K-Book Trends - In Search of a Garden Where Our Beautiful Korean Language Breathes

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Book Trip [A Trip to Literary Museums ②] In Search of a Garden Where Our Beautiful Korean Language Breathes Introducing Sonagi Village at Hwang Sun-won, Literary House in Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, and Beyond 2024.06.03 The works of Hwang Sun-Won have a solid presence in Korean literature. The literary world he has built transcends time, genre, and ideology, naturally expressing the most Korean emotions. It was around 1952, when Korea was undergoing the Korean War, when his representative short story Rain Shower (read Sonagi in Korean) was released. However, it is difficult to recognize such a period from the portrayal of the two main characters in the novel. The only clue that connects the story to reality is the place name “Yangpyeong” that appears at the end. The thoughts that germinated in this place became the driving force for creating a literary space, and it led to new attempts to reinterpret the work in various ways. The Sonagi Village in the Hwang Sunwon Literary Village (chief - Kim Jong-Hoe) was opened in June 2009. It was the result of an agreement between Yangpyeong-gun and Kyunghee University twinning in 2003 to create a literary theme park, which took about 6 years to complete. The facility includes the Hwang Sunwon Literary Museum, the writer’s graveyard, Sonagi Square, and a literary walkway. Since the opening of the museum, an average of 100,000 people have visited the place – even attracting an average of 60,000 visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic period. As Sonagi Village is located in Yangpyeong-gun, Seojong-myeon, it can be reached within an hour’s drive from the Seoul region. By public transportation, you can take a bus to Moonhori from Yangsu Station on the Jungang Line and a bus to Suneungni. A village where rainbows rise multiple times a day The literary museum seen from the square. The children seem so excited about the “rain shower.” “Hey, it’s started! It’s so cool and fun!” As soon as we stepped out into Sonagi Square, we were greeted by the joyful faces and innocent laughter of children. They looked so cheerful and full of energy as they ran around in the rain. It brought back memories of the unexpected feeling of freedom and liberation we had as children when we were soaking in the rain, and of the showers we had forgotten. On a clear day from May through October, the place offers a spectacular view. The square’s expansive lawn is sprayed with “scheduled” rain showers every hour on the hour from 11 to 16 (17 on weekends). Two streams of water shoot up into the sky in alternating directions from a total of four artificial rainfall fountains, and if you stand with your back to the sun, you can even see a rainbow. Head towards the graveyard of writer Hwang Sun-Won and his wife, Yang Jung-Gil, located next to the Literary Museum, and you can walk along the not-too-steep path for some quiet contemplation. On the way back out, you will be able to enjoy a panoramic view of the Literary Museum and the square. Walkway along the trails A recreation of the sugarcane shack where the boy and girl from the story sheltered from the rain is placed in Sonagi Square In-depth interpretation of writer Hwang Sun-Won’s literary world and works “Hwang Sun-Won’s Study,” the space of a linguistic language Exhibition Room 1 that highlights the life and literary works of Hwang Sun-Won through videos and his belongings. The literary museum organizes Exhibition Rooms 1 and 2, which shed light on the life and literary world of the writer, under the themes of “Meeting with the writer” and “Into his works.” The video-experiencing room connected to Exhibition Room 2, “Digital Stroll Through Sonagi,” features 3 themed areas of A Glass Box of the Sky: Azure Sky (3 minutes 30 seconds), The Stepping Stones to the Milky Way (permanent), and Fantasia Rain Showers: The Dream of Seodanggol (6 minutes 30 seconds). Places from the novel reproduced as reality in the video-experiencing room and Exhibition Room 2, and the “Naked Moments of Life Exhibition” showcased both online and offline The experiential exhibition, which utilizes interactive techniques that make videos react to visitors’ movements, appeals to a wide range of ages. Even though it is a virtual space, adults and children alike can experience splashing around in the stream and watching the Milky Way unfold. Also, the “Literature Classroom Where You Don’t Have to Study”, which is a recreation of an old elementary school classroom, screens exhibition-related videos and holds humanities programs. In addition to exhibitions in tangible spaces, the museum also organizes online exhibitions to promote the literary world of Hwang Sun-Won. The “Three Works of Hwang Sun-Won: Naked Moments in Life Exhibition” organized late last year featured 21 motion graphics of Hwang Sun-Won’s short stories such as A Dog of Moknomi Village, Acrobat, and Time for Just You and Me. Rain Shower, and Rain Shower (Munhaknamu), a smart novel collection by Korean writers that rewrites the short story Rain Shower, and a cover collection of the first editions of Hwang Sun-Won’s works published in the 1980s by Munji Publishing. “Hwang Sun-Won is described as the ‘most Korean of Korean writers,’ having Korean characteristics and strengths. Yet his works are globally universal in their advocacy of lyrical humanism. The topics that Hwang Sun-Won addresses in works such as Acrobat, Lost People, Trees Standing on the Slope, Living With Stars, and The Moving Fortress extend beyond Korea to issues of all humanity.” - From Korean Literature, Hwang Sun-Won, and Translation (2017, Kim Sung-Gon) The quoted piece is an excerpt from the book Research on Hwang Sun-Won (edited by the “Researcher Group of Hwang Sun-Won”), which won the “Hwang Sun-Won Research Award” category of the 6th Sonagi Village Literary Award. The Award was first established in 2012. Since 2021, when the 11th Award was presented, it has been renamed the “Hwang Sun-Won Literary Award,” and the winners have been selected and awarded during the Hwang Sun-Won Literary Festival held every September to encourage writers’ creative activities. Sonagi Village will continue to discover new content and further strengthen its role by establishing the “First Love Theme Park Walkway (tentative name)” and the “Hwang Dong-Gyu Literary Museum.” “Literature Classroom Where You Don’t Have to Study,” a reproduction of an old school classroom Lee Chun-Sun, who we met at the Literary Museum, is a cultural heritage guide with 20 years of experience. He said that this was the 5th place he has worked as a guide. As we talked about Hwang Sun-Won’s life and his literary world, he shared the following words. “Some visitors to the Literature Museum sometimes express strong opposition to Hwang Sun-Won’s literary vision, saying, ‘The great-granddaughter of the Yoon family is actually a bourgeoisie.’ Sometimes, as a guide here, I feel very sad. I wish we could accept literature for what it is, and fully respect the pure spirit of the writer. Hwang Sun-Won was a writer who stood firm even when many of his peers changed their positions. I want to protect him from becoming a subject of wasteful controversy and remain a writer loved by all, regardless of ideology.” Two other literary places and a terrace cafe Here are a couple of spaces that will make your journey back from Yangpyeong-gun a little more colorful. The first is the “Jan A Literature Museum (Director: Kim Yong-Man),” located in Seojong-myeon. It is just about 4 kilometers away from Sonagi Village. It blends literature, terracotta works, and nature. The name “Jan A” is the pen name of novelist Kim Yong-Man and the name of the main character in his novel. The museum used to be Saetteum, a literary museum that opened in 1996. The spacious gardens that surround the museum building are a reflection of the director and his wife’s 30 years of careful cultivation. The exhibition rooms of the Jan A Literature Museum are divided into Korean literature, world literature, children’s literature, and thematic exhibition rooms. Each space is organized to showcase the flow of modern and contemporary Korean literature and materials collected from more than 100 countries around the world, while also trying to contribute to live literary education by organizing the development of Korean and international children’s literature in an easy-to-understand fashion and recreating scenes from children’s books. This year, the museum opened the permanent program “Make Your Own Mug” and educational programs “Poem Recitation Academy” and “Jan A Academy.” Jan A Literature Museum, the playground of texts and soil The second space is “Soosoo,” a terrace cafe where you can take a break before entering the expressway to Seoul. It is located in Yangseo-myeon, a 15-minute drive from Seojong IC on the Seoul Yangyang Expressway. The name Soosoo means “water (水) and trees (樹),” and the small flowerbeds, which are arranged in the style of traditional gardens, harmonize with the beautiful scenery along the Bukhangang River, giving visitors a sense of relaxation. The injeolmi cream bun is recommended here - it is moderately sweet with a savory flavor. Terrace café “Soosoo” located in Yangseo-myeon If you choose to take the long way on public transportation via Yangsu Station, you might want to stop at Chaegbogogage, a local shared bookstore in Gangsang-myeon, to catch your breath and flip through the underlined pages. The bookstore, which proclaims to be a “neighborhood bookstore where my life reaches your life,” has been hosting various book clubs for both children and adults since it opened in 2018. The signature program, “Humanities for Adults,” chose All Lives Flow as the philosophy book for May and Pseudowork as the economics book for June. Another book club with the theme of “Twelve Months of a Plant Collector” shares information on living with nature based on Zahradníkův Rok and Zero Waste Gardening and seeks a rational way of living. “Chaegbogogage,” a neighborhood bookstore and small library in Gangsang-myeon After spending an afternoon at Yangpyeong-gun, a region where literature, nature, and people find a harmonious coexistence, and a region surrounded by water, wind, and the sound of birds chirping, we read a short piece of writing and departed. The quiet voice reflecting on life remained a solid seed, planted in the garden of minds. “When I was in middle school, a classmate of mine brought me a bunch of royal azaleas from home. Even after I planted them in my garden, they revived soon without a sign of withering, as it was the rainy season. They spent the summer with green leaves, shed their leaves in the fall like other deciduous species, and survived the winter. Then it was the next spring. The azaleas were in full bloom, but the buds on the royal azaleas didn’t seem to be inflating. I broke off the tip of the branch. It was blue inside. I waited for them to bloom late, as they are usually later than azaleas. But even after the azaleas faded and the leaves sprouted, I heard nothing from the royal azaleas. I raked the soil around them, watered them, and hoped they would sprout. I checked on them several times a day as I walked by. Again, there was no sign of life, so I cut the branch off again. It was dead inside. I tried other branches, but each one was the same. I dug them up with a shovel, ready to throw them away. But, who knew? A few tiny buds were sprouting from the roots! I quickly replanted them and covered them with soil. However, the royal azaleas died within a year. Why didn’t I wait a little longer before digging up the roots?” - From Hwang Sun-Won’s short story Tree, Stone, And... Written by Kim Ji-Hye Kim Ji-Hye #Sonagi Village at Hwang Sun-won #Literary House #Yangpyeong #Hwang Sun-won

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