Background
South Korean novelist Yang Gui-ja was born July 1, 1955 in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do and graduated from Wonkwang University in 1978 with a degree in Korean Literature.
梁貴子
South Korean novelist Yang Gui-ja was born July 1, 1955 in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do and graduated from Wonkwang University in 1978 with a degree in Korean Literature.
Yang made her literary debut with the short stories Starting a New Morning and The Door Already Closed (two titles which hint at the breadth of her approach). This collection was a painstaking depiction of the lives of people on the periphery of industrial culture. As the 1990s turned into a consumer culture in of Korea, and a mood of disillusionment replaced the political (and to some extent economic) hope that had characterized the nation.
Yang’s work followed along.
In 1992 she wrote The Hidden Flower which told the story, in some ways autobiographical, or an author searching for new hope after her old ideals have been destroyed. In The Road to Cheonma Tombs, Yang’s protagonist successfully struggles to come to terms with his past trauma and current powerlessness.
The Hidden Flower and The Road to Cheonma Tombs are collected with three other stories, Mountain Flower, Opportunist, and Sadness Gives Strength, in a collection named for the latter story. Since the mid-1980s she has been known as more than a fiction writer, writing in women"s magazines, newspapers, and other general media.
In the 1990s she also opened a popular restaurant in Seoul.
