sake of entertainment independent of rites. The troupes were also invited to perform on special occasions such as the arrival of a new regional magistrate or the birthday of an influential personage. Masks were revered in the village-type t'alnori, but not in the town-type t'alnori; in the latter case, the masks were often burned after performances. The actors were often from shamanist families, but they did not have oracular functions. Beginning in the 1920s, kisaeng performed the roles of women in the plays, breaking the taboo against female performers. The composition and content of the t'alnori differed slightly from region to region, but basically they were the same. The village t'alnori, which is also

T'alnori is perhaps the most theatrical of the traditional performing arts genres. It was performed everywhere in the country, and for this reason, it is Korea's most representative theater form. 17

called py61shin kut nori, has been handed down in Hahoe, My6ngsan and Kangnung. The town-type t'alnori are .more diverse and they are referred to as saja nori (lion play), yaryu, ogwangdae (five mask players), sandae nori or t'alch'um (mask dance). Saja nori is from Pukch'6ng, yaryu is from Suyong, ogwangdae is from Kasan and T'ongy6ng, sandae nori is from Songp'a, Aeogae and Yangju, and t'alch'um is from Pongsan and Unyul. Each t'alnori is divided into acts called kwajang, but there is no consistency in plot. In other words, a t'alnori is structured in episodes, as in the Arabian Nights. Depending on the region, some episodes are lengthened, shortened or cut out, and the content varies, but the gist of the story is recognizable with every performance. Basically, there are nine episodes: the beginning ritual dance; the monk episode; the entertainer's dance; the senior villager episode; the lion dance; episodes of the aristocrat, leper, grandpa and grandma; and the final rite and dance. A t'alnori begins and ends with a ritual dance and rites, and in between are acrobatics, dancing and storytelling. All t'alnori include the aristocrat episode, and most feature the grandpa and grandma and the senior villager. In these common episodes, language is the most important means of communication. These episodes, which form the nucleus of the play, contrast with the other parts which have no story or dancing. It seems that dialogue was gradually introduced into traditional acrobatic performances to become today's t'alnori. The performing aspect of t'alnori dominates the story. It is hard to say whether it is the literary or psychological aspects that move the audience. The performers make the t'alnori come alive, with sudden illuminations gleaned from impromptu acting, the result of the actors' long years of training. In other words, t'alnori calls for practiced dancing and gestures, and music is required throughout the performance. In the past, there was no special train18

ing for the actors; they just W<ttched and repeated what they saw. Apprentices imitated their teachers with mechanical repetition for years, and only after they had acquired the proper techniques were they allowed to try improvisation, the creative element of the performance. A stage for t'alnori does not require much. Any open space that can hold an audience will do. When a dressing area for the actors is created by hanging up a piece of cloth and a mat is spread out for the musicians to sit on, the stage is ready. In the village-type t ' alnor~ a spirit post for the village's tutelary deity is placed in the front yard of the village hall. The venues for the town t'alnori performances are less formal. Sometimes spectators sit on a hillside, and a small piece of level ground in front functions as a stage. On other occasions, a makeshift stage is constructed. Dancing is an important part of all t'alnori Moreover, the movements of the various characters have become so stylized that they resemble dancing even during non-dance episodes. Music is performed throughout; thus, music plays a more important role in t'alnori than in Western musicals. Music is played by a farmers' band or a nine-piece ensemble made up of k6mungo (6-string zither), kayagum (12-string zither), hyangbip'a (pear-shaped lute), drum, hourglass drum, haegum (2-string spiked fiddle), p1ri (oboe) and two t'aep'y6ngso (double-reed instrument with finger-holes and a metal bell). But t'alnori can be accompanied by a single hourglass drum, which suggests that the rhythm of the music is more important than the melody. The singing is not related to the development of the plot; it is for the sheer enjoyment of the spectators. Because the singing is performed solely to entertain the audience, if an actor sings well, the singing portion of his role is expanded. Because t'alnori is a folk art, its costumes are not as elaborate as the Japanese nob or kabuki. Actors wear basic Korean clothes; the men wear the vest and baggy pants of the traditional

Korean costume hanbok and the women wear the traditional vest and long skirt, adding if necessary an outer garment. The outer garments resemble shaman coats and sometimes they were actually borrowed from shamans, proof of a strong shamanist influence in the selection of costumes. There are many kinds of masks. In the village-type t'alnori, masks were considered sacred; they were kept in a shrine and taken out only after rites for a performance. For this reason, researchers can still study the characteristics of sacred masks. The wooden Hahoe masks, designated Korean national treasures, are believed to have been made during the mid-Kory6 period in the 13th century. The town ~ type masks, on the other hand, were made with paper or gourds. Because they were burned after performances, it .can be inferred that shamanistic aspects of purification and the warding off of evil were incorporated in t'alnori Kkoktugakshi Nori Kkoktugakshi nori .is a puppet play, the text of which dates back to the 18th century, when commoners' literature came to the fore. This period coincides with the emergence of the town-type t'alnori This type of puppet play-sometimes called t61mi, pakch'6mji nori or hongdongji nori-was performed by a professional troupe called sadangp'ae or namsadang. Sadangp'ae was a wandering troupe whose performances had no specific regional color, whereas namsadang refers to an all-male sadangp'ae. These groups usually performed p'ungmul nori (band music), p6na (bowl twirling), salp'an (acrobatics), 6rum (tightrope walking), and t6tpoegi (a sort of mask performance) before they staged the puppet show. The composition and content of a puppet play is similar to that of t'alnori; it is divided into episodes and there is no continuity of plot between them. However, in the puppet show, Pak Ch'6mji is the narrator, giving the impression that the entire play is his life story,

I â&#x20AC;˘

and thus providing a sense of unity to the whole story. The content is similar to t'alnori; puppet plays contain remnants of shamanistic rites, satirize apostate monks, address the proBlems of polygamy and impoverished commoners, lampoon the aristocratic class, and pray for the dead to find happiness in the other world. The puppet show was performed in an open-air stage called p'ojang, which was made by erecting four poles in a space of about 10 square meters, from which a stage protruded, with the rest of the space being curtained off. The stage was 2.5 meters wide and 0.7 meters deep, and the puppets moved around in the air at a height of about 1.2 meters. Behind the curtain, the main puppeteer, called taejabi, worked the puppets with his two assistants. The voice actor, called sanbj~ and the musician, called chaebi, faced the stage from the front during the performance. The movements of the puppets, which were made mainly of wood, were limited to their upper bodies.

Kkoktugakshi nori puppetry (above) dates back to the 18th century. P'ansori has been an important vocal genre since the late 17th century. Below, virtuoso Pak Tongjin performs his speciality, Chokpyokka, "Song of the Red Cliffs."

P'ansori P'ansori emerged between the late 17th century and the early 18th century, the same period as the town-type mask dance and the puppet show. By the mid-18th century, p'ansori was well established with a repertoire of twelve pieces, and many accomplished singers helped perfect this unique mixture of ch'ang (singing) and narration. A literati named Shin Chae-hyo compiled in written form the texts of six p'ansori pieces in the mid-19th century: Ch'unhyangga, Shimch'ongga, Pakt'aryong, Sugungga, Ch6kby6kka and Hoengbuga (also known as Karujigi t'aryong). The text for Hoengbuga no longer exists, but the others are referred to as the classics of p'ansori. P'ansori is performed by one vocalist accompanied by a drummer, alternating between singing and narrating called aniri. The vocalist also acts, which is referred to as pallim or n6ri1msae, and the drummer makes suitable calls of 19

encouragement to inspire the singer, which also excites the audience. For some time, scholars debated the question of which genre p'ansori belonged to, but now it is generally accepted as theater. Shin Chae-hyo, the compiler of p'ansori, said that the performer should first have a stage presence, have excellent narration skills and then be an accomplished singer, and finally be an actor. In this way he emphasized to the performer the importance of speech, literary merit, musicality and acting skills. This suggests that p'ansori was basically considered a musical form of art. The word p'ansori is a compound of pan, meaning a spatial-temporal place or stage, and sari, meaning singing. P'ansori can be staged both indoors and outdoors depending on the size of the audience. Of the various elements of p'ansori, ch'ang (singing) is the one the audience enjoys most. Singing is used to convey the characters' emotions, rather than contributing to the development of the

story line. The narration, .o r aniri, is effective for presenting details of the story. Theatrical techniques using gestures and dance are utilized to provide symbolic expressions rather than realistic ones. Initially, the spectators were commoners, thanks to the emergence of commoners' literature in the 17th and 18th centuries. But p'ansori soon spread among the aristocracy and gained nationwide popularity. Because of the aristocratic audience, p'ansori was quickly recorded into definitive texts, and elaborate singing and female performers were incorporated into the performances. At the same time, p'ansori's function as social criticism was weakened. All of these traditional performing arts-t'alnori, puppetry and p'ansorifaded with the influx of Western influences into Korea in the late 19th century. They were revived after the 1960s when Koreans recognized their value.

.._

A ch'anggiik version of the classicCh'unhyangga

As society stabilized after the confusion of national liberation from Japanese colonial rule and the Korean War, many scholars searched for the roots of Korea's cultural heritage and steadily documented the traditional performing arts. One by one, these traditional arts began to be designated intangible cultural assets from the middle of the 1960s, and by the late 1970s most of them had been so designated. Transitional Forms

Ch'anggiik Ch'angguk developed from p'ansori and incorporated some aspects of Western theater. Specifically, it began in 1903 at Hyopnyulsa, the first Westernstyle theater in Korea, with the performance of Ch'unhyangga by a number of actors including Kang Yong-hwan. In 1908, a theatrical form employ4J.g divided roles and distinct singing sequences appeared on the stage of the Wongaksa Theater. In 1933, with the founding of the Choson Vocal Music Society,

ch'angguk became firmly established. Ch'angguk is essentially the singing of p'ansori by many performers instead of one performer. A Western-style indoor stage is used along with scenery and other stage props. Ch'angguk is notable for its accommodation of foreign, particularly Western, influences, but one cannot overlook its indigenous elements. Earlier, Shin Chae-hyo attempted to expand p'ansori to include more than one singer, dividing up the roles of Ch'unhyangga into men's, children's and women's parts. Ch'angguk is an interesting genre in that it is the product of traditional Korean theater's active response to Western influences. But it gradually lost its appeal and failed to survive.

Shinp'a Shinp'a is a theatrical form that developed in the early 20th century, just before the modern Western play took root in Korea. The word shinp'a, meaning "new school," was originally coined in Japan to differentiate it from the old school of kabuki. This indicates that the modern play was introduced to Korea through Japan. Shinp'a debuted in 1911 with the performance of Im Song-gu's Hy6kshindan (Reform Theater), and for the next ten years it represented the mainstream of the Korean theater. Shinp'a's themes were designed to encourage good and punish evil, to improve customs, and to enlighten the populace. As in Japan at that time, military dramas were in fashion at the beginning, but the focus gradually shifted to family tragedies. In the 1920s, shinp'a was influenced by the modern Western drama movement spearheaded by groups such as Towolhoi and evolved into a "reformed shinp'a." In the 1930s, the form further developed into "high shinp'a," with the Tongyang Theater at the center. High shinp'a was based on a troupe's star actors who, equipped only with a general story line, improvised using exaggerated intonations and gestures, thus catching the fancy of the audience.

An early staging of Hamlet in Western costumes

Western Theater Modern Western-style theater is believed to have arrived in Korea after 1920. In the early part of that decade, some Korean students who had studied in Tokyo founded the Theater Art Association and other students led small theater movements. An acting school also opened during this period. Through the Theater Art Association, Westernstyle realism began to find its way onto the Korean stage in the 1930s. From 1945 until the 1950s, Korean playwrights tried to deepen the basis of Western realist plays, and in the 1960s anti-realist plays, including theater of the absurd, were introduced. In the 1970s,

the Korean theater moved from realism toward greater theatrics. In the 1970s and 1980s, amateur student plays called madangguk, in which elements of traditional theater were borrowed to criticize the political realities of those days, became popular. It was after the 1970s that people began to graft traditional Korean performing art forms onto modern ones. Today, efforts are being made to revive the intangible spirit of these traditional forms. At the threshold of the 21st century, Korean performing artists should continue their search for a living tradition, rather than a static one, a task that is directly connected with the globalization of the Korean theater. + 21

Major Theatrical Groups Koo Hee-sue Drama Critic

orea's drama scene is robust. In Seoul alone, there are 85 theater groups registered as members of the National Theater Association of Korea. In addition, there are 52 provincial groups, 60 local branches and two overseas branches registered with the association. Add to this the theater groups that fall under the auspices of the Korean People's Artists Federation as well as the remaining groups registered with local city and provincial governments and one cannot help but be impressed by the numbers. A look at the types of active theater g~oups also reveals the depth of dramat-

ic activity. Korean theater groups that appeared in the 1960s were generally organized on the basis of a spirit of active collaboration between the members. In the 1970s, these groups melded with other groups under the directorship of particular individuals. In the 1980s, theater groups achieved another level of development by taking responsibility for the production of their plays. Added to this mixture in the 19~0s were new kinds of theater groups. Over the years, the activities of the theater groups have not remained at a consistent level, however. They appear and then retreat. Groups with long histories may enter a period of inactivity Dr be eclipsed by

A performance of Wonsullang commemorating the opening of the National Theater in 1950

the rise of new groups. The two currently active groups with the longest record of performances are the Kukdan (Theater Company) Shinhyup and tli.e National Drama Company. Shinhyup was formed shortly before the establishment of the National Theater in 1950. Although Shinhyup later became the basis for the National Drama Company, its members have continued to perform sporadically under the group's original name. The next oldest group is the National Drama Company. The company gave performances in the early days of the National Theater when it was located in My6ng-dong in downtown Seoul. It moved with the National Theater in 1973 to its present location in Ch'angch'ung-dong. Another group that emerged in the late 1950s was the Chejak Kukhoe, mainly composed of collegiate drama club members, but it has been inactive in recent years. Thus at the top of the list of groups currently active are those that have a history of 20 to 30 years or were founded in the 1960s and 1970s. Not to be

neglected either are the groups that have been active for the past decade or so that have consistently demonstrated excellence and innovation. In recent years, however, the theater scene has undergone many changes. At times, groups with very short histories, virtually unknown to audiences and critics alike, have overwhelmed older, established groups. This year, the Seoul metropolitan area will host the Theater of Nations festival affiliated with the International Theater Institute (ITI). The International Open-Air Theater (Madangguk) Festival, the International Festival of Higher Education Theater Institute, and gatherings of members of the International Stage Artists Association and the World Critics. Association will also be part of the festivities. The National Theater Association of Korea and the ITI, in conjunction with the Theater of Nations organizing committee, have already announced their selections for the groups that will participate in the festival. The Seoul Theater Festival, which takes place during the same time period,

announced its selections in May. The roster of Korean theater groups and the 10 representative works they will present in the Theater of Nations offers a good overview of Korea's theater scene. The following is a brief introduction to the groups. Kukdan Mokhwa will present In the Moonlight of the Paekma River (written and directed by 0 T'ae-s6k), while Y6nhUidan K6rip'ae will stage 0-Ku (written and directed by Yi Yun-t'aek). Kukdan Michoo will perform General O's Toenail (written by Pak Cho-y61, directed by Sohn Jin-chaek). Come to See Me will be performed by Y6nu Mudae (written and directed by Kim Kwang-rim). Kukdan Cecil will offer Sansshitkim (written by Yi Hy6n-hwa, directed by Ch'ae Yun-il) and Pip'a will present Spring Day (written by Yi Kang-baek, directed by Kim Ch'61-li). Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot will be performed by the members of Sanwoollim (directed by Im Y6ng-ung), while Bertolt Brecht's The Good Woman of Setzuan will be presented by Hanyang Repertory (directed by

An open-air performance of the Tale of Shimch'ong

Umbilical Cord (above); In the Moonlight of the Paekma River (below)

Ch'oe Hyong-in). The National Drama Company will perform a Korean classic entitled A Festive Event in the House of Maeng Chinsa (written by 0 Y6ng-jin, directed by Kim Sang-yo!). Finally, the Seoul Metropolitan Theater Company will give its first performance at the festival. Except for the National Drama Company, most of the other participating groups were formed in the 1970s and 1980s. Two groups were founded in the 1990s, and the Seoul Municipal Theater Company was only founded this year. Kukdan Mokhwa is led by 0 T'aesok, one of Korea's most prolific and

highly regarded writer-directors. He formed Mokhwa in 1984 around the talents of his students at the Seoul Performing Arts College. He first became involved at the school in the 1970s as a playwright. Then he used the Drama Center's stage for his early attempts at directing. In his pre-Mokhwa days, 0 was already casting his students in his productions. The group became known for its cohesiveness and rigorous training techniques, hence the nickname O's Army. Mokhwa grew directly out of O's Army. Mokhwa's repertory consists mostly of works written and directed by 0 T'ae-sok. In recent years, however, the

group has performed works by other authors, including Shakespeare's Romeo and juliet and Brecht's Threepenny Opera. Following the group's debut performance of Africa in 1984, it presented new works such as The Dream of an

Ordinary Man, Righteousness, Affection Between Father and Son, Vinyl House, Country of Fire, Unsanggak, Why Shimch'ong Twice Plunged Herself into the Indangsu, Don't Fly A way Sea Gull, and In the Moonlight of the Paekma River as well as its repertory productions of The Wife of Ch'unp'ung, Umbilical Cord and Bicycle. Aside from the originality of its productions, Mokhwa is also known for

the acting ability of the actors O's training has produced. These include early members Cho Sang-gon, Han Myong-gu, Hong W on-gi and Chong Chin-gak. O's use of the Korean language in his own works has often been provocative as he constantly attempts to find original sources for dialogue. Mokhwa has won numerous awards, including prizes at the Seoul Theater Festival, and in 1994 O's works themselves were the subject of a separate drama festival. In Seoul's Tongsung-dong (Taehangno) theater district, the group enjoys the use of two of its own playhouses, the Ch'ungdol I and Ch'ungdol II theaters. O's works have also been introduced onto interna-

" Sansshitkim (above); 0 -Ku-The Rituals of Death (left)

tiona! stages, and he has traveled abroad with his troupe as the director. YonhUidan Korip'ae is the .guerrilla band of theater groups; it seems to be everywhere doing a variety of productions. Under the leadership of playwright Yi Yun-t'aek, the group, which was founded in 1986 in Pusan, now has taken up residence in the heart of Seoul at the Pukch'on Ch'ang-u Theater. The Korip'ae is known for its leading role in researching native Korean drama. The group is dedicated to the techniques of method acting. In 1988, the group presented Yi Hyon-hwa's Sansshitkim as its debut in Seoul. This 25

General O's Toenail

led to an invitation to appear in the First Tongsung Drama Festival where the group presented Citizen K. After that, it performed frequently in Seoul. Early on, the group presented situa-

Come to See Me

tiona! theater pieces such as Fugue, Hibakusha and Banishment of a Poet, thus establishing its own unique position in modern theater. In the 1990s, the group began its own search for Korean

forms in drama. In this effort, the troupe presented 0-K u-The Rituals of Death, The Foolish Bride, and Cross the Mountain to Find Dog Shit, all attempts at modernizing traditional plays. In Lost Love and Money the group attempted a re-creation of early 20th-century drama, and it adapted Franz Kafka's The Metam01phosis. With the brilliance of Yi Yun-t'aek's plays and direction the group has come to enjoy an excellent reputation in a relatively short period of time. The Korip'ae has appeared in the Seoul Theater Festival, and it was invited to perform at the Tokyo International Theater Festival and the Essen World Drama Festival. Kukdan Michoo was founded in 1986 by director Sohn Jin-chaek. Sohn left Kukdan Minye, with which he had been associated for many years, with the aim of creating a new qramatic milieu. He had come to maturity as a director after absorbing Minye's credo of using traditional Korean forms to

deal with modern themes. For Sohn, leaving Minye and Ho Kyu, its director and his mentor, meant an opportunity .to forge his own dramatic world. Many of Minye's former meb ~ rs joined Sohn's Michoo, and at the time the new troupe was known simply as a branch of the same Minye family. Michoo's debut work was entitled Chikimi (written by Chong Pok-gun and directed by Sohn Jin-chaek). Next followed three works that attempted to incorporate traditional Korean methodology and historical consciousness: General Os Toenail, Shin Igukki and A Namsadang's Heaven. The group also employed a variety of forms in its productions from musicals to modern adaptations of traditional p'ansori and ch'angguk, musical theater and madang nori. Dramas such as Macbeth and The Good Woman of Setzuan allowed Michoo the opportunity to present Western dramatic methods of expression in a Korean context. In 1996, the Seoul Arts Center sponsored a festival of the works of one of Korea's great modern dramatists, Ch'oe In-hun. Michoo took the lead in presenting his works by employing the best of its past and present actors. The troupe has collected many awards and given performances at drama festivals in Japan, China and Russia. In addition, by working with foreign members of Seoul's theater community, it has demonstrated a high degree of internationalization. Some of Michoo's most famous actors include Kim Song-nyo, Yun Munshik, Kim Chong-yop and ChOng T'aehwa. The group has recently opened an outdoor stage and rehearsal center in Kyonggi-do province where actors can train and rehearse new works. General Os Toenail, which will be performed during the Theater of Nations festival, debuted in 1988. That year the work won awards for best play, best director and best dramatic work The troupe was also invited to present the play in the Asia and Oceania Drama Festival held in Russia

in 1992. Yonu Mudae was formed in 1978 by a group of graduates from Seoul National University who had been members of the school's drama circle. The group's debut performance was Always Alone in the Morning (written by 0 Chong-u, directed by Kim Kwangrim). Since that time the troupe has only performed original works. In the past two decades, Yonu has presented approximately 40 new dramatic works. Through its series dedicated to rediscovering Korean drama, the group has presented about ten revivals. Critics have applauded these efforts, and the troupe has earned a reputation for its dedication to presenting original works, rather than translated ones. Led ~y Chong Han-ryong, the group has induded 0 Chong-u, Kim Kwangrim, Kim Min-gi, Kim Sok-man, Yi Sangu ang Mun Song-gun. More recent members include Lim Jin-taek, Yang Hui-kyong and Ch'oe Hyong-in. The troupe's productions have often offered audiences a new, critical look at the politics and sociology of modern Korean society, and for this reason, they were either censored or banned under Korea's military governments. Some of the group's more issue-oriented works include Our Afterlife, Changsan Kotmae, The Place Where I Once Lived, There Aren't Even Any Mourners for That Funeral Bier!, Mr. Han's Chronicles, Ch'ilsu and Mansu, The Bird Sings on the Edge and Even Birds Leave This World. Kim Min-gi and Yi Sang-u have left Yonu Mudae to form the Hakchon and Ch'a-imu groups, respectively. Other writers, actors and directors who spent their formative years with Yonu are also coming to the forefront in their own right with original works. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Yonu Mudae is working on two special events. A series featuring young talents is already under way, and another event, to be held at the Seoul Arts Center, will present encore performances of Yonu Mudae's best works.

For the Theater of Nations, the group will present Come to See Me, a mystery about a mass murderer. This wellreceived piece has already won awards, including one at the Seoul Theater Festival. Kukdan Cecil debuted with Wings (written by Yi Sang, adapted for the stage by ChOng Ha-yon and directed by Ch'ae Yun-il) in 1977. This group has long benefited from having access to its own theater, the Cecil Theater, operated by Im Sok-kyu and the talents of Ch'ae Yun-il, who was one of Korea's most promising directors at the time. Ch'ae received his training as a director from Im Yong-ung of the Sanwoollim group and had his directoral debut with Carrot. He continues to work mainly with the Cecil and Sanwoollim groups. Throughout its history, Kukdan Cecil has mainly performed the wqrks of Korean writers, including Chong Hayon, Yi Hyon-hwa, and Yi Kang-baek. Of these, the works of Yi Hyon-hwa have all been performed more than once, thus demonstrating the group's close association with this playwright. For example, Fog, 0.917, Cadenza, Whos There, Impossible and Sansshitkim are all joint productions by Yi Hyon-hwa and Ch'ae Yun-il. These works constitute more than a half of Cecil's repertoire and have been presented both as encore works and in long runs. Kukdan Cecil is without a doubt Ch'ae Yun-il's theater group. Although he divides his time between Cecil and Sanwoollim, the group he established at Cecil reflects his own person~! view of theater. His taste is also evident in the fact that he tends to work exclusively with the same authors and their works. In Sansshitkim, which is to be presented during the Theater of Nations festival, audiences will be able to appreciate the essence of Ch'ae's directing techniques. Kukdan Pip'a was founded in March 1995. To date, its only production has been The Road to Mecca. The group consists of director Kim Ch'ol-li, who also acts as its representative, and actors Yi Hyon-sun, Yi Chong-guk, Pae Sang27

don and ChOng Myong-ch'ol. Pip'a is remarkable in that it has secured an invitation to appear in a major interna. tiona! theater festival although it is only two years old. Since the group's debut performance, it has not been able to put together another performance on its own, but all the members participated in a performance of Yi Kang-baek's Bones and Skin last year. This was Hyondae Kukchang's entry in the Seoul Theater Festival. Although the group is new, all of its actors are stage veterans. Pip'a will present Spring Day in the Theater of Nations festival. Having already had experience with a work by the same author, Yi Kang-baek, the theater community anticipates that the troupe will be equally successful with this work. Sanwoollim has the longest history of all the private groups invited to perform this fall. The group's production of Waiting for Godot has enjoyed the longest run of any production in Korea and has been performed at numerous international drama festivals. In 1969, Sanwoollim presented Waiting for Godot, a year before the group was officially established. This year the group celebrates its 27th anniversary. Since opening its own theater in Seoul's Shinch'on area in 1985, Sanwoollim has presented several highquality works on its own stage. Director Im Yong-ung had his first encounter with drama as a high school student and studied from one of Korea's modern greats in the field of drama, Yi Hae-rang. When directing, he seeks the factual and sincere in dramatic expression, correct elocution, in-depth analysis of the work and a high level of craftsmanship in the production. Sanwoollim can be proud of the high caliber of actors the group's theatrical work has developed. These include Kim Song-ok, Ham Hyon-jin, Kim Mu-saeng, Kim In-tae, Sa Mi-ja, Yun Yo-jong, Paek Song-hui, Son Suk, Ch'oe Son-ja, Kim Yong-rim, Yun So-jong, Chon Mu-song, Pak Chong-ja, Kim Chae-gon, Yi Ho-jae, 28

Yi Chu-shil, Chu Ho-song, Cho Myongnam and Yun Sok-hwa. Outstanding members of the younger generation of actors are now frequently displaying their talents on Sanwoollim's stages. Theater audiences have responded well to the simple but intense earnestness of the group's productions. Evidence of this is the group's record of awards and the fact that it continues to draw large audiences for its productions. Waiting for Godot has become part of the group's repertoire. Aside from the ten encore presentations of this work in Korea, it has been presented to acclaim in France, Ireland and Poland. The first stirrings from Hanyang

Repertory came in May 1990. At that time the group gave a performance of The Good Woman of Setzuan in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Department of Theater and Film at Hanyang University. In 1992, the group was officially launched with a debut production of Consanguinity. This theater group was formed under the leadership of Hanyang University theater and film professor Ch'oe Hyong-in and his students. Professor Shin 11-su and graduates of the department have also taken part in the productions. The major philosophy behind the group's founding was to create lively and interesting productions centered around the talents of its actors.

Presentations include Ghos~ Elder Sister Chang-a's Shorts, True West, The Wife of Ch 'unp'ung, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Love Letter and The Serpent Bridegroom and His Bride. Ch'oe Hyong-in has worked both as director and actor in these productions and has given his young actors many opportunities to shine on stage. The success of his efforts can be seen in the number of his proteges now appearing on television or in the movies. Ch'oe has taken classroom theory and applied it directly to stage productions. The result has been an active performance schedule and productions that are full of vitality. Despite the short history of the company, its fundamentals are extremely strong. The selection of The Good Woman of Setzuan for performance in the international festival reflects th ~ panel's confidence in the overall quality of the group's work. The National Drama Company was formed in 1950 with the founding of the National Theater. The company has earned a reputation as Korea's most outstanding professional theater group. From the time of its founding until today, many famous actors have taken part in its productions. They include Kim Tong-won, Kim Son-yong, Ko Solbong, Kang Kye-shik, Yi Ho-jae, ChOn Mu-SoÂŁ1-g, Kwon Song-dok, Son Suk, Kim Chin-t'ae and Kim Song-nyo. Currently, the troupe is led by ChOng Sang-ch'ol who acts as leader and artistic director of the 27-member group. Immediately after its fo\Jnding the company made history with productions such as W onsullang and Thunderstorm. Following its move to its present location, the company has given a total of 171 presentations, including Admiral Yi Sun-shin, Namhansans6ng, Muny6do and King Sejong the Great. The company is still considered one of Korea's greatest, but some critics have noted a loss of dynamism in its performances, perhaps because the average age of its members is over 40. The company will present a musical

version of A Festive Event in the House of Maeng Chinsa. This work is by one of Korea's most famous playwrights, 0 . Y6ng-jin, and has appeared in film, drama and musical versions, 'all written by the author.

The Seoul Metropolitan Theater Company was founded this year. Like the National Drama Company, it offers

its members a regular salary and the opportunity to hone their skills exclusively as actors. Kim Ui-ky6ng leads the ten-member ensemble, which is currently preparing for its first production. In the future, the group plans to operate with a small number of regular actors and audition other actors when necessary. In addition, the group hopes

to find a new home in a theater designed for drama, rather than the 4,000-seat Sejong Cultural Center where it is currently located. Although the troupe has just barely begun, there is great anticipation about what the group will do given its resources. Many look forward to its production for the Theater of Nations festival.

Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot 29

Shilhom Theater's Equus

There is no doubt that the groups invited to perform in this year's Theater of Nations festival are an excellent cross-section of Korea's finest dramatic talent. Yet in addition to these groups, there are many others who have offered audiences high-quality, innovative performances over the years. The following have presented consistently excellent productions over the past two 30

decades when conditions were difficult for small, private groups: Kagyo, Kohyang, Kwangjang, Taeha, Tongrang Repertory, Minye, Minjung, Ppuri, Songjwa, Shinhyup, ShilhOm, Yoin, Chayu, Chagop, Chejak Kukhoe, 76 Tan and the Hyondae Kukchang. In recent years, Kagyo has successfully presented melodramas and Kwangjang has concentrated on musi-

cals. Expectations are high for the Tongrang Repertory in its refurbished quarters at the Drama Center, and audiences look for Minye to continue its tradition of using established forms to deal with contemporary issues in its own small theater. Minjung went through a period of inactivity during the early 1970s but rebounded under the leadership of Jung Jin-soo. Ppuri celebrated its 20th anniversary this year and is coming out of last year's slump with a new production in the works for this year. Songjwa has continued to present outstanding works in its own small theater. Shinhyup, Korea's oldest drama group, has experienced periods of revival, but it has not been able to recapture all of its former glory. ShilhOm, established in the 1960s, has resolutely clung to its roots as an ensemble company. Its repertoire ip.cludes popular favorites such as The Marriage of Figaro, A Festive Event in the House of Maeng Chinsa, Equus, Ireland and Agnes of God. Under the leadership of Yun Ho-jin, the group is preparing for a new takeoff. Chayu, under the caring leadership of Yi Pyong-bok and Kim Jeong-ok, has introduced some of the most innovative theater to audiences in both Korea and abroad. Perhaps Chayu has given more performances overseas than any other group in Korea. Yi Pyong-bok, a leader in the world of stage design, and Kim Jeong-ok, a director and the current president of ITI Worldwide, have participated in a variety of international exchanges. Their roles have been vital in encouraging interaction between the Korean and international theater communities. The following groups have shorter histories than the ones already mentioned, but all have participated in the Seoul Theater Festival: Rodem, Royal Theater, Moshinun SaramdU!, Much'on, Pando, Puh wal, So jon, Shinshi, Yollin Mudae Tongsu, Chagop, ChOnmang and Chi:Hgoun Saramdul. Groups that have their own theaters in Seoul's Taehangno theater district include Taehangno

Kukchang, Arirang, Onul, Unhaeng Namu and Hakch6n. The age of a theater group is important, but it is not everything. Moreover, in Korea's extremely competitive drama environment, all groups, regardless of their age, tend to have down periods when productions fail, and then periods of inactivity. In the 1990s, there are groups among the newly formed ones that are boldly challenging established patterns. These include Yu In-ch'on's Kukdan Yu and Yi Sang-u's Ch'a-imu. Theater groups with their own distinctive personalities include Chagun Shinhwa, which has a ten-year history of experimenting with new theater, and Chesam Mudae, a theater for the deaf. Companies such as Yun Ho-jin's Acorn, Song Sung-hwan's Hwan Performance and the Seoul Musical Company brought a breath of fresh air to the nation's theater community in the 1990s. Moshinun Saramdul has continued to improve with each production. In addition to older companies specializing in musicals such as Seoul City Kamudan and Seoul Yesuldan, Kwangjang, Taejung, Minjung, Shinshi, Shinhwa and Arum have all presented musicals. With the support of corporate backers, it is expected that musicals will appear even more frequently on Korea's stages in the future. Korea's theater groups have often passed through difficult times, whether in attempting to stay together over the years or in attempting to stick to the spirit of drama which brought the members together in the first place. Yet despite the twists and turns, a significant number of groups have continued, over a long period of time, to produce an amazing number of professional productions. Drama is not a solo act; it requires the efforts of many people. Each theater group has to develop its own characteristics and its efforts should be respected. Instead of devaluing Korea's representative theater groups, Koreans should consider each group's unique characteristics and support their productions. +

King Sejong's 32 Years, am usical performed by the National Drama Company

Theater in the 1990s Kim Yun-cheol Theater Critic/Drama Professor Korean National University of Arts

uring the last decade of this century, the Korean theater has been in a state of flux, experimenting with numerous forms and transitory changes. Moreover, the survival of the theater itself is now threatened more than at any other time in its history. The overwhelming presence of television, film and personal computers has intensified in terms of quantity and speed. Although the theater in other countries is similarly threatened, the Korean theater is in greater danger because of the relatively small size of its audience. At the same time, the changes that have qppeared in the 1990s, viewed in terms of theme and material, form and experimentation, are attempts by theater artists to save their medium in Korea during this time of crisis.

Changes Revealed in Themes Beginning with the Sanwoollim Theater 's staging of Simone de Beauvoir's La Femme Rompue, which was adapted by Chong Pok-gCm and directed hy Im Yong-ung, feminism has become one of the most prominent themes in Korean theater. Almost all of the Sanwoollim Theater's recent commercial successes have involved feminist topics with female protagonists who are oppressed in a patriarchal society, promote women's social rights, or work to establish an identity for women. The works include Denise Chalem 's A Cinquante Ans, Elle Decouv1~it fa Me1; directed by Im Yongung; Pak Wan-so 's Are You Still Dreaming? adapted and directed hy Yun Sok-hwa; Arnold Wesker's Letter to a Daughter, directed hy Im Yong-ung;

Tongsung-dong is Seoul's theatrical center. A ticket box (top)and posters advertising plays (bottom)

and Smoking Woman, an adapted version of Kim Hyong-kyong's novel of the same name directed by Im Y6ng-ung. 0ther plays in this vein produced by other companies have also enjoyed a favorable audience response. Examples include Pongwonpae Troupe's What Do Women Live For? written by Chu Ch'an-ok and directed by Kim Tong-su; Minye's Her Novel, written by 6m Inh(ii and directed by Kang Y6ng-g6l; and Women Culture and Art Enterprise's Dream of Amazonese by Barbara Walker, dramatized by Chon Hye-song and directed by Yun Y6ng-s6n. Many foreign productions of feminist plays were also introduced, including Top Girls and Cloud Nine by Caryl Churchill and Steaming by Nel Dunn, both from Britain; and Miss and Ms by Wendy Wasserstein and Three Tall Women by Edward Albee from the United States. They all received considerable critical acclaim and attracted a large number of viewers. The plays that drew the largest audiences portrayed women who are oppressed in a maledo~inate society. These plays resonated with many people, especially women, because Korean society has long been influenced by Confucian ideals and a hierarchical social order, and also because Koreans are fond of sentimentalism. Another theme that has been dealt with as often as feminism is the untangling or rewriting of history. The pioneers in this area are 0 T'ae-sok and Yi Yun-t'aek, both of whom write and direct. 0 T'ae-s6k wrote and directed In the Moonlight of the Paengma Rive1; a

story about King Uija of Paekche whose kingdom fell because he was tricked by a beautiful woman of the rival Shilla Kingdom named Ki:'tmhwa. The play is set during a village festival at which the king and his siren confess their guilt, and the king's loyal servants, including Kyebaek, who violated social ethics in the name of loyalty to his country, are impeached. In O's Bellflower Root, Kim Ok-kyun and Hong Chong-u, two young reformers who failed to save

their declining nation toward the end of the 19th century, defend their positions as they travel back and forth between this world and the afterlife. Yi Yun-t'aek also has a penchant for history. In Problematic Man: Yonsan, he freely crosses the boundary between life and death to describe the reasons Yon san staged a series of purges, and how he ended up a despot and fell from grace.

Sanwoollim Theater's 1986 stagingofSimonede Beau voir's

I;a Femme Rompue The mechanism of power is delineated in an expressionist fashion, history is parodied and today's political reality is satirized. The 1990s is also characterized by the absence of political plays. In the dark, oppressive political atmosphere of the 1980s, many controversial plays exposing political problems were written and produced despite censorship. Ironically,

in the 1990s, when the inauguration of a democratic government brought the end of censorship, political plays have all but disappeared. There were attempts in the middle of the decade by Yi Yun-t'aek and Yi Kang-baek. Yi Yunt'aek adapted The Dead Class by Victor Kantor, an experimental Polish director, to criticize the intellectuals' equivocal attitude toward those who led the antigovernment, pro-democracy Kwangju Revolt in 1980. Yi Kang-baek used the arson of the United States Information Service building in Kwangju in his work The Man Who Set Fire to expose the tendency of people to avoid the truth and righteousness because of their corrupted soul,s. These two productions, which seemed to herald the revival of the political theater, have not been followed by other similar plays. Is this because the theater no longer has a worthy political target with the establishment of a democratic government, or is it because the Korean people, exhausted from decades of conflict and tension, yearn for peace and security and thus no Âˇlonger bother to question authority? Yi Yun-t'aek also wrote and directed Faust in Blue jeans, in which he depicts the generation that led the 1960 student revolution but ended up becoming petite bourgeois. Despite Yi's political reflections and misgivings,. this work only bore witness to the disappearance of the political play.

Changes Revealed in Forms The most pronounced change in Korean theater in the 1990s is the prominence of comedy, and the nature of comedy itself has changed. From the end of the 1980s to the beginning of the 1990s, as if to shake off the clark memories of the past, light, funny works became the mainstream, but with the advent of the current democratic government, the dark farces filled with cynicism, black humor, profanity, violence, pornography, distortion and exaggeration have become more prominent, perhaps because the theater community has once again taken a clark view of 33

' "

Korean society's prospects. The most representative plays are

Why Shimch'6ng Twice Plunged Herself into the Indangsu, Subway Line I: Das Musikal and Py6nso. The plot of

prospects for original musicals are ever promising with the improvement of the singing and dancing abilities of actors and with the appearance of directors and playwrights specializing in the musical genre. The companies that specialize in musicals-the Hyondae Theater Company, the Kwangjang Theater Company and the Seoul Musical Company-still concentrate on copying musicals from Broadway and

tively encouraging box office success and with works such as Shim Su-il and Lee Slm-ae (a musical version of Lee

Su-il and Shim Sun-ae), Empress My6ngs6ng and Winter Wayfarer. Empress My6ngs6ng, produced in 1996,

the first three of these, written by 0 T'ae-sok, is borrowed from the classic deals with the murder of the last queen The Tale of Shimch'6ng In the original of the Choson Dynasty, Queen Min, by Japanese assassins, testing the use of story, Shimch'ong jumps into the sea as a sacrifice to ensure calm seas for fishserious themes in musicals. For the first ermen in exchange for an offering that time in the history of Korean musicals, the whole play was set to music. might restore her blind father's vision. In the revised version, The company has improved its Shimch'ong travels the world prospects because it is now affilwith the King of the Sea and then iated with the Seoul Arts Center to coproduce musicals beginshe jumps into the sea again, this ~ time to save the dreary humanity. ning in 1997, enabling it to conConsidered one of the best plays centrate on creativity without of the 1990s, it incorporates black worrying about the venue and comedy and shock as well as production costs. But the Acom techniques borrowed from tradiTheater Company is faced with tiona! Korean puppetry. In his a number of nagging problen1s: it still depends on foreign Subway Line I: Das Musikal, an adaptation from the original experts for musical numbers, German play, Kim Min-gi addressthere are few playwrights capaes some of the most pressing Âˇ ble of writing scripts suitable for the musical form, and the choreproblems of Korean society, such a? the question of unification, ography still -leaves much room class conflict, the corruption and for improvement. At any rate, tyranny of the wealthy, and the because young Korean theatermarginalization of poor people. goers prefer musicals regardless of their artistic merit, this genre These problems are presented in an exaggerated farce, enabling the will develop faster than others. audience to laugh at themselves. In Py6nso, a sort of omnibus play ,. Experimental Efforts set in a public toilet, all imaginThe experimental play is the able kinds of circumstances are weakest genre in the Korean magnified through distortion and ShimSu-ilandLeeSun-ae,amusicaJversionofLeeSutheater. The audience is small, exaggeration to reveal corruption ilandShimSun-ae,scoredbigattheboxoffice. limited mostly to college stuin various facets of Korean socidents; these difficult plays are ety, including politics, the economy, the Europe such as Guys and Dolls, Fortylargely ignored by wider audiences. Second Street, Les Miserables, Cats and However, despite the unfavorable relationship between North and South Korea, ethics and the arts. Although A Chorus Line. On the other hand, the atmosphere, several experimental plays Py6nso and Subway Line I: Das Musikal Shinshi Theater Company and the have been produced in the 1990s. succeeded in making their audiences Acom Theater Company perform origiSome experimental plays have tranlaugh, they apparently failed to induce nal, avant-garde musicals. scended time and space by adopting the spectators to seriously reflect upon The Acom Theater Company, led by Western classics to Korean situations. director Yun Ho-jin, is considered the Kim jeong-ok, director of the Chayu themselves and reach their own conelusions about reality. leader of the Korean musical both in Company, presented Federico Garcia The musical is a promising theatrical terms of scale of production and ere- . Lot-ca's Blood Wedding in the framework of the Korean funeral, and form that draws larger audiences every ativity. Although it debuted with Guys year. Until recently, the imitation of and Dolls, the company has since been Shakespeare's Hamlet in the frameBroadway hits was fashionable, but the producing original musicals, with relawork of a Korean shaman ritual, 34

â&#x20AC;˘

receiving favorable reviews not only in Korea but in Europe as well. Yi Yunt'aek's King Lear of Our Times and Faust in Blue jeans were similar experiments. Kim A-ra of the Muchon Company experimente d w i ~ h The journey with Oedipus, presenting in parallel the world's of the Greek playwright Sophocles and the Korean novelist Chang Ch6ng-il for mutual reflection. The most earnest experiments, however, involve embedding a play within a play. These efforts, emphasizing selfreflection, are very effective in this age of uncertainty as a device for intentionally breaking or confusing the boundaries between reality and fantasy. Representative of this category are Kim Kwang-rim's Home and In Search of Love, 0 T'ae-sok's In the Moonlight of the Paengma Rive1; and Yi Yun-t'aek's Mother and Problematic Man: Y6nsan. These kinds of experimental works are so common in the West that they are no longer defined as experimental. But in Korea, where realism still dominat ~ s , experiments of this scope are rather novel to theatergoers. Recently, Ki Kuk-so and Yun Yong-son, both of whom write and direct postmodern works, hav e been rendered inactive because of continued audience indifference, which suggests how narrow the space is for the experimental play in Korea.

Diagnosis and Prospects The most difficult problem facing the Korean theater in the 1990s is a shortage of spectators. This problem is felt more acutely because, in comparison, the film industry has become highly developed and the cyber industry is rapidly bringing about lifestyle changes. The Korean theater can survive into the second millennium only if the unique characteristics of the living stage, in which the audience and the actors encounter each other in the same space and time, are emphasized, and artistic integrity and popular appeal are addressed simultaneously. +

Kiikdan Mokhwa's Wh y Shimch 'ong Tw ice Plunged Herself in to the Indangsu

Acom TheaterCompany'sGuysandDolls

Empress Myongsong,produced in 1996

National Theater of Korea

The first known performing arts space in Korea was the makeshift stage called sandae which came into use during the Kory6 Dynasty (918-1392). Because Korean dramas were traditionally performed outdoors, it was not until the late 19th century that indoor stages began to be built. The appearance of indoor stages changed Korean theater in important ways. In the beginning, warehouse-like buildings were renovated and used. In 1902, Korea's first real indoor theater, Hy6pnyulsa, was opened. Since then, countless theaters have

opened and closed in the turbulent days of Korea's modern history, and the venues have influenced the history of Korean performing arts. According to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, as of the end of 1996 there were 47 comprehensive arts centers in Korea, 106 performing arts theaters and 147 small theaters. Almost half of these theaters are concentrated in Seoul, especially in the case of small theaters. This is true of nearly all cultural facilities, and the task of correcting this imbalance remains '-

unfinished. In contrast to the past, however, recognition of stage artists and sponsorship and support for their activities has dramatically improved. There is now real hope that more specialist theaters for drama, opera, dance and traditional arts will be built or established in the future. The following are some of the major performing arts theaters in Seoul and the Ky6nggi-do and Kangwon-do provinces, including their size, major facilities and special characteristics. -Ed. 36

Nestled at the foot of Mt. Namsan in the center of Seoul is Korea's theater mecca, the state-run National Theater of Korea, which was founded in 1950 for the purpose of promoting both traditional and modern performing arts. Talk of creating such a theater began in 1946, but it was not until 1949 that an organizing committee was formed. The theater's first director was playwright Yu Ch'i-jin who presented his own works, Wonsullang and Thunderstorm, for the grand opening in May 1950. The theater has since grown from one drama company to be the leading institution of performing arts in the country. Its performing groups include a classical music troupe, an opera troupe, a ballet company and an all-female dancedrama troupe. The theater has suffered mapy hardships over the years. With the outbreak of the Korean War on June 25, 1950, the theater was temporarily moved to Pusan and then to Taegu. When it finally returned to Seoul in 1957, it took over the Seoul Municipal Jheater in Myongdong where performances were constantly staged. It was not until 1970 that the theater was expanded into a comprehensive arts complex and a permanent home was built for it at the foot of Mt. Nams.,.an. Two theaters were built: the Main Hall with a total space of 3,000 square meters, a 330-square-meter stage and 1,518 seats; and the Small Hall with a 320-square-meter stage and 344 seats. These halls accommodate the performances of the National Theater's eight resident troupes, including the National Drama Company, the National Ch'angguk Company (traditional Korean opera), the National Dance Company, the National Ballet Company, the National Chorus Company, the National Opera Company, the National Orchestra and the Dance- Drama Company. As theater activities increased in the 1980s, the theater complex was expanded. A practice room was converted into

The exterior (left) and interior (right) of the main building of the National Theater of Korea. Nori-Madang, an open-air theater suitable for traditional art forms such as the Yangju Pyolsandae mask dance

drama, is featured above.

i I

an additional theater and an outdoor theater, madang nori, was established for the performance of traditional mask plays as part of a project to preserve and promote the traditional ar ts. In September 1997, the theater will serve as a venue for various international theater festivals which will be staged on the occasion of the 27th World Congress of the International Theater Institute (ITI) in Seoul.

mas and other folk arts in which it is often difficult to tell the artists and audience apart. The Nori-Madang covers an area of 430 square meters and seats 1,200 spectators in four tiers. Artists who have been designated human cultural assets often perform here, as did the American theater troupe Bread and Doll. The NoriMadang hosts many performing arts festivals for young people.

Nori-Madang Located between the Main Hall and Small Hall of the National Theater is the Nori-Madang, an open-air theater with seats arranged in a circle around the central performance area. It is designed to reduce barriers between the performers and the audience and allow for the give and take of energy. As such, the Nori-Madang is suitable for traditional art forms such as performances of farmers' percussion music, mask dance dra-

Sejong Cultural Center A symbolic cultural facility for the citizens of Seoul, the Sejong Cultural Center is on Sejongno Street in the heart of the city. Located near Ky6ngbokkung and other ancient palaces, the center serves as a cultural meeting ground between the past and the present. The center stands on the site of the old Citizens' Hall, which was destroyed by fire in 1972. Construction of the new center began in 1974, and it opened four

The outdoor theater at the National Theater of Korea

years later in April1978. Built in a style that melds traditional Korean palace architecture with modern tastes, the center has three floors above ground and three underground for a total floor space of 54,500 square meters on a land area of 21,000 square meters. The front of the building is decorated with stone columns, and the stone walls are inscribed with a traditional lattice pattern. The projecting roof brings to mind the eaves and tiles of traditional houses, and the granite walls give the center a majestic yet graceful appearance. The center's major performing area, the 3,895-seat Main Hall, boasts modern stage facilities and the largest pipe organ in Asia. The multipurpose rotating stage has a diameter of 17 meters and a total area of 1,700 square meters and can accommodate as many as 500 performers. Utilizing a computerized lighting and sound system, all manner of perfor-

mances ranging from drama and dance to symphony orchestra can be staged to their best effect. Âˇ Built in a stadium format, the center's Small Hall has two floors and 522 seats. The stage can accommodate 100 performers. The hall is suitable for concerts, drama and traditional music and can also be adapted for the screening of movies. With these facilities, the center supports the activities of its eight resident troupes, including the Seoul Metropolitan Orchestra, the Seoul Metropolitan Chorus and the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Company. The center plays a leading role in preserving Korea's traditional arts and in promoting an appreciation of culture among Koreans. Since its opening, the Sejong Cultural Center has played host to performances by some of the world's greatest performing artists such as Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the La Scala opera troupe and the Bolshoi Ballet. Many internationally reqowned Korean performers including Chung Myung-whun and]o Su-mi have also graced its stage. This year, the center will take part in the international arts festival that will be held in Seoul as part of the ITI Congress.

Seoul Arts Center The Seoul Arts Center, Korea's finest comprehensive arts complex, was dedicated in 1993 after nine years of construction work. Capable of staging a wide range of performances in theaters designed to make the most of the different genres, the center has earned a reputation as a venue of international standing. Under the progressive and experimental management, the center encourages breaking down barriers between artistic genres and accommodates all forms and expressions of art. The center's main buildings are the Opera House and the Concert Hall, each of which contains five special-purpose theaters.

SejongCulturalCenter(top),theSeoulArtsCenter(middle) and the Opera House at the Seoul Arts Center (bottom) 39

The Opera House is a circular building 108 meters in diameter with a total floQr space of 43,600 square meters. It has 2,340 seats arranged in a horseshoe formation. The crimson stage curtain and gold proscenium set the right tone for a wide range of operas and ballets as well as traditional ch'angguk (Korean folk opera), contemporary dance and musicals. Although designed for traditional performances, the 710-seat Towol Theater is also used for dances, musicals and operas, while the Chayu Small Theater is generally used for experimental performances. The 19,600-square-meter Concert Hall is a traditional music venue that has been given due recognition by some of the world's greatest musicians. Since its opening, the hall has been the favored performance venue for Korean musicians and famous foreign musicians alike. The Concert Hall is the first such venue in Korea reserved exclusively for music. Besides the main hall, there are several smaller halls for solo recitals, chamber orchestras and other types of music performances. The Seoul Arts Center will also be one of the major venues for events during the ITI Congress in Seoul.

Ye-ak-Dang Ye-ak-Dang, located next to the Seoul Arts Center, is Korea's largest theater devoted solely to the performance of traditional arts. Built after eight years of planning, the building resembles an old fortress. It has a total floor space of 13,600 square meters with four floors above ground and one underground. The 800seat theater provides a venue where the true essence of traditional Korean performing arts can be experienced. The theater, being the main hall of the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, features a main stage especially suited for Korean classical music as well as an adaptable subsidiary stage. In every third row of seats there is a balustrade, which allows for comfortable family and group seating. 40

The theater has sound reflectors in the shape of shield kites attached to the ceiling, enabling good sound transmission to the back of the theater. A soundabsorbing curtain is hung on each side wall to control reverberation. The theater is equipped with simultaneous interpretation facilities so that it can be used for international competitions and academic seminars on traditional music. This facility demonstrates the theater's commitment toward internationalizing traditional Korean music.

KBSHall The KBS Hall, a performing arts facility of international scale, opened in 1991. It was built by the state-run Korea Broadcasting System to furnish artists with the best performance venue possible and provide audiences with access to high quality productions, thereby promoting a wide range of performing art g~nres. One of the complex's buildings was used as the International Broadcasting Center during the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics. This building was designed by the late architect Kim Chung-up, who won an open competition to design the structure. The circular 1,776-seat KBS Hall is a multipurpose theater; the circular design is carried through to the lobby and atrium. This circular structure is offset by a triangular frame on the outside of the building. The striking architectural design is a radical departure from the less innovative designs of other cultural facilities, and emphasizes a sense of freedom. The 1,950-square-meter rotating stage moves both horizontally and verticallY. As the landscaping was designed with the idea of creating natural scenery in an urban environment, the hall serves as a refuge from urban life. The garden and plaza contain sculptures, a fountain and a pond. All shows performed inside the KBS Hall are linked with KBS TV and are broadcast throughout Korea. A plan is now being considered to establish similar KBS halls in other major cities

with the aim of promoting the growth of regional culture.

Seoul Nori-Madang The Seoul Nori-Madang is located on the grounds of the Sokch'on Lake Park, a preserve that re-creates the mood and feel of an ancient Korean city. The park is surrounded by tombs from the Paekche Kingdom (18 B.C.-AD. 660) and features a lake and spacious grounds. The 8,300-square-meter Seoul NoriMadang is a centerpiece of the preservation and teaching of Korea's traditional performing arts. The round outdoor stage is 460 square meters in size and has a bleacher capable of accommodating 1,500 spectators. The building at the rear has a floor space of 560 square meters; it is built in a traditional style with a tiled roof and stone columns and contains various facilities. Performances are held at the Seoul Nori-Madang on a regular basis in an effort to preserve the traditional performing arts. Classes to teach folk plays such as the T'ongyong Ogwangdae, Kosong Ogwangdae,-Suyong Yayu and Songp'a sandae nori are conducted regularly. Munye Theater Located in Marronnier Park in the heart of Taehangno, the street of culture and art in downtown Seoul, the Munye Theater opened its doors in April 1981. Since then, the theater has helped build a solid 1oundation for Korean performing arts by providing a high-class stage for original productions andby promoting quality performances. Built on a 4,940-square-meter site, the theater is a typical mid-sized complex consisting of a large 710-seat performing hall and a small 200-seat hall. The main hall, which has a proscenium stage, hosts more than 100 performances each year, including major events such as the Seoul Dance Festival and the Seoul Theater Festival. The small hall is devoted to experimental productions. Under a policy of supporting quality performance troupes, a screening committee

made up of experts selects performers. A highly skilled staff assists the selected troupes with the staging of their Âˇperformances. The theater will be a venue for an ITT arts festival .event.

Ho-Am Art Hall The Ho-Am Art Hall opened its doors in May 1985 in the Joong-ang Ilbo Building in Seoul. The hall has a floor space of 5,150 square meters with 866 seats arranged in two tiers. With a stage of 530 square meters, Ho-Am is a midsized theater, which allows for closer interaction between the performers and the audience. The stage is state-of-the-art, mobile in both horizontal and vertical directions and able to accommodate 200 performers at the same time. The hall is also equipped with simultaneous interpretation facilities for six languages, which enables it not only to stage a variety of performing arts performances but also to host international conferences. The computer-controlled systems allow stage, lighting and sound systems to be tailored to each occasion. _The standard of the performances staged at Ho-Am is considerably high because its screening committee is very selective in renting the hall. Named after the pen name of the founder of the Samsung Group, Lee Byung-chul, the hall plays a key role in Samsung's plans to promote art and culture in Korea. Drama Center The Drama Center was built on the northern foot of Mt. Namsan as Korea's first theater devoted exclusively to drama. Founded by the late playwright Yu Chi-jin, it opened in 1962 with a performance of Shakespeare's Hamlet The initial aim of the theater was to stage performances 365 days a year, but due to a lack of public interest the theater soon ran into financial difficulties. Despite this setback, the performances continued and the theater even put forth a "three-year theater development plan" and thus continued to push for the growth of Korean theater and theater education. The curtain finally came

Clockwise from top: the Munye Theater's main hall, Seoul Nori-Madang, the Drama Center, Y e-ak-Dang and Ho-Am Art Hall

down in 1%3 as the money ran out and the performers left the theater. The center's reputation was maintained never. theless in the Drama Academy, a school affiliated with the center. the Drama Academy is now used as a lecture hall by Seoul Performing Arts College. The original Drama Center contained a round stage with two side stages, a design inspired by the choir platforms found in cathedrals. Due to its dilapidated state, the center is now being renovated into an ultracontemporary theater and is scheduled to reopen in May 1997. When the new theater is finished it will play host to an international arts festival in September 1997.

Dong Sung Art Center The Dong Sung Art Center, another landmark of Taehangno, was founded in 1989 with the aim of stimulating individual creativity and acting as a catalyst for increased activity and mutual

support in the arts community. It is a multipurpose arts center consisting of Dong Sung Hall, a small theater and a movie theater. Dong Sung Hall, in the center's basement, is a mid-sized theater with 500 seats arranged on the first floor and the second-floor balcony. There is a traditional proscenium stage, which can easily accommodate drama, dance and other performances. The seats spread out from the stage in a fan shape. This venue is regarded as a hotbed for creativity; there are no barriers between artistic genres. The small 180-seat theater, called Dong Sung Studio Theater, is located on the fifth floor of the center. In its early days, it was the site of the Dong Sung Theater Festival. Reserved exclusively. for drama, the theater now serves as an experimental space for young and promising thespians. The flexible stage allows for a diversity of spatial arrangements linking the audi-

Dong Sung Art Center(top left), Little Angels Performing Arts Center (top right) and the performance area at the Korean Folk Village (above) 42

ence and the performers; the high ceiling also allows for a wider variety of stage settings. Outdoors, the center has a traditional-style nori-madang where folk plays and concerts are performed and where installation art exhibits are also held. This year the site will host a world theater festival. Through its movie theater, Dong Sung Cinematech, the center is also playing a leading role in the shaping of the film activities in Korea. The movie theater often holds film festivals organized around special themes.

Little Angels Performing Arts Center The Little Angels Performing Arts Center in Seoul was established as a resident theater for the Little Angels, a performing arts troupe founded in 1962. Ground was broken for the buildin ing in 1973 and it was dei~at November 1981. The interior molding in particular took a great deal of time

A puppet show at the Ch'unch'on Children's Center

to install. Fourteen international specialists from nine countries worked for 18 months to give each of the rooms in the center a unique finish. The center comprises four floors and is built in the style of an opera house. It contains the Main Hall, a medium-sized hall named the Blue Room and a small theater called the Red Room. Each has an ornamental lo~by and boasts state-of-the-art lighting, sound and stage facilities. The 1,282seat Main Hall is designed for adaptability to accommodate not only arts performances, but also formal banquets and a wide variety of other events. A unique feature of the Little Angels Performing Arts Center is a dancing fountain located in front of the stage.

Korean Folk Village Performing Area The Korean Folk Village, located in Yang-in, about 30 kilometers south of Seoul, is popular among Koreans and foreign visitors as it shows all aspects of traditional Korean life in a realistic and inviting way. Encompassing a 99,000-square-meter area, the folk village features gracious forests and clear streams. The folk village is a re-creation of the old way of life with diverse examples of buildings from the thatchroof houses of the common people to the most luxurious aristocrat's home. The village is home to artisans and craftsmen who are committed to pre-

serving traditional ways. They can be seen either performing or giving demonstrations of their skills. Wandering around the village, visitors can see upper-class men wearing their high hats, called ka~ young bachelors with their hair in long braids, and students learning their lessons under the rod of a strict teacher. As well as lear-ning about the old Korean lifestyles, visitors can also experience traditional arts and culture through performances of farmers' music and folk plays in the outdoor nori-madang. Here traditional wedding services are also reenacted giving visitors an intimate glimpse into Korean culture.

Kwach'on Citizens' Hall The Kwach'6n Citizens' Hall was built in anticipation of the cultural demands of the 21st century and is an example of efforts to provide greater access to regional arts and culture. Opened in 1995, the complex contains a 1,004-seat Main Hall and a 667-seat Small Hall as well as a 3,597-squaremeter outdoor theater, which can accommodate an audience of more than 1,200 people. In September 1997, the outdoor theater will host an international mask dance drama festival where the arts of the East and West will meet. A comprehensive arts center, the Kwach'6n

Citizens' Hall also has an exhibition hall and sports and education facilities. Kwach'6n, in the southern suburbs of Seoul, is reputedly among the best places to live in Korea, as the surroundings are pleasant and there are ample cultural facilities.

Ch'unch'on Children's Center Located in Ch'unch'6n, once the home of military nobility and now the capital of Kangwon-do province, the Ch'unch'6n Children's Center is on a hill overlooking a lake. Construction of the center began in 1979 to commemorate the International Year of Children and was completed in time for the eighth"' National Youth Sports Festival in 1980. The center contains a large hall with a seating capacity of 200 and a small hail which seats 30. But the real heart of the center is the outdoor concert theater, which has a seating capacity of 2,000, a total area of 1,980 square meters and a stage area of 130 square meters. The Uiam Lake serves as a backdrop for the stage. Every May the Ch'unch'6n Children's Center holds an international puppet festival. Bringing together puppeteers from all over the world, the festival has helped to put Ch'unch'6n on the international cultural map. This is particularly significant considering that few international events in Korea are held outside of Seoul. + 43

Namsadang Wandering Folk Troupes Sim Woo-sung Folklorist/ Director, Kongju Folk Museum

he term kwangdae was an allinclusive word used to designate performers active during the Choson Dynasty 0392-1910). These performers, who were also known as chae-in, specialized in a variety of artistic forms from mask dance to puppeteering, tightrope walking, acrobatics and p'ansori. However, the tradition of performance in which these activities originated can be traced back much farther. For example, in records from the Three Kingdoms period (1st century B.C.-A.D. 7th century) there are references to u-in (actors), ch'ang-u (singers), chae-in (talented persons) and hi/ija (performers). Kwangdae performers could be classified into two distinct types. The first type were those who performed at the bequest of nobles or their patrons. They entertained with songs, dances, instrumental recitals and tightrope walking. These kwangdae were known as taery6ng kwangdae or kwangdae waiting to be commanded. The second type were wandering performers, known as ttLin (floating) kwangdae. Among these itinerant artisans were the troupe members of the Namsadang, an exclusively male organization that expanded its repertoire to include homosexual activities. Female performers had their own troupe, Sadang P'ae, and led a similar wandering life performing dances, songs, tightrope walking and other entertainment. Besides these two groups, there were many other kinds of wandering troupes. These included Sottae Chang-

Until the 1920s, wandering folk troupes were still performing, although their numbers and activities had dwindled. Today, the Namsadang is the only active troupe.

ip'ae, Taegwangdaep'ae, Choranip'ae, Kollipp'ae, Chungmae-gu, Kwangdaep 'ae, Kaksor-ip'ae, and Yaegi Changsa. Until the 1920s, wandering folk troupes were still performing, although their numbers and activities had dwindled. Today the only remaining active troupe is the Namsadang, which now has both male and female members. Also, the members now have permanent homes, and their performing activities are mostly confined to the greater Seoul metropolitan area. There is scant reference material available to either ill11minate the origins of the Namsadang or to trace its historical development. Because the troupe's performances were created for and enjoyed by the common people, not the ruling classes, the few existing references are generally censorious and contemptuous. For example, records from a local government office read, "The performanc_es of these wanderers must be banned!' In short, -there was no interest in preserving information about the origins or background of the troupes, and descriptions of their activities were usually summarized as "the foul performances of a bunch of lowlifes." Yet, in fact, the performances of the Namsadang served a vital role in the lives of the agricultural communities. The Namsadang provided farmers with solace and respite from their hard lives, revitalizing both spirit and body. Some researchers, concentrating on the function of the Namsadang, have placed its origins much earlier than the Three Kingdoms period.

There were folk troupes which served the artistic tastes of the common people all through Korean history. The troupes followed the migration of rural communities and continued their nomadic lives long after individual communities had settled down. They developed into artists with specialized skills, maintaining this tradition into the early years of the 20th century. Thus it becomes apparent that the roots of the Namsadang reach very deep into Korea's past, having developed a diverse repertoire over centuries. Following the designation of the Namsadang's repertoire as Intangible Cultural Asset No. 3 in 1964, the family members and close relatives of the troupe have continued the tradition.

Composition of Namsadangp'ae The leader of a Namsadangp'ae (or troupe) was called a kkoktusoe. Under him were the kombaeng-isoe, ttunsoe, kay61, ppiri, ch6sungp'ae and tungjim kkun. At full strength, the troupe comprised from 40 to 50 members. 46

A revival of the kil nori tradition, a celebration of village life and a prayer for peace and prosperity in dance and music

The performances of the Namsadang served a vital role in the lives of the agricultural communities. The Namsadang provided farmers with solace and respite from their hard lives, revitalizing both spirit and body.

The kkoktusoe was responsible for the group's overaH management. He decided when the family convened for travel and performance and when they disbanded. The organization of the troupe was so well maintained that it was criticized at times for its strictness. The troupe needed about 50 members to stage a full performance, and troupe strength was maintained by a combination of methods. These included obtaining theÂˇ permission of parents to take on their sons (in fact, farmers were often so poor that they were glad.to leave the feeding and care of their sons to the troupe), taking on orphans and runaways and even at times kidnapping reluctant trainees. There was always only one kkoktusoe; depending on the size of the troupe, he could be assisted by two kombaeng-isoe. In Namsadang jargon, the term kombaeng-i meant permission. Thus, the role of the kombaeng-i was to venture out and secure the permission of a village to stage a performance. If there were two kombaeng-isoe, the

they reach that point, one of their distinctive roles is to play the female parts (in costume) in the Namsadang performances. The kkoktusoe is chosen by popular vote by the Namsadang members. He is removed either when he becomes too old to perform or when he loses the trust of the group through his mismanagement. His successor is chosen by majority decision from among the ttunsoe. There is no fixed term for the kkoktusoe.

other was responsible for solving the most important problem the troupe faced: getting enough to eat. He was k-nown as the kul kombaeng-isoe (kill meaning rice in the Namsadang argot). The different forms of entertainment (or nori) the troupe provided were supervised by about 14 different individuals, or tttlnsoe. Their titles and a brief explanation of their functions are as follows:

sanggongmun nim: the conductor of the troupe's mainly percussion ensemble, he was also the lead player on the kkwaenggwari (small gong). chingsu nim: the leader of the ching (large gong) section. kojangsu nim: the leader of the changgo (hourglass drum) section. puksu nim: the leader of the puk (barrel drum) section. hoej6ksu nim: the leader of the nalnari (conical oboe) section. p6kku nim: the leader of the sago (tabor drum) dancers. sangm udong nim: the leader of the yot.!ng dancers. hoed6k nim: the leader of the vocal section. p6nasoe: the leader of the plate spinners. 6lhlmsoe: the leader of the jugglers. t6tpoegisoe: the leader of the mask dancers. salp'ansoe: the leader of the acrobats. 6nlmsani: the leader of the tightrope walkers. t6lmisoe: the leader of the puppeteers. (There are no intangible cultural treasures designated for the hoed6k nim and 6llumsoe sections, so currently these activities are not being performed.)

Puppet theater, mask dance and acrobatics performed by the Namsa,dangtroupe(from top). Kkoktugakshi nori, a puppet play which is sometimes called tolmi, pakch'omji nori or hongdongji nori, is

Depending on the scale of a certain performance, the tti'msoe will select a number of performers from among the minor artisans, kayo!, and newcomers, ppiri, to perform. Ppiri often start out by running errands for the group while they work on improving their skills to achieve the next level of kayo!. Until

traditionally performed in an open-air stage. The movements of the puppets, which are mademainly of wood, are limited to their upper bodies.

Six Acts of Namsadang Although the Namsadang could perform in either farming villages or in cities, they were usually found in the villages of the common people outside the walls of major fortresses. Performances were held from late spring to late fall, with time o(f only during the coldest months of winter. If the Namsadang wanted to perform in a certain village, they had to get advance permission from the village head. During the time of year when farmers were working in their fields, there would always be flags flying. If a Namsadang troupe happened to pass by the village at that time, they would stop on the highest ridge overlooking the village, display their own flag, and play vigorously on their instruments while the young dancers performed acrobatics. If the villagers had the inclination (and of course with the permission of the village head), they would wave their flags in response, indicating come to their wish to have the troup~ their village and perform. Âˇ If there was no sign that the villagers were working in their fields, the troupe would nevertheless perform on a high point over the village while the kombaeng-isoe went down and asked for the permission of the village head. If permission was granted the troupe would enthusiastically march into the village while playing musical instruments. The Namsadang normally staged six acts. They were p'ungmul (percussion 47

ensemble with dancing), pona (spinning plates), salp'an (acrobatics with witty dialogue), arum (tightrope walking) . totpoegi (mask dance drama), and tolmi (puppet show). The stage was generally a wide, cleared area within the confines of the village where a tightrope would be strung and a small enclosed stage for the puppet show set up. For the spinning plates, acrobatics and mask dance drama, another stage would be created by laying several hemp mats together on the ground. The members of the troupe would be served dinner by several designated homes in the village. When it became dark, at about 8 p.m. or later, the entertainment would begin. The Namsadang's percussionists, drum and gong players, would wind their way through the alleys and thoroughfares of the village. Alerted by the music, villagers would fall in line behind the musicians until they were led to the gathering place where the temporary stage had been set up. Following is a brief description of a N~msadng performance in the order the acts were performed:

P'ungmul-Because the Namsadang traveled extensively throughout Korea's eight provinces, the music of the group did not exhibit strong regional flavor. Rather, the musicians performed a medley -of the most outstanding rhythms they had selected from each region. Choreographed marching, dancing steps and spinning turns all were performed while playing. The origins of the dance portion have been traced to military marching drills. The musical ensemble consisted of at least 30 musicians and actor/dancers. Typically, the ensemble included three small-gong players, two large-gong players, three barrel-drum players, six hourglass-drum players, eight tabor player/dancers and two conical-oboe players, as well as child dancers, an actor dressed up in the costume of an aristocrat and several flag bearers. In order to encourage the villagers to feel 48

that they were a part of the performance, or at least that it was being put on exclusively for them, young men from the village would hold up the village's flags, and in some cases the flags of the Namsadang as well, during the performance.

P6na: No matter what, I'm always hungry, so let's try spinning some plates. (Said in hopes _of getting some handouts from the audience.)

Pona-For this performance, house-

Kwangdae: Oh no! This stupid jerk spins his plates anywhere and we don 't even get a drop of water, much less rice!

hold items such as soup bowls, wash basins or plates were spun on the end of cherry-wood poles or long cigarette holders. While the spinner kept the plates in the air, he also engaged in a witty dialogue with one of the other performers. For example:

Salp'an-In this act, as in p6na, two or three performers are present. One is an acrobat who demonstrates forward and backward rolls and flips, hand walking and other gymnastics while simultaneously exchanging humorous remarks ..

A man clad in traditional clothes and hat performing on the tightrope

powers, critiques of inconsistencies in the government's domestic policy, and the ridicule of an apostate monk

with another performer, or in many cases with the drummer who accompanies him.

steps to rapid tempo of the hourglass drum's rhythms.

T6tpoegi-In contrast to regional On'im- The word orum means ice. It was said that walking the tightrope was as difficult as walking on ice, hence the title of this act. Here, too, the tightrope walker is accompanied by a drummer and is assisted by another performer who acts as his straight man. The tightrope walker walks forward and backward, using the tension of the rope to propel himself into the air and spin his body in several directions; his performance concludes with spirited

mask dance dramas which had stronger ritual elements, the . Namsadang mask dance was custom-made to appeal to the desires and tastes of the local audience. Witty dialogue and performances were emphasized over the dance portions. Episodes often included reenactments of conflicts between the upper and lower classes, played out in ritual fashion. The four episodes include a ritual cleaning of the stage area, allegorical enactments of the expulsion of foreign

T6lmi- The name of the puppet show portion of a Namsadang performance perhaps originated in the way the puppets were originally manipulated; that is, by moving the scruffs of their necks (tolmi). Larger themes addressed in a puppet show include the abuse of power by the ruling classes and the opposition of the people, the criticism of foreign religions through cu tti!lg sa tire targeting an a pasta te monk, and the hopes and aspirations of the common people. Approximately 40 puppets and 10 props are used; two acts are divided into seven scenes, some related and others completely independent. Although there is no single main character in a puppetÂˇshow, a character known as Pak Ch'omji is usually identified as the hero. The first act describes his travels, his encounters with women and his wife, as well as a mythical beast (half dragon and half snake) who eats aristocrats. In contrast, the adventures of th governor of P'yongan-do are related in the second act. These include falcon hunting, his funeral and the subsequent" building and dismantling of a temple. A full presentation of __an entire Namsadang performance takes at least three hours. In recent years presentations of the entire repertoire have been held annually. The Namsadang has traveled abroad for performances and in Korea it is one of the better known traditional performing arts. Pak Kye-sun and Nam Ki-hwan are Namsadang performers who have been designated national living treasures, and Pak Yongt'ae is a national living treasure designate for his craftsmanship in the art of making masks and puppets. â&#x20AC;˘ 49

Korean Masks Depicting Skin Diseases Lee Sung-nack Professor of Dermatology School of Medicine, Aju University

asks of all kinds have been passed down through the ages in every part of the world. All European countries-and even villages-have their own traditional masks, including those used by the upper classes at masquerades following the late Middle Ages. Beautiful masks are found in Africa, especially in central southern Africa. In studying the unique aspects of the masks of the South Pacific, Southeast Asia and the Americas as well as the masks passed down in China, Japan and Korea, one cannot help being fascinated by what they reveal about those cultures. A mask does not have a significance of its own; it is related directly or indirectly to the customs and traditions of daily life associated with it. Most coun-

dance. The social attributes of each country's mask dance determines the character of the masks. In order to understand masks, one must first understand mask dances. Some mask dances were devised to boost the courage of warriors preparing for tribal wars, while others were designed to exorcise a village of. demons

characteristic

The Mundung Mask (above) depicts leprosy, while theSonnim Mask (right) suggests the symptoms of smallpox. 50

tries have developed their own unique mask cultures, but a characteristic that all masks share is that they were not created as simple ornaments. Rather, they were originally dance props. Therefore, masks are inseparable from

and sickness. Some dances incorporated drama, and the masks were used to enhance the dramatic effects. The mask dances of China, Japan and Korea all originated from dramatic performances. Korea's mask dances are distinct from those of its neighbors. Whereas the plots of mask dances in China and Japan are generally based on the national history of each country, Korea's mask dances have distinct regional characteristics. Accordingly, each region has its own forms of mask dances, and the plots differ slightly according to the village and the period, and even within the same region, suggesting that spon-

The red and white Hongbaek Mask (left) suggests Sturge-Weber Syndrome, which is one of the symptoms of hemangioma (above).

taneity was an element in their development. The most prominent characteristic of Korea's mask dance is its strong regionalism. Regional attributes were preserved mainly due to a lack of exchanges between regions until modern improvements in the transportation system. Korea's mask dances were passed

down as a form of popular culture together with the unique qualities of each region. Although the basic plots were centuries old, the dances also featured recent events in village life. Mask dances and dramas were not performed only for the benefit of the landowners or the ruling class, but for all the villagers.

Once a year, villagers were permitted to put on masks to hide their identities and perform mask dramas that criticized and ridiculed the ruling class. This enabled them to make their difficulties and hardships known to their landowners. After a mask dance ended, the landowners and the villagers would have a party, sharing the food and drink 51

provided by the former. The villagers relieved the stress of the entire year by trampling on or burning the masks used Âˇ in the dance as a symbolic gesture of forgetting all their grievances. This cathartic release has been seen by some sociologists as one reason that relatively few farmers' riots took place in the hisÂˇ tory of Korea's agricultural society. As such, the social aspects of Korea's mask dance are worth noting. As Korea's mask dances recounted the events of village life, over time unusual members of the village came to be featured in them. The masks were small, so it was only natural that unique and prominent facial attributes were chosen to differentiate the masks. This is why the faces of people suffering from skin diseases were often depicted in the masks. A dermatologist can discern the symptoms of vitiligo (white patches) in the Shin-halbi Mask and freckles in the Miyal-halmi Mask used in the mask dances of Hwanghae-do and Ky6nggido provinces. The shin in Shin-halbi is a t~rm in Ky6nggi-do dialect for "white," and halbi is a colloquial term for halab6ji, grandfather. Therefore, Shinhalbi means a white-faced grandfather. This is more easily understood in conjunction with the Miyal-halmi Mask used to portray Shin-halbi's wife. Miyal means rice grains and hal-mi is dialect for halm6ni, meaning grandmother. So the name of the mask means a grandmother with rice-like spots on her face. The dialogue between these two char-

Korea 's mask dances are distinct from those of its neighbors. Whereas the plots of mask dances in China and japan are generally based on the national history of each country, Korea 's mask dances have distinct regional characteristics. Accordingly, each region has its own forms of mask dances, and the plots differ slightly according to the village and the period, even within the same region, suggesting that spontaneity was an element in their development.

Shin-halbi and Miyal-halmi Masks, the "white-faced" grandfather and grandmother (left below) and a patient with vitiligo lesions (right below)

acters in the mask dance still performed today is rough and reveals a strong dialect, suggesting that they were of the lower class. One of the basic features of Korea's mask dances is that the masks used to represent members of the ruling class had white backgrounds, and those used to represent commoners or villains had black backgrounds. Therefore, judging from the black background of the Miyal-halmi Mask, the character was a commoner by birth. This also explains why freckles, commonly found in Westerners but rarely in Koreans, were shown as white dots on black. Accordingly, although the face of Miyalhalmi's husband is white, this cannot be viewed as proof that he was a yangban, or aristocrat, because his dialogue clearly shows him as the husband of a woman of low birth. Therefore, the Srin-halbi Mask appears to express the symptoms of advanced vitiligo. The paleness can also be interpreted as a symptom of albinism from a medical perspective, but vitiligo is more likely because people afflicted with albinism rarely live past their youth. The Hongbaek Mask is painted in red and white. One might think that these colors were used together for aesthetic or metaphysical reasons, but for Korean masks the various color combinations do not have symbolic significance" as they do in China. A close look at the Hongbaek Mask reveals that the widthsÂˇof the two colors painted on the center of the face are clearly different:

the red is wider than the white. This could be seen as a depiction of a rare congenital disease called Sturge-W eber Syndrome, a form of vascular lumping. The disease causes the skin tissues where blood vessels are abnormally concentrated to become enlarged. So it can easily be surmised that this mask depicted a villager with this rare skin disease. The Ch'wibari Mask was used to represent the ch'wibari, or village drunk. The mask shows the symptoms of early aging commonly seen in chronic alco-

holies. The wide and deep lines on the forehead, and the follicle infections, which develop when the immune systems weaken, may have been depicted symbolically on the cheeks and the chin of the mask. The Sonnim Mask suggests the symptoms of smallpox, the Mundung Mask depicts leprosy, and the Omjung Mask shows a face possibly suffering from scabies. As mentioned earlier, one of the major characteristics of Korean mask dance is its regionalism, and the Mundung Mask is a good example. A

leper is often featured in the mask dances of Korea's warmer southern region, but not in the mask dances of the central and northern areas. Leprosy is not common anywhere today, but it is interesting to note that historical data on disease control indicate that leprosy was common only in the southern parts of Korea in the past. These examples suggest that Korea's traditional masks sometimes depicted the symptoms of skin diseases either for the symbolic value or as a way to reflect a measure of realism. â&#x20AC;˘

The Ch'wibari Mask (left) was used to repre5ent thech'wibari, or village drunk. A.lcoholics typically have rough wrinkles and follicle infections.

Few people know that this center for tofu cuisine was once the home of the famous Chason poet Ho Nansolhon and her younger brother Ho Kyun. Their house, nestled in a gr; ve of pine and blossoming cherry trees, is now occupied by three dogs and an elderly couple who are responsible for taking care of the house and surrounding grounds. No one is sure when the house was built, but records show that the writers' father, Ho Yop, lived there in the mid-16th century and that Ho Nansolhon was born there. The elder Ho's first wife, a woman of the Han clan, bore him a son named Song and two daughters before she died. His second wife, a woman from the Kangnung Kim clan, bore two sons, Pong and Kyun, and a daughter named Cho-hui, who later went by the pen name Nansolh6n. The girl was born to a family of literary genius and studied with her brothers. During the Chason Dynasty, few women were given an opportunity to study Chinese writing or literature, even

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if they were born to a literary family. Namjon yobi (men respected and

e: women demeaned) was the gender

AstgnemonumenthonoringHoKyun (above) and another inscribed with Ho NansiJlhons poetry (below) at the Âˇentrance to Ch'odang Village

standard during the Chason Dynasty. Women were expected to remain at home, dedicated to domestic affairs, and were not allowed to demonstrate their abilities outside the home. It was in this rigid society that an eight-year-old Ho Nansolh6n wrote Kwanghanjon baekongnu sangnyangmun, a poem depicting the world of Taoist ascetics. Ho Nansolhon was married at the age of 15 to a man named Kim Song-nip, but they did not have a happy life together. Kim was a shallow man who prefe!red loose women and drink to family life, and his mother was a jealous and abusive woman. Nansolhon gave birth to a boy and a girl but both died, and then she had a miscarriage. Meanwhile, her brother was s.e nt into exile and was later executed. Nansolhon was understandably discouraged and retreated to a haven of books and poetry until her death. Her literary world resonates with a

certain restlessness. Water and images of water are linked to the human condition throughout her works-water and life, water and hardship, water and purity. For Ho Nans6lh6n, moving water symbolized feminine qualities. The movement of water conjures up the rocking sensation of a horse cart, a boat or a wagon. Water also symbolizes purification, an escape from the restlessness and insecurity of the outside world into a vast, quiet body of water. The movement that H6 Nans6lh6n depicts reflects the insecurities of women's lives, isolated and alienated under the rigid standards of feudal .society. In her poems, H6 created an imaginary world in which the intense bitterness of Choson-era women was portrayed in a beautiful dream. The opportunities for social interaction by women were extremely limited during the Choson Dynasty, and Ho's life was particularly painful because of her husband's profligacy, her mother-in-law's abuse, the deaths of her children and the hardships that her brothers endured

in the political arena. H6 used her pain and sense of futility to portray an ascetic world where she found some consolation. In this dream world she found an escape, a nebulous otherness. Ho Nans6lh6n was plagued by three han, or bitter unhappiness. First, why was she born in Choson of all the lands to be born in? Second, why was she born a woman? And third, why did she have to marry Kim Song-nip of all the men in the world? These were the reasons she longed for another world.

A. stone monument bearing an inscription of Ho Kyun's poetry (above)isfoundinKyosan, a village on the coast near Kyongp'o Lake (below).

Four Moons at Kyongp'o Lake Kyongp'o Lake, to the north of Ch'odang, was a natural backdrop for Ho Nans6lh6n's poetry. Today her childhood home is surrounded by pine and flowering cherry trees, but in her time, the lake's waters reached to the house. Kyongp'o means bright as a mirror, and one can easily imagine a young Ho Nans6lh6n stepping out from her front gate to gaze into the mirror-like water. People once said that four moons shone at Kyongp'o Lake. The first was

Kyongp'o Lake (top) and Kyongp'odae, a lookout by the lake (above) 58

the moon in the sky, the second the moon in the East Sea, the third on the surface of Ky6ngp'o Lake and the fourth reflected in the wine cup of a gentleman enjoying an evening by the lake. If yet another moon reflected in the eyes of the person sitting across the table were included, other people said, there would be five moons at Ky6ngp'o Lake. At the center of the lake is Bird Rock, where hundreds of migratory birds gather. With the lake's many moons and rich wildlife, it is no wonder that H6 Nans6lh6n's poetry reflects an affinity for nature. Above the lake is a lookout,

Ky6ngp'odae, from which the whole lake and surrounding area are visible. The lookout was first constructed in 1326 at Inw6lsa where four ascetics who served as officials in the Kangwon region entertained themselves, but it was moved to its present location during the Chos6n Dynasty. The evening mist rising over Ch'odang as seen from Ky6ngp'odae is one of the area's most beautiful sights. In fact, Ky6ngp'odae is famous for eight vistas, including the sun rising over the ocean, the golden rays of the setting sun illuminating the ocean, the moonrise, the sight of the fishing boats at night,

Kangdongmun Gate in the midst of an old pine grove, and the evening mist over Ch'odang Village. About ten minutes north of Ky6ngp'o Lake is a small hill on the coast which marks the spot where Odaesan meets the sea. This is where H6 Nans6lh6n's younger brother, H6 Kyun, was born. He is best known as the author of Hong Kif-dong chOn (The Tale of Hong Kif-dong) which is thought to be the first novel composed in han-gUl script. There is probably not a Korean alive who is not familiar with this tale. This small hill is called Kyosan. San

means mountain and kyo is a mythical snake that tries but never succeeds in becoming a dragon. Kyosan was also H6 Kyun's pen name. He was born in his maternal grandparent's home at the foot of Kyosan. The house is gone now; all that remains is a stone monument bearing an inscription of H6 Kyun's poetry. H6 Kyun's life was as unhappy as his sister's. He was a celebrated writer and scholar, but his son, born to his second wife, was not able to enter the Chos6n bureaucracy and serve as a respected official because he was illegitimate by Chos6n standards. A renowned idealist 59

Few people know that Ch 'odang was once the home . of the famous Chos6

poet

H6 Nans6lh6n and her younger brother H6 Kyun, the author of The Tale of Hong Kil-dong.

and liberal, Ho fraternized and sympathized with other gentlemen-scholars who experienced similar frustration. He rebelled against a society that discriminated on the basis of one's birth and that allowed politics to be influenced by money. He dreamed of creating a world in which the illegitimate and men of low birth were treated as equals. In this sense, Ho Kyun was like his sister. Through the exploits of Hong Kildong, a Robin Hood-like figure, Ho's The Tale of Hong Kil-dong indirectly attacked the tyrannical rule of 60

Kwanghaegun (r. 1608-1623) and called for the reform of societal and government practices that discriminated against children 'born out of wedlock. Ho's dream of equality was never realized, however, and he was twice accused of treason. The first time he was sent into exile; the second, in 1618, he was executed along with his followers. Just as Ho NansolhOn could not live as an ordinary Choson woman, Ho Kyun could not follow the path prescribed for him by society. Although they experienced bitter tribulations, Ho

Nansolhon left a body of poetry that demonstrates her ability to escape the strictures of her society through her writing, and Ho Kyun stood by his values and perhaps achieved spiritual freedom after his death. Talented female poets were rare in traditional Korean society. The rules of decorum governing the lives of women of noble birth were strict. Women were not taught literature; they were expected to limit their interests to cooking. Clearly, Ho NansolhOn was a genius and a singular woman, breaking with con-

The home of Ho Y op, father of writers Ho Kyun and Ho Nansolhon

vention and writing poetry from the age of eight H6 Kyun explained his relationship to his sister in this way: "My late sister was a kind person and a fine writer, but her good qualities were never recognized by her mother-in-law. She lost her two children and died with great han in her heart My own heart aches when I think of my elder sister. I read Hwang Tae-sa's Words of Sorrow (Aesa) and realized that feelings of sibling love and sympathy have not changed through the ages."

There is one more place that every visitor to Kangnung must see: S6n-gyojang, a traditional house on the road from Ky6ngp'o Lake to downtown Kangnung. A large parking lot and many Korean-style restaurants mark the entrance to it The house facing the lake was once home to a branch of the ruling Yi clan of the Chos6n Dynasty and is unique for its free-flowing use of space, quite different from other houses of that era. It also combines the closed style of architecture from Korea's colder northern region and the open style

found in the warmer .southern provinces. In the pond next to the house is a pavilion supported by four stone columns. It looks as if a scholarly gentleman is dangling his feet in the cool water. The walls of the pavilion are made of folding doors. On hot summer days, gentlemen must have sat there, enjoying the cool breeze over the water. The lake radiates the sad and sometimes violent history of this region. On each tree and stone, the moss of time reminds visitors of Kangnung's colorful past + 61

KOREAN ARTISTS ABROAD

The World of Wool Painter

Lee Ki-soon Lim Young-ju Consultant, National Commission for Cultural Properties

ee Ki-soon, who was 19 years old when she left her family and home in war-torn Korea in 1950, returned to her motherland 34 years later as a grandmother. To her family members who thought she had died, her return was like a miracle. More than ten years ago, a nationwide television campaign called "Searching for Separated Families" was launched to locate and reunite family members who had become separated during the Korean War. The whole nation watched in wonder as countless families were reunited. Just about that time, Lee Ki-soon, who had become a Czech citizen after experiencing all sorts of tribulations, returned home to her joyful family. Lee was born in 1931 in Kaesong, 40 kilometers north of Seoul. After graduating from Kaesong Girls High School, she went to a nursing school because it was too expensive to study art, her first choice of study. The Korean War broke out during her second year at Severance Junior College of Nursing in Seoul and launched her on a long, fateful journey. The war forced her along a path that she could never have imagined in her wildest dreams. Lee was conscripted into battlefield service as a nurse for the North Korean People's Army. However, no one notified her family and she could not contact them. Toward the end of the war, she was injured during the army's retreat to North Korea. She was taken to a mili- . tary field hospital in China and held there against her will. Even after the

cease-fire was declared, there was no way for her to return to Korea. However, she managed to enroll in painting classes at the Central Art Institute in Beijing, where she had ended up settling. There she met many renowned Chinese artists, including Chi Bai-shi, Chang Fun, Li Chwa, Li Ku-chan, Tung Shi-wen and Shu Bei-ch<;:mg, and also studied Oriental philosophy. Her sojourn in Beijing greatly influenced her life and artistic world. In 1956, Lee's life took another turn when she married Jarosla Bejcek, a Czech sculptor who was studying Oriental painting in Beijing. The next year she left for Prague with their infant son, leaving Jarosla behind to complete his studies.

LeeKi-soon

When she was nostalgic for Korea, Lee found solace in reealling her family and the hillocks and village landscapes of her hometown. When she was homesick, she sang songs from her childhood.

A New Life at the Home of Tapestry Once again, Lee had to start a new life i; another foreign country. By the time she gave birth to a second child, a daughter, she was quite familiar with the Czech language and customs. From 1957 to 1966, she devoted herself to raising her two children and adapting to life in Czechoslovakia. When she was nostalgic for Korea, Lee would find solace in recalling the voices of her mother, who died the year she turned 15, her father, her sister and brother, and in imagining the hillocks and village landscapes of her hometown. Whenever she became homesick, . she sang "Koh yang Saenggak" (Thoughts of Home), "Pongsonhwa" (Touch-me-not Flower), "Pawi Kogae" (Rocky Pass) and other

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Largo I, 102x91 em, 1996

songs she had sung as a child. In 1973, Lee began studying a tapestry technique unique to the Czechs and soon became a skilled tapestry artist. At first, she produced her works at a studio in Brno, some 100 kilometers east of Prague. Her works of this period reflected her nostalgia for Korea, depicting her pleasant childhood memories and the landscapes of Kaesong and Mt. Song-aksan. She also incorporated into her works the sun, moon, stars, clouds, water, fire, air, earth, sea, mountains and imaginary birds and flowers to create a

beautiful state of harmony and a fantastic world of Oriental mystique. This mystique was the sublimation of a blending of ideas from several religions and philosophies, including Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. In the summer of 1984, after much strenuous effort, Lee was finally able to make her first trip back to Korea she had so longed for. Shortly thereafter, her husband died. For years, she grieved and seemed unable to get over her depression. But in time Lee resumed her work, and she is now a renowned

wool painter in Europe, especially in the Czech Republic. Perhaps her success can be attributed to the extraordinary hardships and suffering she has experienced. The Czech Republic is in the heart of Europe, and Czech artisans are known for their highly developed handicraft skills such as stone carving, ceramics and glassmaking. Among the most remarkable Czech art forms is wool painting, an art not found elsewhere in the world. The term "wool painting" is commonly used 63

A Valley at Dawn, 99x151 em, 1996

Lee's works show that she is not only dexterous in wool painting but also has a genuine love for the technique. She ingeniously employs the techniques of wool painting to express artistically her imaginary world. Her art holds memories of the past expressed in a fairy-tale world of her own making. 64

rather than tapestry or art protis tapestry, with which it is often confused because the artist uses pieces of wool of various colors to create a picture instead of using watercolors, oil paints or pastels. In wool painting, the artist first makes a sketch and then uses chalk to transfer the sketch to wool fabrics which serve as the background. Threads of various colors are either meticulously pulled out or cut to complete a design. The designs created with the same care and attention to detail as a painting is then fixed in place with an iron after which it is sent to a studio to be processed with a special machine that has about 700 needles. Any unsatisfactory portions are done again with wool and then reprocessed with the machine. It is a complex production process that demands patience and precision. Through wool painting,_one can express emotions in a mode entirely different from other forms of painting. Lee's artistic world combines myths and fables in a manner that is both meticulous and vigorous. Although her creations are filled with powerful colors, they are tranquil and display the strong qualities of her subjects. Her works show that she is not only dexterous in wool painting but also has a genuine love for the technique. She ingeniously employs the techniques of wool painting to express artistically her imag ~ ary world. Lee's favorite subjects come from her childhood. A love of nature, -a longing for home and loneliness are predominant themes in her works. Her art holds memories of the i ~ world of past expressed in a fairy-t her own making. But Lee did not start out as a wool painter. The exhibitions she held in the 1960s featured works combining poster colors, pastels and water colors as well as oil paint. She turned to wool painting in the early 1970s. Since her first homecoming in 1984, she has held three exhibitions in Korea. Her first exhibition left a dark, strong impression of sorrow, but her later exhibitions revealed a bright world har-

Sirius, 80x80 em, 1994

monizing the positive aspects of both the West and the East. This new optimism seems to reflect her attempt to capture the traces of her past and her joy at being reunited with her family, whom she must have thought she would not see until Korea was unified. In the creative world exalted by the observations and experiences of the

artist, viewers can lose their identities while merging with the artist's mysterious dreams and visions. Lee's works bespeak her hope that the thread of her childhood, and her visions of her beautiful hometown, will continue to unravel without a break. Every subject in her paintings, including the flying birds, the colorful flowers gently trem-

bling in the breeze amid rocks, and the tree branches and vines shooting up to become a thick forest, comes together to create a mysterious arabesque. Gazing at these canvases that express all these elements so beautifully and delicately, it is easy to see the lyrical genius of a talented painter behind them. + 65

Rediscovering Indigo Blue: Dye Craftsman

HanKwang-sOk Lee Hyoung-kwon President Institute of Korean Cultural Heritage

ifferent peoples comprehend the world in widely divergent ways, depending on how they perceive their environment and the objects around them. For example, the world view of people of Western cultures differs from that of people of Eastern cultures. Similarly, perceptions of color are influenced by one's cultural background. In the West, perception is guided by human intuition and the five senses, while in East Asia a greater emphasis is placed on perceiving the essence of objects. Thus, whereas Westerners express colors in terms of the seven colors of the rainbow discovered in Newton's prisms, Koreans traditionally defined color on the basis of the theories of the Five Elements and the Two Basic Forces, yin and yang. The theory of the Five Elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water) is an attempt to classify the basic properties of all material things; these properties are evident when objects undergo change. The theory of yin and yang describes all phenomena in terms of the interaction between opposing forces. In traditional Korean society, these theories were used to understand phenomena and predict the future. The Five Elements were also expressed in colors. Wood was blue, fire red, earth yellow, metal white and water black. The five cardinal directions also had designated colors: east blue, west white, south red, north black and the center yellow. The five colors were deeply

ingrained in Korean thought and formed the basis for traditional Korean costumes, such as the multicolored chogori, the jacket of a young woman's hanbok. The traditional Korean conception of color did not simply involve an understanding of refraction and wave lengths. Color was understood within the framework of traditional .philosophy and thought. In modern Korea, however, people learn the Western principles of color before the traditional principles, just as they learn the Western musical scale before they are ever exposed to the traditional Korean pentatonic scale. The modern Korean educational system is dominated by Western values. Traditional lifestyles are being pushed aside as Korean society pursues modernization, industrialization and Westernization. Traditional values, culture and ways of thinking are looked down upon as vestiges of the past. Koreans have gained much through the passage of time, but many irreplaceable elements of traditional culture have been lost. Among these is Korea's traditional concept of color. Koreans were long called the "white-clad nation" because common people wore white clothing during much of the Chason Dynasty era (1392-1910), but this does not mean they were oblivious to color. The myriad adjectives used to describe color in the Korean language prove the opposite. Consider the adjectives used to describe red: pukt'a, ppalgat'a, pulgusurum hada, saeppalgat'a. The list

is seemingly endless. The same is true ~ of blue: p'arat'a, p'6r6t'a, saep'arat'a, 0 p'Urusum hada and so on. This linguisÂˇ ~ tic variety reflects the Korean people's natural sensitivity to color. How ever, contemporary Koreans have lost touch with the colors their ancestors loved. In the process of modernization, Korea's traditional color system has been replaced by a Western concept of color. This is a matter of concern because the disappearance of a traditional concept of color augurs the eventual displacement of Korean sensitivities and lifestyles by Western culture. m

Traditionally Korean s grew

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indigo in their backyards or on the dikes around the rice fields. From top: indigo in bloom, harvesting indigo plants and preparing the leaves for fermentation in an earthenware jar.

Dedication of a Craftsman The town of Polgyo is five hours from Seoul on the southern coast of Chollanam-do province. The town's name derives from the Chines~ characters for log-raft bridge; long ago a pontoon bridge spanned the inlet on which the town sits. Polgyo is familiar to most Koreans thanks to novelist Cho Chongnae's best-selling T'aebaeksanmaek, which is set in the town. Cho vividly portrayed the Japanese colonial period and the postwar years of ideological struggle. Today, most of the traditional Korean houses that once lined Polgyo's back alleys are gone, replaced by 15-story apartment complexe&. The train station, which serves the old Cholla line, is one of the few reminders of the region's colorful past, and neÂˇarby at the wharf, dozens of women sell fish and the fresh kkomak clams for which Polgyo is fag10us. Cho sang the praises of these chewy little mollusks. On my most recent visit, I was tempted to find a restaurant to taste some while I soaked up the thick accents of the locals, but my visit had another purpose. I had come to see Han Kwang-sok who lives in Chigok, a village deep in the mountains northwest of Polgyo. Chigok is part of Koum-ri, the site of the old regional office of the Chason Dynasty. In the old days the area was home to wellbred yangban aristocrats whereas

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Polgyo was populated by working people who made their living fishing or collecting clams on the mudflats. Today, things have changed. Polgyo bustles while Chigok has become Âˇa lonely mountain retreat. Han Kwang-sok is a farmer there, a typical Polgyo man in terms of temperament and his earthy way of talking. But he is not a typical farmer. He is the only Korean farmer to be designated a human cultural asset by the Korean government. Han grows rice and barley, but he works hardest to produce something quite different-the Âˇworld's most beautiful blue, a natural blue that is as peaceful and pure as the lowing of a calf in the twilight on a quiet country evening. Indigo is the crop to which he dedicates his energy. To Han, the deep blue produced by indigo dye evokes the feelings of joy and hardship experienced by the Korean people over the last 2,000 years. However, though many people recognize the name indigo, few were alive in the. days when traditional hanbok were made of fabrics dyed with indigo. The women of the Chason Dynasty used the indigo plants from their back gardens or the dikes around rice fields to make fabric dye, but today that technique and even the plants themselves are all but extinct. Han Kwang-sok was one of the few modern Koreans to recognize the value and beauty of this fast-disappearing art. This spring his garden is filled once more with row after row of the pealike indigo plant. When I visited, the plants had not yet sprouted. Han stood on the edge of the field and asked, "Isn't it exciting to think that you can take a color from nature and wear it on your back?" Beyond his copper-tanned face, the sky hung over the sea like a blue reflection. Perhaps the indigo blue he has revived is a gift from the blue heavens above Polgyo. Han's work with indigo has been praised as a step toward the rediscovery of the colors of the Chason

Dynasty. He has become widely known through traditional dye exhibitions at Seoul's Hakkojae Gallery in 1993 and early 1997. For many years, Han's workshop in Chigok was a simple country house. He lived there with his elderly parents. The thatch roof had been replaced with slate, but in every other way it was a typical Korean farmhouse with a black dog and a flock of yellow chicks in the courtyard. On the day I visited, the dyed fabric on the clothesline that stretched across the dusty courtyard flapped noisily in the wind. It is hard to believe that the man who rediscovered Chason indigo once lived and worked in this house. Recently, he built a new house and somewhat renovated his workshop. Han's fascination with indigo dyeing and his dedication to the craft seem to be rooted in his family background. Two of his uncles were involved in the promotion of traditional culture. The late Han Ch'ang-gi published Ppuri kip 'Lin namu and Saemi kip 'un mul, two magazines devoted to Korean culture and society. Another uncle, Han Sang-hun, has spent his life raising tea on the mountain slopes near Polgyo and producing brassware and pottery. The stubborn dedication of his uncles to Korea's flagging traditional culture seems to have made a deep impression on him. For a time, Han Kwang-sok worked at Ppuri kip'Un namu where he had a chance to learn from his older uncle. He then returned home to Polgyo where he helped his younger uncle establish a model village designed to preserve t'raditional culture. He built himself a mud house and began his new life as a craftsman, cultivating tea, casting pots and studying the traditional process of indigo dyeing. The three years from 1982 to 1985 when Han, then in his late twenties, worked alone in the mountains were hard times. He was able to overcome the loneliness and the despair of the unrecognized artisan because he could

From top: Han adds a mordant, a substance used to fix the dye, made from roasted clam or oyster shells, to the indigo dyebath and stirs the solution vigorously with a large wooden spatula. When the white foam turns a rich eggplant purple, the indigo dye is ready.

Han K wang-sok grows rice and barley, but he works hardest to produce something qui(e different- the world's most beautiful blue, a natural blue that is as peaceful and pure as the lowing of a calf in the twilight on a quiet country evening Indigo is the crop to which he dedicates his energy

Independent Approach

see the value of what he was creating. Han told me that the joy and sense of dedication he felt in the creation of these things, these extensions of himself, helped him develop the unyielding pride that the truly skilled craftsman lives by. Han says that his greatest pride comes from the beautiful indigo blue he has learned to produce. He first came upon the color while working with his uncle Han Sang-hun. When he saw the color and heard that the Korean people used to dye flax, ramie and cotton with it, Han says he felt something special, as if he had experienced the clarity of a broad autumn sky and the pure blue of the deepest ocean. That is when he began to dream of re-}:reating the indigo blue of the Chason era.

At first Han talked with elderly women in his village. They must know about the dyeing process, he thought. ., ~;!"91:l=' ffi He jotted down everything they said, --.--- , ~ but their comments were mostly anec(j) dotal and provided little useful informa~ tion. Besides, he needed indigo plants if he was going to do anything, but he could not find any, not even seeds. Somewhere in the process of industrialization, indigo had been lost. Han was saved when the late Ye Yong-hae, a folklorist and an editorial writer of the Hankook Ilbo, brought some indigo seeds to Han's older uncle and suggested that he try to revive the tradition of indigo dyeing. Han and both of his uncles agreed to dedicate themselves to the task and set about interviewing old women again, hoping to learn the traditional technique. After the first indigo harvest, Han followed the women's instructions carefully, filling an earthenware jar with indigo leaves, pouring water over them and allowing them to ferment. He then drained off the water and mixed it The fabric must be dyed several times with lime. This should have produced a to create a rich blue color (above); dye that turned fabric a beautiful blue Han's work in exhibition (opposite) color, but it did not work. When 70

immersed in the water, the fabric turned blue, but as soon as Han removed it from the dyebath, the color drained away. What was the secret? Han learned by trial and error. He finally discovered that he needed to add a mordant, a substance used to fix the dye, made from roasted clam or oyster shells, to the indigo dyebath. He then stirred the solution vigorously with a large wooden spatula until it foamed. When the white foam turned a rich eggplant purple, the result was an indigo dye that did not fade. Han made this discovery while he was living in the mountains, where he stayed until 1985. He says it was a difficult period for his family and he does not like to elaborate on what was going on in his life at that time. But his return to society seems to have been motivated by a belief that he needed .to participate in the social movements of that period. Han joined the Hansallim movement, an environmental and cultural movement, and began living on a large communal farm Bear Kwangju in Ch6llanam-do. There he devoted himself to the development of a new paradigm for the preservation of traditional culture. He became a leader in the revival of traditional dyeing techniques and the production of pottery, spirit poles green tea, persimmon leaf tea, fans and other traditional products. Han continued to study dyeing techniques Âˇduring this period, determined to find his own path in life. He visited ChOng Kwan-ch'ae who w.as growing indigo on an experimental basis in Yongsanp'o, near Mokp'o, and asked for some seeds. With these seeds, he started growing his own indigo plants again. Han soon realized that indigo dyeing required the dedication of a true craftsman, a level beyond the simple knowledge he had gained about the color of the bubbles in the dyebath. One day Han left the farm wearing a pair of flax shorts dyed indigo blue. It began to rain and before he knew it, his legs were blue. He had dyed the

: .

fabric with his newly discovered technique. Why didn't the dye take? He asked the old women of the neighbor-hood, but most had only watched their elders dyeing fabric. The Tew who were old enough to have dyed fabric themselves had forgotten or did not understand the principles behind the technique. He had no choice but to resort to trial and error once again. Han found that there were three secrets to indigo dye: controlling the flow of water, understanding the nature of the indigo itself, and applying the dye properly. He learned the answers to these three secrets while he was living on the farm and working with the Hansallim movement. He finally had rediscovered his path in life. How long did it take him? When I asked, he smiled and said, "Too long!" Behind that smile were more than ten years of hard work and frustration. When the Hansallim movement ran out of steam in the early 1990s Han married, settled down in Chigok and devoted himself to indigo dyeing. Shortly thereafter, he was designated a human cultural asset by the Korean government. Unlike most craftsmen who inherit this honor from a senior artisan, Han had to rediscover a lost art through sweat and sheer determination. This independent approach makes his success all the more satisfying, he says. Han has experimented with many other kinds of natural dyes. He uses safflower, madder and peach blossoms to create red tones; gardenia, turmeric and barberry roots produce yellow, while bracken fungus makes a purple dye. The bark of pine trees in spring produces an orange color. Mixing beans and millet with the skins of green persimmons or chestnuts creates the warm color of autumn leaves. To Han, cockscomb, balsam, alder and azaleas are all ingredients for rich colors. As for his plans, Han will encourage Koreans to regain their appreciation for these mysterious colors and will introduce this Korean spectrum to the rest of the world. +

• • •• 71

INTERVIEW

YuMiri Writing and Self-Discovery Park Hae-hyun Staff Writer, The Chosun Ilbo

u Miri, a recipient of this year's Akutagawa Award, a respected Japanese literary prize for new authors, says she's neither Korean nor Japanese. A writer of Korean ancestry living in Japan, Yu "lives between Korea and Japan." That makes her invisible, an enviable place for a writer, according to Yu. However, Yu Miri is clearly an author of japanese literature and her reputation as a Japanese writer has become even stronger since she won the celebrated award. She writes in Japanese; Korea is simply the land of her parents. The Korean language lies somewhere on the far side of her most distant memories. Yu says the only Korean she remembers is the curses her parents threw at each other during her childhood. The collective historical experience of the Korean people and any memories of that history have nothing to do with the body of her literature. Still, Koreans do not think of Yu as simply a Japanese writer. People in Korean literary and theater circles were familiar with her plays, such as Festival of Fish (Mulgogiui chukche), long before she received the Akutagawa Award. Her name was always preceded by the label "Korean author residing in Japan," and once she won the Akutagawa Award (which in the past has gone to two other authors of Korean descent, Yi Hui-song and Yi Yang-ji), her name became familiar to the general reading public in Korea.

YuMiri

Yu 's literary world operates on two levels because of the complicated nature of Korean-japanese relations. The .two levelsa Korean . world and a japanese world- are not easily integrated. Also, within Yu's own mind, she and the world outside are always at odds, refusing to intermingle.

The news of the award made headlines throughout the Korean press, which always heralds the accomplishments of people of Korean descent overseas. Yu Miri's fast celebrity that has developed since the announcement of the award is a result of the press spotlight. Some people criticize the Korean press for its enthusiasm about Yu. These critics say that this follows from Korea's persistent adulation of Japan, and complain that by the way the Korean press handled the story one would think Yu won the Nobel Prize. Others have suggested that the press is exaggerating the importance of Yu's work After all, she is still in her twenties and the Akutagawa Award, while prestigious and full of tradition, honors new rather than established writers. TQ,e Korean press coverage of Yu's success says less about her writing than about factors quite unrelated to her work First of all, the subtle nationalism that continues to plague Korean Japanese relations played a.role in the coverage. When Yu was a middleschool student, she was ostracized by her classmates because she was Korean, and in her despair she attempted suicide several times. Her adolescent experiences mirror the ethnic discrimination that other people of Korean descent suffer in Japan. Yu overcame not only this severe discrimination but also her parents' divorce to become a successful Korean writer residing in Japan. Koreans think of her not as an author but as a young woman of

Korean descent who has made her mark in Japanese society. The ethnic discrimination so prevaÂˇlent in Japanese society is responsible for the Korean people's emb;ace of Yu as a Korean writer. As reported in the Korean press and abroad, a book signing planned in Japan was canceled because of threats from a right-wing terrorist group. France's Le Monde called Yu Japan's Salman Rushdie. The logic of the Japanese right is simple: They do not like Yu because she is Korean. The French understand Japanese discrimination against foreigners. Lately, as the persecution of foreigners has become more serious in Europe, many European intellectuals are uniting in protest against ethnic discrimination. For these reasons, the right-wing threats aimed at Yu have become an issue beyond Japan's borders. And, naturally, the threats have troubled Koreans. The Japanese right wing claims that Yu portrays the Japanese as fools in her novel. Yu has asked such critics to po_int out passages where this is true. Last March, after the right-wing threats, Yu visited Korea. When she arrived at Kimpo Airport, she said, "I always thought of myself as being alone in Japan. I never expected such a welcome in my homeland." She said that it was strange that she could have a book-signing in Seoul when she had not been able to hold one in Japan. There are no elements of Korean literature in her writing, which is entirely a product of the Japanese literary tradition. But it was the Japanese who recognized her writing with a literary award, and she has many Japanese readers. Still, she calls Korea her homeland.

Two Levels of Literary World Yu won the Akutagawa Award with a novel entitled Family Cinema. The book has sold more than 80,000 copies in Japan, and after the author visited Korea, the translated version climbed high on the Korean bestseller

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.....Âˇ;._~F

list. She says that she is neither Korean nor Japanese, but she is clearly both. Koreans want to embrace Yu as a Korean author even though she cannot speak a word of Korean. The Korean people's attachment to the concept of chong-alternately defined as affection, sympathy or tender feelings-is behind their desire to see Yu as one of their own. The 'actions of the Japanese right wing have also been important. They have forced Yu into the Korean camp and incited the Korean people's defiant attitude toward the Japanese. Yu's literary world operates on two levels because of the complicated nature of Korean-Japanese relations. The two levels-a Korean world and a Japanese world-are not easily integrated. Also, within Yu's own mind, she

and the world outside are always at odds, refusing to intermingle. Her declaration-that she is neither Korean nor Japanese.:....reflects the discord between herself and the outside world. She is in a state of limbo, for she has no real society in which to situate herself. She longs to live as a pure individual, free of the confines of a national community or modern state. She was born into a family, but that cannot be a foundation for existence. The novel deals with Yu's own fractured home life: a father addicted to gambling, a mother who has moved in with another man, and a sister who acts in pornographic movies. Family Cinema tells the strange story of a young woman filming a documentary about a family coming apart. The 73

members of the family are devoted to their given roles, like dedicated actors in a psychodrama. Their roles are their Âˇ destinies in real life. The novel's narrator travels back and forth between the film script and the real world, questioning in a clear, dry tone the meaning of family and what it has to offer the individual. Yu's style is not gaudy. Each episode is driven by her brisk pace. After being expelled from high school for her numerous suicide attempts, Yu tried acting but switched to writing plays when she found she could not speak on stage. Her personal history is a record of repeated anguish. She inched perilously through her childhood like a tightrope walker on a wire. Her terse writing style seems to grow out of her understandably strong survival instincts. Yu has described the loss of voice she experienced as an adolescent, but today she seems quite candid. On her recent visit to Seoul she met Shin Kyong-suk, the most prominent of Korea's up-and-coming novelists, and irp.pressed Shin with her forthright and systematic critique of Shin's work. Apparently she read translations of two of Shin's novellas, Where the Organ Once Stood and The Woman Who Plays Badminton on the plane ride from Japan. In her conversation with Shin, Yu offered insights into her own writing: Shin Ky6ng-suk once said that she began to write fiction because she wanted to know herself. I can really identify with that. I'd feel more comfortable if I could fit into a category, as a woman, a Korean, a Japanese. But a writer is like a deep-sea diver, probing the depths of one's own self. Although Yu's writing is based on her own family history, surprisingly, her family has shown no reaction to her literary career, she says. Notably her father, who has lived in Japan for more than 30 years, does not read 74

phonetics, but he didn't study after that. It's only natural that you should learn to read and write Japanese if you're going to live in Japanese society, but in the back of his mind somewhere, Father seems to have resisted the idea of assimilation and so remained illiterate. Many Koreans living in Japan say they buried their past in the ground after they passed through the long tunnel between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese islands. That's how Father must feel.

Yu Miri longs to live as a pure individual, free of the confines of a national community or modern state. She has no real society in which to situate herself

Japanese and therefore knows nothing of his daughter's work My father has never told me exactly how old he is. He's probably sixty-five or sixty-six this year. He worked as a handyman in a pachinko parlor and was satisfied simply speaking Japanese. He had no reason to learn written Japanese. When I was in elementary school I remember seeing my father using my textbook to practice Japanese

Yu prefers to write with a fountain pen. Around the world, writers have given up their pens for computers and word processors, but she remains attached to the old ways. "When I write with a fountain pen the ink seems to spread onto the page like drops of my own blood. The sensation that I am writing is strong. Sometimes I use a word processor, but I always feel like something is broken by the use of a machine. I've destroyed seven word processors already." Âˇ Yu says she doesn't plan to marry any time soon. No doubt it is because she is still quite young, but also she says, "I can't marry because I'm incapable of making any kind of promise to anyone." The animation that Yu reveals in private reminds me of a girl's behavior. She throws herself at the world fearlessly, Hke young girls do. It is not that she is a great existentialist; her willingness to propel herself into the world is the driving force behind her literature. Yu's youthful emotion transforms the black-and-white pages of her book into a rainbow. She insists that with the right words, we can take a book made of white paper and black letters and transform it into a fragrant multicolored flower. In that sense Yu is like a painter, wielding her fountain pen to create an invisible rainbow out of words. In the future, there is no telling what kind of beautiful flowers will bloom from her pen. +

NamSang-ho Professor of Biology Taejon University

for most insects. The summer flora provides

species. After the monsoon season passes and the summer heat sets in, cicadas here and there click and buzz in son-althm1gh there are not as many of cicada as there used to be. When night falls, fireflies shine in dazzling bursts of light. And in mountains and fields, swarms of bugs, grasshoppers, syrphid flies, scorpion flies and moths patrol the ground and air. In a country such as Korea with four ?istinct seasons, summer is the most hospitable for most insects. The summer flora provides the bâ&#x201A;Źst food and hiding places. However, some insects such as the brimstone butterfly shun the heat and become dormant. Such insects usually go through a long maturatKm cycle am.d cannot affOFd waste energy battling the heat.

the best food and hiding places. Insects of the Forests

Choruses of cicadas fill the air during the hottest part of summer.

Butterfly varieties that avoid sunlightsuch as the bamboo yptima and the bamboo satyrid-take cover in the Âˇ shade. â&#x20AC;˘ Among ground beetles, the stag beetle is without a doubt the most attractive. Its body is firm and long. The male's jaw is transformed into a sharp, saw-like horn. The horn is no mere ornamental appendage, as it is in the cases of the commander chafer or the horn chafer; it is a weapon capable of inflicting pain and damage on enemies. But despite its large size and fierce exterior, the stag beetle is quite docile in its eating habits. It feeds on the sap of oak trees. In fact, the oak is its main habitat and breeding ground. The longicorn beetle is just as handsome as the stag beetle. It too has a long body and a horn which resembles the beards once worn by military generals. Although the longicorn beetle is not very large, its jaw is sharp and proportionally big, capable of boring into a tree. This beetle burrows deeply into the trunk to lay its eggs, which can damage the tree. Different species of the longicorn prefer different kinds of trees. Other beetles that cluster around sap include the stag chafer, the commander chafer and the spot chafer. They all have large jaws from which horns project, but their horns cannot compare to the stag beetle's and only serve to attract females. In between trees, one may come across an insect shaped like a tube, rolled up in a leaf. This is a leaf-rolling weevil, a member of the weevil family. Weevils make their homes in the leaves of chestnut and oak trees, splitting the leaf and rolling up inside. This is where they lay their eggs. Walking along a path in the countryside, one will see insects of all shapes and colors, among them a small, variegated insect that buzzes around one's head one moment and then flies ahead the next. These tiger beetles behave so much like a guide who clears the way that they are called guide beetles in Korean. But their other 76

There are almost as many varieties of insects in open fields as there are in the woods. But because most fields are cultivated for farming, vegetation is Âˇusually lim ited to a specific crop, which is heavily sprayed with insecticide. Such fields are no longer hospitable to insects.

The commander chafer (above) is gradually disappearing from Korea. The longicorn beetle (right) burrows into tree trunks to lay its eggs, which can damage the tree.

name is perhaps more accurate because they are fierce hunters. They attack weaker insects; even their larvae, buried in the ground, lie in wait for other insects that fall into their homes. A close look at a dead bird or animal found in the mountains will reveal insects crawling over and under the carcass. The carrion beetle has a special relationship with such corpses; it bur-

rows into the ground underneath a corpse to raise its larvae. An examination of a web of twigs and leaves might uncover a strangelooking insect with a raised rear end. Aptly known as the scorpion fly, its movements are slow but graceful. Scorpion flies once flourished in summer, but they are now rare. The scorpion fly is thought to be one of the old-

est surviving varieties of insects that undergo complete metamorphosis.

Insects of the Fields and Streams Butterflies tend to congregate in open fields. The cabbage butterfly and the yellow butterfly dance in radish and cabbage fields, while the tiger butterfly dallies as it moves from flower to flower. The tiger butterfly is one

variety that is twice as big in summer as those that matured in spring. Hidden in bushes in open fields or among weeds in ravines are the katydids. Each is an accomplished musician in its own right; they perform in harmony, with one answering another. Aphids gather near tender leaves or young trees, living side by side with ladybugs. The ladybug looks like it has

a round sack on its back, red with black spots or vice versa. The larva is rather plain looking with thorny projections, but just like the adult, it preys on aphids and other bugs. Another insect, the mantis, is extremely violent and preys on anything it can grab. Its body is particularly well-suited for hunting, with front legs as sharp as a saw and a well-developed 77

jaw. So ferocious is the mantis that the female devours its mate after copulation. In the West, the mantis is said to . be "praying" when it rubs its legs together, but in the East itsâ&#x20AC;˘ aggressive behavior is emphasized. There are almost as many varieties of insects in open fields as there are in the woods. But because most fields are cultivated for farming, vegetation is usually limited to a specific crop, which is heavily sprayed with insecticide. Such fields are no longer hospitable to insects. Near ponds and streams, dragonflies skim across the water's surface. Since the dragonfly lays its eggs underwater, ponds and streams are considered to be its natural habitat. The mayfly, which is small in size and lives only a short while, flits about along branches that droop over the riverbank. The mayfly has a slender body with delicate wings; extending from its midsection are two or three long tail-like hairs. This insect, which flies in swarms, has a very short life span. Depending on the species, some mature in a few hours, whereas others live for two or three days . Most mayflies copulate as soon as they are mature and then die in the same day. Similar to the mayfly is the stonefly. Slightly bigger, the stonefly lives alongside streams and ponds. It is mostly active at night, resting under rocks or in the shade of trees during daylight. Another water-loving insect is the caddish fly. It looks like a moth and its larvae and pupae live underwater. The caddish fly has hair on its body and wings, but no scales. The water strider and the whirligig beetle are examples of water insects that do not fly so much as skim across the water. Both species live underwater until they mature, and then they spend the rest of their lives on the surface of water. Important Species On summer nights, the occasional flicker of the firefly appears like a pin78

The l~rge firefly (above) has been designated Natural Monument No. 312. The mo'!ntain white butterfly (right) is sometimes found in South Korea.

point against the black sky. The light is considered "cool" because it emits no heat. It is not only the adult firefly that lights up: the larva, the pupa and even the egg also have the capacity to glow. The firefly's light comes from the second and third sections of its abdomen, which is golden in color, compared to the head and thorax which are black. As with other insects that glow, the purpose of the firefly's light is sexual. The male firefly lights up every three to five seconds while in flight, and any female firefly in the vicinity signals back in response. By signaling this way, male and female fireflies find mates. Perhaps as a result of pollution, the number of fireflies hatched each summer is decreasing. For this reason, the firefly has been designated by the government as an important species (Natural Monument No. 312), and S6lch'6n-my6n, Muju-gun, Chollabukdo, has been named a protected zone for it. In this area, the firefly can hatch underwater and feed on black snails; it feeds on ground snails as it grows older. The region is perhaps the

nation's richest feeding ground for the firefly; nevertheless, it is not immune to encroaching pollution, and other threats. The only other insect that has been designated a natural monument is the Ussuri longicorn beetle. However, it is not found outside of the Kwangnung area of Kyonggi-do province. These

beetles once could be found on Mt. Pukhansan in Seoul; Ch'unsong-gun, Kangwon-do; the Sogumgang River near Mt. Odaesan, also in Kangwon-do; and other habitats; but they have long since disappeared from these areas. The most insistent of all the summer insects is the cicada. Choruses of singing cicadas can be heard all over

the hills and valleys during the hottest part of summer. Cicadas as imagoes live for approximately 15 to 20 days, but they must spend a long period of time underground for their short existence during summer. Male cicadas produce sounds by vibrating membranes on the underside of their abdomens. Females spend their

lives without making a single sound. The katydid is a kind of noisy cricket. The front wings of a noisy cricket are shorter than the lower end of its body, whereas the wings of the katydid are fairly long, making it look sleek and agile. Katydids spend the summer in the shade, making music by rubbing their wings together. But as soon as the 79

Theargynnis paphia (top) is generally seen in themiddleofsummer. The

poplar nymphalid (above) is quite rare in South Korea.

season changes and cold winds start to blow, they vanish after laying their eggs underground. This is why katydids are portrayed as lazy insects in children's stories, the opposite of the diligent ant. Some female katydids can make noises but their stridulating organs are

considerably less developed than the males', and the sound females make is not as beautiful. So far, more than 11,000 species of insects have been identified in Korea. Most of them reach maturity in summer, their presence adding to the wonder of the season. +

CURRENTS

In Search of Plum Blossoms An Exhibit at Ewha Womans University Museum KimJong-kyu Director, Samsung Publishing Museum

new exhibition opened this spring at the Ewha Womans University Museum. This special exhibition, "In Search of Plum Blossoms," affects the visitor like snow in early spring, refreshing and full of promise. The Ewha Womans University Museum was founded in 1935 and for years has been a model for university museums throughout Korea. University museums have many functionseducational, scholarly and social-and the Ewha Museum has performed all these functions admirably throughout its history. "In Search of Plum Blossoms," which runs from March 8 through June 30, is the museum's 25th special exhibition. More than 120 items decorated with plum blossoms-paintings, ceramics, furniture, decorative accessories, writing materials and eating utensils-have been collected to show the importance of plum blossoms in the traditional and contemporary lives and thoughts of Koreans. The title of the exhibition reflects the organizers' goal of highlighting the Korean people's attachment to plum blossoms as a motif in classical art dating as far back as the Koryo period as well as in modern art and handicrafts.

Most items in the exhibition are from the museum's own collection, but several pieces are from other university museums and private collections. The show is organized around four complementary themes, demonstrating the beauty and symbolism of

Ewha Womans University Museum

the plum blossom in Korean art and traditional life. Viewers of this exhibition may come to understand the plum blossom tradition and see Korea's traditional culture with fresh eyes. The exhibition may also stir in some Korean visitors a vague longing for the past. The four themes reveal the symbolism, form and use of the plum blossom in traditional and modern art and handicrafts. Each theme is displayed in a separate exhibition hall.

The first, entitled "Messenger of Love and Spring," includes Pak No-su's Viewing of Plum Blossoms (color on paper, 1959). The painting was done by the artist in commemoration of the 60th birthday of Helen Kim, the first Korean president of Ewha Womans Univers"ity, which was established by American missionaries. This exhibition hall focuses on the lives of traditional women. Hairpins and bangles, a stand-up mirror, a mother-ofcomb ~ ase, pearl cosmetic boxes and wooden dowry boxes are all adorned with plum blossoms, the symbol of purity and love. In the careful carvings and designs one can sense how traditional women might have felt. Among the other works on display are a folding screen with a plum tree design and another picturing a hundred children playing under an old plum tree, symbolizing the desire for many sons. A four-story yellow ox-horn chest of drawers is decorated with a red plum blossom motif. On a piece of white porcelain painted with underglaze blue from the late Choson Dynasty, the plum blossoms symbolize long life, happiness, friendship, love and rejuvenation. This exhibit suggests how the plum blossom was universally 81

CURRENTS

White porcelain jar decorated with underglaze iron, 17th century, height35.3 em

"In Search of Plum Blossoms" reveals the plum blossom tradition and in some Korean visitors stirs a vague longing for the past Modem artists continue to use the plum blossom theme, which shows that tradition and modernity are linked within the context of the Korean spiritual world 82

embraced as a "Messenger of Love and Spring." The first hall shows the warmer aspects of the plum blossom . Traditionally, however, the plum blossom was a rather cool symbol representing the lofty spirit of the traditional gentleman-scholar. In the second hall is a poem praising the plum blossom by the NeoConfucian scholar Yi Hwang (15011570). The plum blossom, whose jadewhite flower pierces the darkness of winter to announce the coming of spring, symbolizes the integrity of the true gentleman-scholar who refuses to compromise his principles to the vicissitudes of history. Many literati poems extolling the virtues of the plum blossom are found in this section of the exhibition, including one by the renowned Koryo Zen master Iryon (1206-1289). Examples of plum blossom motifs in the writing implements and paraphernalia of the gentlemanscholar, such as brush stands and racks, water droppers and ink stones, are also on display. The scholar's noble spirit is apparent in the use of plum blossom motifs in the furnishings of men's rooms and in such unexpected places as water containers used on excursions. Such discoveries should be no surprise because the "search" for plum bl<;>ssoms (tammae) is the theme of this exhibition. Each item on display is remarkable as a work of art, but a consideration of the symbolism suggests that the plum blossom was embraced as the embodiment of the literati ideal of cool, unfaltering reason. The third exhibition hall focuses on paintings depicting the plum blossom from the Chason Dynasty through the modern period. Because the plum blossom symbolized the ideal human character, it was the subject of many paintings in traditional Korea. Flowering Plum Tree, attributed to the woman painter Shin Saimdang (1512-

CURRENTS

1559), paintings by Yi Han-chOl (1808'?), Shin My6ng-y6n (1809-?) and other literati painters, which portray the refined circumspection of the gentleman-scholar, and a painting by Cho Hui-ryong (1797-1860), a pupil of the master painter-calligrapher Kim Ch6ng-hui, are filled with images of plum trees in bloom. The tradition was carried on by more modern painters of the Oriental style, including Hwang Sang-ha (1895-1966), Kim Un-ho (1892-1981), Yi Py6ng-jik (1896-1973), Son Chae-hy6ng (1903-1981), Yi Sang-born (1897-1971), Kim Yong-jin (1879-1968), Chang Us6ng (1922-) and Yi Yu-tae (1916-); and artists working in oils and acrylic, such as Kim Whan-ki (1913-1974), Yi Tae-won (1921-), Yi Kyu-s6n (1938-) and Kim Yong-chOl (1948-). Modern artists continue to use the plum blossom theme, which shows that tradition and modernity are linked within the context of the Korean spiritual world. The fourth exhibition hall is entitled "Plum Blossoms on Ceramics." The Kory6 celadon pitcher with an underglaze plum and bamboo design on its front and back is of special interest. Depictions of pine trees, bamboo and plum blossoms were found in the tomb of the Kory6 founder, Wang Kon (r. 918-943), so it is known that plum blossoms were revered as early as the tenth century. But the Kory6 pitcher is one of the earliest extant examples of this tradition. The exhibition also includes a small white porcelain jar painted with underglaze blue from 15th-century Choson, a 19th-century white porcelain bottle painted with underglaze blue and copper, and a white porcelain bottle decorated with a relief design of plum trees and chrysanthemums. The lively calligraphy found on the small porcelain jar has a surprisingly modernistic feel. The plum blossom-and-

bird motif on a 16th-century porcelain jar symbolizes friendship and love. Fragments of celadon censers and white porcelain vessels painted with underglaze blue, which were excavated from government kilns administered by the Choson bureaucracy, also show that plum blossoms were an important motif throughout the Choson Dynasty. Throughout the exhibit are intriguing anecdotes and evidence of the importance of plum blossom symbol-

ism in traditional and modern -society and art. Rarely does an exhibition on a single theme so vividly demonstrate a museum's educational potential. As I strolled from room to room, I felt as if I had arrived in a quiet mountain ravine filled with plum blossoms and were breathing in the fresh scent that must have delivered the old gentlemen-scholars from the cares of their everyday world. Was it all because of the bright green backdrop of early spring? â&#x20AC;˘ 83

CURRENTS

ArtÂˇRelated Merchandise Ahn Hai-ri Cultural Affairs Reporter The ]oong-ang Ilbo

ncient palaces and the relics displayed in museums are not the only measure of a nation's level of culture. It can also be measured by the unique artrelated products that can only be obtained in that country and nowhere else in the world. For a reasonable price, Korean cultural merchandise can be bought by foreign tourists and Koreans going overseas; and the recipients of such gifts are naturally introduced to Korean culture. However, Korea has been negligent in developing such merchandise, citing more important tasks and a lack of money. At the National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Contemporary Art, two of the most popular sites among foreign tourists, it is hard to find art-related products that compare favorably with those of other countries. Though both museums have art shops, the shops are filled with crude, cheap products and imported goods. In America, France and neighboring Japan, museums function as more than exhibition spaces; they are now gaining attention for their gift shops that sell items based on the works in their collections. The New York Museum of Modern Art runs several art shop franchises and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art has an Internet shopping site where a wide range of items including jewelry and other accessories, stationery products, posters, cards and scarves, all bearing the museum 's name, can be purchased. These shops ~

cater to visitors looking for a souvenir, not necessarily a gift, after they have viewed the works on display in the museum. In contrast, in Korea there is little recognition of the concept of art-related merchandise. Although there has been much talk about the need to develop such products, at the moment everything is in the planning stage. In the absence of any tangible support for action, there are very few products that can truly be called cultural products. Only two organizations in Korea field their own cultural product development teams, the Ho-Am Art Museum and the National Museum of Korea. Recently, a few large private galleries such as the Gana Art Gallery have been making preparations to develop their own art products and open their own shops. Early on, the Ho-Am Art Museum showed an interest in art products. As befits a museum that has a collection of over 25,000 items ranging from prehistoric artifacts to the latest contemporary works, it is now actively investing in the development of art-related products. In 1993 a special team was established within the museum's business department, and four handicraft and graphic designers began developing new cultural products. Over the past year the team has developed almost 300 items based on 90 different original works. These items can be divided into four categories. The first category comprises items

CURRENTS

developed for specific exhibitions. The Âˇ kinds of products to be mad.e and the amount produced are determined on the basis of an analysis of the exhibition and its intended audience. The products are mainly sold during the exhibition, and when the exhibition ends, sales drop dramatically. The primary criteria for producing an item is the fame of the artist. The other three categories of items are sold throughout the year. They are traditional Korean products, "Good Design" products, and sundry items such as posters, postcards and handkerchiefs. The Ho-Am team is currently concentrating its efforts on traditional products, creating contemporary items using traditional materials and tech-

niques. Their goal is to come up with high-quality items that can be appreciated by people around the world. For instance, although a lacquer artisan can only produce lacquer goods and a wood crafter can only produce woodcrafts, the Ho-Am team wants to combine the two crafts to make new cultural products with a traditional flavor. In order to do this, they are experimenting with materials such as mother-of-pearl, sedge, mulberry paper known as hanji, and bamboo as well as with techniques such as knotting. Of all the art products developed by the team, the best selling item in the Ho-Am Art Museum's art shop is the "art mirror." Made of a specially treated metal rather than glass, the art mirror is thin and unbreakable, and has a paint-

Ho-Am Gallery Art Shop

CURRENTS

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ing on the back. With a variety of paintings to choose from, the art mirror makes a good souvenir, and at only 3,000 won, it is not expensive. Over 100,000 art mirrors have been sold since the shop first introduced them. Inspired by the success of Ho-Am's art mirrors, other manufacturers are paying royalties to Ho-Am and making them as well. In this way, Ho-Am is making prod86

ucts that are not only well designed but also functional. As art products are made in great variety but in small quantities, production costs are inevitably high. The quality of the products must be good enough to make people want to buy them even at a high price. Ho-Am has a very distinct purpose in developing an array of art-related products: to popularize them with the

ultimate goal of creating items under a representative Korean art brand that can be obtained nowhere else in the world but at Ho-Am. To attract consumers, an art product must be unique. The Samsung Museum of Contemporary Art, scheduled to open in 1999, will have a three-floor, 400square-meter art shop. Such a large space has been set aside for the art shop in the anticipation that by then the demand for art products will have grown. The National Museum of Korea is the only other institution besides HoAm to operate a separate design department for creating unique cultural products. It began this endeavor in April 1996 and established a separate design department in March 1997. But the design team must devote much of its time to creating museum displays and catalogues, and therefore cannot concentrate on the development of art products. So far, the !lluseum team has come up with only four items: neckties, scarves, T-shirts and stationery, all featuring motifs taken from patchwork cloths and the Korean alphabet, han-gul. Park Hyun-taek, chief designer at the National Museum, says, "It is too early to talk about merchandise development_as a separate business because the domestic market is not yet ready for it. What is meaningful at this stage is that the museum administration has now recognized the importance of this venture and has established an independent design office." Despite having its own design office, the National Museum currently entrusts the operation of its art shop to a private concern. The museum supervises the selection of products but has nothing to do with sales. As the number of items designed by the museum is so small, the art shop is mainly stocked with cheap products made by small businesses. Manufactured with

CURRENTS

the aim of gaining quick returns, these products are not sophisticatt!d. The Whanki Art Museum operates a small art shop featuring stationery and other items based on paintings by Kim Whanki. Another small private museum that has begun to develop and sell art merchandise is the Moon Shin Museum in Masan. Though the museum has no separate art shop, it has developed its own brand of items based on the works of the late Moon Shin, who was one of Korea's foremost sculptors. The Moon Shin Museum has set up a foundation, the funds from which are used to produce items that will help popularize art. So far, it has developed seven kinds of rings, necklaces and pendants. These products were exhibited and sold for the first time in September 1996 in a special exhibition of Moon Shin's stainless steel sculptures held to commemorate the opening of the Masan station of the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC).

The museum does not have a separate design team. Craftsmen in the museum's workroom make miniature molds from a plaster cast of one of Moon's sculptures. The craftsmen do not use stainless steel or ebony that Moon loved to work with but 18-carat gold. They make quantities of no more than 150 for each product. Because the materials are so costly, Moon Shin art products are expensive, ranging in price from 70,000 to 170,000 won. Nonetheless, over 80 items were sold during the first week of the exhibition. The National Museum of Contemporary Art and the Hangaram Art Gallery at the Seoul Arts Center also h;ive art shops, but they are operated by a private art shop chain. The Gana Gallery opened the Gana Art Shop in January, but it has only developed a few of its own products. For now, the shop is selling Ho-Am products, handicrafts by local artists and imported items. In the future, however, the gallery

plans to increase the number of items it sells based on its own exhibitions. On the third floor of the art shop is an exhibition hall where special exhibitions linking art with commercial art products will be held. The "Art Clock Exhibition," held to mark the opening of the Gana Art Shop, featured 90 works by 26 artists, including the works of not only handicraft artisans but also Korean and Western painters and sculptors. The works that did not sell during the exhibition are now being sold in the art shop. Whether they are part of a design team at a public museum or at a wellfunded private gallery, designers of art products agree that art products are not yet a lucrative source of revenue. However, in the future, with sufficient investment, unique, high-quality, highvalue-added products can be produced. For this reason, interest in art-related merchandise is gradqally growing in the art and design communities. +

NEW PUBLICATION

Korean Cultural Heritage Volume III: Performing Arts Following the publication of Volume I, Fine Arts, and Volume II, Thought and Religion, in the Korean Cultural Heritage series, the Korea Foundation has published Volume III, Performing Arts. Compiled from articles featured in KOREANA from 1987 through 1994, as well as articles written especially for this new volume, the fully illustrated hardcover book focuses on one of the most popular, yet challenging aspects of Korean culture-its performing arts tradition. The 256-page book is divided into five sections: an introduction; sections on music, dance and drama; and appendices which include a helpful guide to Korea's performing arts facilities. The book covers both traditional and contemporary performing arts, and discusses their cultural roots, development and manifestations in modern society. Korean performing arts have been subject to influences from China, especially in the areas of court and Confucian ritual dance and music, but Koreans have developed their own dynamic music and dance, either building on borrowed traditions or creating new ones. The section on music offers readers a comprehensive view of Korea's rich musical heritage. Korean music is distinguished by its constant improvisation and flexibility, and shamanism

and other indigenous folk beliefs and rituals all played a vital role in its evolution. One writer offers a valuable review of the evolution of music study and composition, while another looks at individual musicians and the paths

they took in becoming classical or folk musicians. The postwar restructuring of traditional music and the modernization of the Korean music idiom are also considered, along with the impact of Western music in Korea since liberation in 1945. The dance section emphasizes that dance has been a powerful means of

expression throughout Korean history. Ritual dance expressed the Korean people's reverence for nature and their ancestors, and Buddhist dance symbolized their respect for the Buddha and the pursuit of truth. Court dance expressed the aesthetics of the aristocratic class, and folk dance demonstrated the passion of the common people. One article provides an overview of traditional dance, dividing it into four general groups: ritual dance, court dance, kyobang muyong (the dances perforEDed by professional women entertainers known as kisaeng) and folk dance. Another delves into the concept of shinmy6ng, the dynamic spirit that moves Korean dance and the Korean people. There is also an explanaory article about the movement toward a reinterpretation of traditionalÂˇ dance, that began in the 1970s and an explication of what Korean dance means in a cultural context The drama section offers readers an overview of Korea's theatrical tradition, starting from the country's oral heritage. Whether one speaks of mask dramas, puppet plays, p'ansori or modern drama, Korea's turbulent history has had a profound effect on its theater. In that sense, Korea's national development in recent decades is amply reflected in the development of its modern theater. (Suzanna Oh)

JOURNEYS IN KOREAN LITERATURE

SU Chung-in

Literature gives one the strength to become another person so that one may properly perceive oneself, soften one's hardened mind, open one's closed soul, and lift one's weakened spirits.-Su Chung-in Âˇ

Crisp Portrayals of Bleak Lives

SuChung-in YuJong-ho Yun Tong-ju Professor of English Literature Ewha Womans University

erialized novels published in daily newspapers and short stories published in monthly literary magazines were the two mainstays of Korean literature up until the 1960s. The serialized novels carried in newspapers generally catered to readers' taste for melodrama. Accordingly, writers aspiring to a serious literary pursuit turned to short stories. Although there were some exceptions, writers of fulllength novels had to give in to the publishers' request to meet popular tastes. This helps explain why short stories, considered a minor literary genre in the ~est, enjoyed high prestige in Korea where the market for novels was small because of the people's low income. Conditions have changed, however, since the 1960s when Korea's rapid economic development began. Today, the short story is considered a minor literary genre. Koreans immediately think of full-length works of fiction when they hear the word novel. As people became more prosperous, they could spend more on novels. Nevertheless, although

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Perceiving the limits of the dark, weak and guilty elements of the human soul does not always lead to pessimism. A dark perspective sometimes helps us realize the need for humor and tolerance. 90

the short story no longer enjoys the great prestige it did in the pas~ overshadowed by epic novels, it is still viewed as a measuring stick for the literary ability of a writer. Su Chung-in began his literary career in 1962 when his "Husong" (Evacuation to the.Rear), a short story about military life, ~e ceivd the newcomer's literary award of the then prestigious magazine Sasanggye. Since then, he has risen to prominence as one of Korea's leading writers with such collections of short stories as The River (Kang), Scissors (Kawi), Between Saturday and Friday (Toyo-il kwa Kl1myo-il sa-i), Royal Azalea Festival (Ch'6lchukche), Talgung I, Talgung II, Talgung III and Crucian Carp (Pung-6). With the exception of the Talgung series which form a loosely linked work , however, he worked consistently as a short story writer and steadily produced stories that expressed a dignity unique to the genre of Korean short stories. The consistent high quality of his works separates Su from many of his

contemporaries. He uses carefully thought-out structures and finely polished sentences in which every word is selected intentionally. His stories also include well-developed dialogue that brings the characters to life, an impartial perspective that never gives into sentimentality, and concise writing that blends these qualities without introducing a single superfluous element These qualities are evident in all of his works. Now over 60, Su has published less than ten books. Perhaps he could have written more, but he strives for perfection. Also, Su does not write full-time; he is a professor of foreign literature, a job that is taxing and time consuming. In this respect, he is one of the rare authors who is truly devoted to his "paying" job. Su always tries to evoke the period in which his characters exist through objective observation and distillation. He metifulously re-creates the various aspects of the bleak and dreary lives endured by many Koreans amid the political repression and social turmoil of the last three decades, a period in

Korean history characterized by industrialization, urbanization and modernization. Su's stories are usually set in a small provincial town or farming village rather than a large city, and fie seeks to transform ordinary events into extraordinary literature. He shuns extreme plot elements such as death and murder. And he does not employ dramatic props that tap the readers' curiosity about what will happen next. He aspires to reveal the lives of ordinary people in all their myriad layers through commonplace and concise images, an endeavor that has become the backbone of his writing. The characters· in Su's stories make their living in different ways, but one thing they share is that they usually inhabit the fringes of mainstream society. People born W'ith extFaordinary luck or rare talents or who are highly successful, are not f0Und in his boOks. Most of his characters do not lead comfortable lives, nor do they hav any prosP,ects for improving their lot Thes characters appearing in his stories include a man who was once considered a genius but w_h o has become an old, mediocre university student; a young man troubled by distressing family matters who has no hope of finding employment after being discharged from military service; a young man from a farming village who runs away from his daily routine with vague hopes of finding adventure only to end in despair; senior citizens with no money and nothing to do in their old age; a failed politician with no dependents, living at a religious retreat on an isolated mountain, who lies about his son to save face; a middle-aged man and a girl who meet accident ' ;y on a road; and young women wb. ~ ehat incessantly during a climb up Mt Chirisan. These characters are a far cry from those who are destined to become leading figures in their society.

A Dim View of Humanity Su's stories deal with the realities of people's lives and capture a general picture of the setting and time. But the lives he depicts are usually desolate, dismal

and lacking achievements. The characters are mired in constraining circumstances as a result of customs and habits, and each day they fail to make conscious choices and decisions. Focusing on the lives of ordinary people, Su's short stories make life on this earth seem barren and constricting. Most of the characters are the type one cannot hate. Sometimes Su gives them a sense of humor that serves as a sort of compensation for t)!e·_ tedious lives. At other times, his ~ - atacters evoke a profound patho

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The author's humor is manifested in a way to show that human ea nesses -fy. can be forgiven. But this...is ot to say ~o that the concept of humanity underlying his works is colored by an unrestraine.d optimism or by the classical lief that hu ~ s are by nature good. Consider l:i,is passage from "A Parade" (Punyol~hi t i (ilm covers their turned wooden. faces....wJ iich ha ~<: ! s mg The fjlln not <Q~ eparts them from ~e, 'but als ~J. e from the other." The "film" is re ~ G ed by a "mask" ill another story ntitled ''Valley" (Koltchaki). This story suggests that people are forever putting on different masks to perform the roles demanded by t~ir immediate situations or circumstances. This is a dim view o '-'human-i y that assumes that indiv.itllials am inherently immoral. Still, ~ th ~ ilens of human beings is shown to'• be rarhe soft-edged and limited in "Night Story" (Pam Iyagi), a s ort story that resembles a folktale. T · is is here

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goes on to say, 'literature gives one the strength to become another person so that one may properly perceive oneself, soften one's hardened mind, open one's closed soul, and lift one's weakened spirits." He does not make easy pronouncements; instead he concentrates on carefully depicting the lives of people as they are. Herein lies the strength of his works. A random selection from any one of his short stories would instantly reveal that the scenes he describes are universal.

Not containing a well of wisdom is in fact the wisdom of literature. Literature can never know about a given subject as much as an expert on the subject." He

Farmers to

house. The township administrative office and the police box stood side by side harmoniously. An uncouth young ..man who must have been discha-r ed from the army only a me tli ago stuck his liead out of the barl5er shop to look outside. There was also a pharmacist and a hairdresser. The hairdresser advertised make-up services for brides. A transistor radio was playing a rerun of a soap opera at the corner stor.e which was unseemly large for the -place. Beside it was an e p,ty lot and behind it a wareho se-liKe building. It appeared to 1:> public meeting place. Peo, ie rom far and near would c ~ ven there every ten days or so when a movie was brought in after it had been shown in every corner of the country at least once and had finally run out of places to go. -"The River'' (Kang) The car stopped in town in front of a restaurant selling naengmyon. It was a large, clean place. The service was good judging from the customers crowding the place. A fat man wearing loose pants that fell below his navel stood beside a table with a cash box and shouted, ''Here comes new customers." Young women with faces pale from lack of 91

sunlight and white aprons tied over blue dresses bustled around with food. We followed a young woman carrying two bottles of beer in one hand and took a seat in a corner of a large room. The previous customers must have just left because food remains were still on the table. ''Hey, baby, clean this up. And bring us something, too." -"Pavilion Shade" (ChOngja kunUI) With just a few sentences depicting a typical scene from a Korean rural community, Su vividly re-creates a picture of everyday life in the 1960s. These few sentences portray the kind of simple restaurants found everywhere throughout the country at that time. "The fat man wearing loose pants that fell below his navel ... beside a table with a cash box" is also a typical image of a restaurant or noodle shop owner in provincial areas. Such accurate descriptions-neither excessive nor deficient-are found in all Su's works.

Virtues of Humor and Tolerance Su can be described as an outstanding realist of his time because he pursues the various aspects of provincial life to reveal its bleakness. But this description may sound somewhat unfamiliar in view of the literary discourses taking place in Korea today. Some critics take too narrow a view of realism. Others place too much importance on the social class and consciousness of the characters and their perspectives while ignoring the writer's efforts to achieve a finer literary style and polished format. It is true that some writers' efforts to achieve this finer style and to view their subjects impartially have been underevaluated due to realism's allegedly subversive implications and the literary establishment's wish to maintain a hostile distance from social realities. An appropriately critical light should be thrown on such prejudices which are functionally related to the dark political circumstances of the past On the other hand, it is also justifiable 92

to question the significance of presenting a detailed picture of the bleak and suffocating aspects of life engulfing ordinary people. Why does Su Chung-in make readers re-experience the restrictive and barren days when they have lived through them already? There can be several answers to this question. First, perceptive experiences are both beneficial and refreshing. An understanding of Su's ability to understand the reality and the essence of human beings can be grasped from the following passage from "House Building" (Chipchikki): "From the look of his build and his clothes, he had a vulnerability that put others at ease. Perhaps this was the secret behind his having turned into a mayor from a vegetable seller." In addition, if studying the humanities, including literature, ultimately offers people a means of self-discovery, the reconfirmation of everyday life in all its drudgery could contribute to an expanded understanding of self. Perceiving the limits of the dark, weak and guilty elements of the human soul does not always lead to a gloomy pessimism either. This perspective could serve to make people reconsider the need for the virtues of humor and tolerance. In a life that is suffocating, an artificial beauty of any form that stands out prominently can also become a proud declaration of humanity's dignity in the face of destitution and heedless nature. Finally, a good story can become an opportunity for reminding ourselves of the necessity for change while allowing us to confirm our own natures. The exemplary short stories of Su are outstanding literary works that allow us tb confirm our dark side and ruminate on its social significance. "The Plain" (Polp'an), a short story published in 1973, describes a soldier's first days after his discharge. The son of an impoverished family, the protagonist is not a submissive person. Still, he dares not disobey his father who orders him to visit the graves of his ancestors. His actions reveal a combination of obedience and disobedience,

illustrating a symbol of compromise borne of uncertainty and a failure to find a clear sense of direction. The story realistically depicts the process of the son's annihilation by corrupt society and his submission in an inert life without self-awareness. The terse dialogue, which is neither lacking nor superfluous, fully illustrates Su's outstanding literary skills. Toward the end of the story, the young man decides to leave home, but his decision is related to social factors-there is no motive strong enough for him to remain as a hanger-on in the deteriorating farming community. The 1970s in Korea was a time when economic development was being pursued, but the results had not yet been felt, particularly in rural areas. "On the Road" (Haengnyo), published in 1976, is a departure for Su in that it radiates a primitive fierceness. A destitute farmer who is also a widower sees his grain crop swept away in a flood. He places his children with relatives and leaves for Seoul with his younger sister in hopt2s of earning a living through odd jobs. They stop in a village where the villagers arrange for his sister to marry a local widower. The poor farmer receives some travel expenses and continues on his way to Seoul alone. However, his sister is raped by a r:illage scamp, a scene witnessed by her husband-to-be. The groom bites off the nose of the rapist and is arrested. The penniless sister then sets off in search of her brother. The primitive fierceness and brutality lurking throughout the story may cause readers to shudder at the violence of life. Readers should take particular note of the Korean title, ''Haengnyo." The word has two meanings in Korean: it refers to travel and also to the homeless who fall sick on the road. The title refers to the latter definition. In order to better understand this story, one should take note that the increasing number of farmers who abandon farming because of spreading urbanization has emerged as a social problem in Korea. +

NEWS FROM THE KOREA FOUNDATION

Support for Korean Studies Programs Abroad The Korea Foundation offers financial assistance to universities, research institutes and libraries abroad in their efforts to promote the study and understanding of subjects related to Korea. Projects submitted for consideration must be in the fields of the humanities, social sciences or arts and within the categories listed below: 1) Establishment and expansion of Korea-related courses and faculty positions, 2) Fellowships for graduate students or research grants for faculty members, and 3) Library acqujsition and cataloging. . Applications must be submitted to The Korea Foundation by May 31. The results of the final selection will be announced by October 15 of the same year.

The Korea Foundation Fellowship Programs FEllOWSHIP FOR KOREAN S1VDIFS

The Korea Foundation offers fellowships for Korean studies in the fields of the humanities, social sciences and arts. The program is intended to provide scholars and other qualified professionals overseas with an

For application forms, program guidelines or further information, please write to:

International Cooperation Department I The Korea Foundation

FEllOWSHIP FOR KOREAN LANGUAGE TRAINING

CPO. Box 2147 SeouL Korea Tel, 82-2-753-3464. Fax, 82-2-757-20 47.2049

The Korea Foundation offers grants for Korean language training to graduate students, scholars and other qualified professionals overseas who wish to learn the Korean language at a Korean university language institute for a period of six to twelve months. Each successful applicant will be assigned to a Korean language course at a major Korean university and will be provided with tuition and a monthly allowance during the grant period. Applicants should complete and submit The Korea Foundation Fellowship for Korean Language Training application form to The Korea Foundation by May -31. The results of the final selection will be announced by August 15 of the same year. For application forms, program guidelines or further information, please write to:

KOREA FOCUS A BIMONTHLY ON CURRENT KOREAN AFFAIRS In addition to KOREANA, The Korea Foundation publishes KOREA FOCUS as part of its effort to inform the world community about Korea and to enhance international understanding in this era of globalization KOREA FOCUS offers a comprehensive view of contemporary Korea in a wide-ranging selection of informative articles on Korea's current affairs. , In this bimonthly, you will find timely KOREA II essays and commentaries on Korea's FOCUS politics, economy; society and culture, opinions on world affairs, and a I chronology of recent events in Korea. I Published in English and Japanese, I its articles come from leading publi..... cations in Korea, including major 1 .r_.::;::::......_,_......, daily newspapers, newsmagazines and academic journals. -~

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International Cooperation Department II The Korea Foundation C PO. Box 2147 Seoul. Korea Tel. 82-2-753-6465 Fax. 82-2-757-2047. 2049

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