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Kim Myeong-sun
Hangul	김명순
Hanja	金明淳
Revised Romanization	Gim Myeongsun
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Myŏngsun
Art name
Hangul	탄실
Hanja	彈實
Revised Romanization	Tansil
McCune–Reischauer	T'ansil

Kim Myeong-sun
Kim Myeong-sun
Native name	김명순
Born	20 January 1896; Pyongyang, Joseon
Died	22 June 1951 (aged 55)
Language	Korean
Nationality	Korean
Literary movement	Feminism
Notable works	Chilmyeonjo

Kim Myeong-sun (Korean: 김명순; Hanja: 金明淳; 20 January 1896 – 22 June 1951) was a female Korean novelist and poet of the early 20th century.^[1] She wrote under the art names Tansil (탄실; 彈實) and Mangyangcho (망양초; 望洋草).^[2]

Life

Kim Myeong-sun was born in Pyongyang, Joseon in 1896. Kim attended Chinmyeong Girls' School in Seoul in 1908 where she was considered a good student, but she was bullied due to her mother's status as a kisaeng. She was also mistreatment by her step-mother's family, leading her to drop out of school in 1911. In 1913, she went to Tokyo to study at Kojimachi's Girls' School, but did not complete her studies there. She soon returned to Korea to earn her degree at Sungmyeon's Girls' School.^[3]

In 1919, she joined the Creation group, Korea's first literary circle, which was organized by Kim Dong-in and other Korean students in Tokyo. She briefly worked as a reporter for the newspaper Maeil Sinmun, and from 1927 to 1930 she worked in film.^[4] She then suffered from financial problems and succumbed to mental illness late in life.^[5]

Work

Kim made her literary debut in 1917, in a magazine edited by Choe Nam-seon called Youth (소년, Sonyeon), with a novella titled Mysterious Girl (의문의 소녀, Uimun-ui sonyeo)^[6] She began publishing her poetry in 1921, and became known for her keen psychological portraits, with her 1921 novella Turkey (칠면조, Chilmyeonjo), which was published in the magazine Enlightenment (개벽, Gaebyeog). She continued publishing as late as 1925.

Relatively little is currently known about her work because, as Kim Yung-Hee notes, scholars have not studied her and are currently "attempting to excavate her lost works in order to better assess her position in the lineage of modern Korean women fiction writers."^[7]

Works

Translated into English

A Girl of Mystery, in Questioning Minds (University of Hawaii Press, 2009) ISBN 978-0-824-83409-8
Collected Works of the First Korean Female Writer Kim Myeong-sun [1] (BookLab, 2022) ISBN 979-11-6836-249-9 03810

In Korean

Dubious Girl (의문의 소녀), 1917
Turkey (칠면조 七面鳥), 1921
Lonely People (외로운 사람들), 1924
When I Look Back (돌아다 볼 때), 1924
Tansil and Juyeong (탄실이와 주영이), 1924
Night of Burning (뭇는 날 밤), 1925
The Vault of Heaven (창궁 蒼穹), 1925
The Guest (손님), 1926
I Love (나는 사랑한다), 1926
Like a Stranger (모르는 사람갓치), 1929

References

^ Lee ed. (1993) gives 1896; Lee ed. (1983) gives 1905.
^ 성의 갈등과 상실을 민족사랑으로 승화시킨 여류문인^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Korean)
^ Kim, Yung-Hee (2010). Questioning Minds. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0824834098.
^ Kim, Yung-Hee (2010). Questioning Minds. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-0824834098.
^ Lee ed. (1993), p. 123.
^ Lee ed. (1983), p. 233; Lee ed. (1993), p. 123.
^ Kim, Yung-Hee (2010). Questioning Minds. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0824834098.

Sources

Lee, Hong-jik (이홍직) ed. (1983). 새國史事典 (Sae guksa sajeon) (Encyclopedia of Korean history). Seoul: Gyohaksa. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
Lee, Il-cheong (이일청) ed. (1993). 인명국사대사전 (Inmyeong guksa sajeon). Seoul: Goryeo Munhwasa. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)