Novel
Land
토지
Pak Kyong-ni · 1994
Synopsis
The action opens in 1897 at Pyeongsari, a village in Hadong, in Gyeongsang, where the Choe house rules. Lady Yun holds the reins; her son Choe Chi-su has only a little girl, Seo-hui, as heir. Around the house live the peasants and servants of the village, and a distant relative, Jo Jun-gu, covets its property. An epidemic approaches, and the country slides under Japanese domination, which some want to fight while others accommodate themselves to the established order.
Context
The first part appeared in Hyundae Munhak from September 1969 to September 1972, and the last instalment was handed to the Munhwa Ilbo on 15 August 1994, after twenty-five years. The whole comprises five parts and, according to the newspaper Hangyo, 578 characters. It moves from Pyeongsari to Yongjeong, in Manchuria, to Seoul, to Jinju and as far as Tōkyō, and runs through the Donghak peasant war, the 1905 protectorate and the Kantō earthquake, up to the liberation of 1945.
Who it is for
A very long novel with innumerable characters; only the first part exists in French and English.
Prizes and reception
Adapted for the screen in 1974, then three times for Korean television, in 1979, 1987 and 2004.
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