Yi Kwang-su's Mujong

Yi Kwang-su (1892-1950) was one of the pioneers of modern Korean literature. When the serialization of Mujong (The Heartless) began in 1917, it was an immediate sensation, and it occupies a prominent place in Korean literature.

Known as an enlightenment and cultural nationalist, Yi sought to achieve Korean national independence through gradual social and cultural reform. He died in 1950 during the Korean War where he was reportedly taken away from his home by the North Korean People's Army, and later died of frostbite and tuberculosis.

Mujong is a story of a love triangle among three youths during the Japanese occupation. Yi Hyong-sik was a young man in his mid-20s and taught English at a middle school in Seoul. Brilliant but also shy and indecisive, he was torn between two women. Kim Son-hyong was from a wealthy Christian family who had just graduated from a modern, Western-style school and was planning on continuing her studies in the United States. Pak Yong-chae was a musically gifted young woman who was raised in a traditionally Confucianistic household. Due to family misfortune, she became a kisaeng (much like the Japanese geisha) but remained devoted to Hyong-sik whom she knew as a child.

Going beyond romantic melodrama, Mujong used these characters to depict Korea's struggles with modern culture and national identity. Written using the Korean alphabet (as opposed to Chinese characters or a mixture of both Korean and Chinese characters) and in a vernacular style, the book criticized the customs of early marriage, concubinage and called for the abolition of prostitution. Yi also took to task the passivity of those who submitted to the dictates of customs. He also mourned the loss of youth to early marriage - an institution described in the story as mujong hada, or heartless.

The title Mujong means to be without emotion, without love, unfeeling, uncaring, lacking in compassion, and of course heartless, which in this case could also be interpreted as sexual repression.