Inspired by Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House," Korea's pioneering feminist poet-painter, Na Hye-sok (1896-1948), writes poignantly about the feminine experience
Self-portrait, Na Hye-sok
Na Hye-sok, Korea's First Feminist
Born in Suwon (수원), the capital of Gyeonggi Province (경기도) in 1896, Na Hye-sok was known for being spirited, clever, and outspoken from a young age. Na's childhood nickname was agi (아기), or baby, and she made it clear early on that that nobody was going to put her in a corner (excuse the corny Dirty Dancing joke, I just couldn't resist). From childhood, Na was very vocal about her dreams of traveling the world and becoming a painter, and did everything she could to make that dream come into fruition. She graduated from high school at the top of her class in 1913, and moved to Japan to study western oil painting at Tokyo Arts College. In 1915, she organized the Association of Korean Women's Studies in Japan, and by 1918 when she graduated from arts school, she had published her short story, Kyonghui (경희), which is often acknowledged as Korea's first work of intentionally feminist literature.
In 1919, Na spent five months in prison for participating in the March First Movement, a resistance movement against Japanese occupation. She ended up marrying the lawyer her family hired to represent her in court, and shortly after she had her first solo exhibition in Seoul, which was also Korea's first exhibition of work made exclusively by a woman. Starting 1927, Na and her husband, Kim Won-ju, went on a three-year tour of Europe, making her the first known Korean woman to have visited Europe and the Americas. Na's husband took a position as a Japanese diplomat in France, allowing Na to study French painting while they lived there. While her husband was away on business, Na engaged in a brief affair, which resulted in her husband divorcing her for infidelity in 1931. The ordeal prompted Na to write, "Divorce Testimony" (이혼고백서, 離婚告白書), which ultimately ended her career and led to her social and financial demise because its ideas were considered radical by the Korean Confucian standards of Na's day. Na died at the age of 52, and because she died alone, the location of her grave is still unknown.
While Na Hye-sok's life was met with a tragic end, she lives on in the memory of women around the world as a fearless feminist icon known for her wit, talent, and outspokenness. Here, I have translated just one of her poems, but she has a wide body of work that includes painting, journalism, poetry, and prose, so expect to see lots more of Na's work on 文 (mun) in the future.
Nora and "A Doll's House"
Marriage and divorce played a major role in Na Hye-sok's life, and made an important impact on the themes of her work. While at Oxford, my excellent advisor, Dr. Jieun Kiaer, introduced me to Na's poem, Nora (노라). The poem is based on Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen's, 1879 play, "A Doll's House," which went on to become a staple of feminist theatre. When I read "A Doll's House" for the first time as a high school student, its themes resonated with me strongly, but when I first picked up Na Hye-sok's Nora, it reached an even deeper place in my heart.
Nora (1929):
I was a doll [all along]...
As the doll of father’s sweet daughter,
As the doll of husband’s kind wife,
I was their plaything, their ornament.
Set Nora free.
Meekly, set her free.
Burst down the high wall, unlock the depths of the women’s chamber and
into the air of freedom, set Nora free.
I am a person [after all]!
Before I became my husband’s wife,
Before I became my children’s mother,
Before I became my father’s daughter,
First, I was a person.
I am a person!
Imprisonment already ended.
The path of freedom is open.
[My] innate strength runs over.
Ah, ah! young girls.
Awake and fall behind! Rise up, emit your power!
The brightness of new day’s hope has broken through.
(translated by McKenzie Johns)
노라 (1929):
나는 인형이었네
아버지의 착한 딸인 인형으로
남편의 착한 아내인 인형으로
그네들의 노리개였네
노라를 놓아라
순순히 놓아주고
높은 장벽을 열고 깊은 규문을 열고
자유의 대기 중에 노라를 놓아라.
나는 사람이라네.
남편의 아내 되기 전에
자녀의 어미 되기 전에
아버지의 딸이 되기 전에
첫째로 사람이라네.
나는 사람이로세.
구속이 이미 끊쳤도다.
자유의 길이 열렸도다.
천부의 힘은 넘치네.
아아 소녀들이여
깨어서 뒤를 따라 오라. 일어나 힘을 발하여라.
새날의 광명이 비쳤네.
Sources and Further Reading:
Jieun Kiaer and Anna Yates-Lu. 2019.Korean literature through the Korean wave. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=2141032
Hyewol Choi, “Doing It for Herself Sin Yŏsŏng (New Women) in Korea.” New Women in Colonial Korea: A Sourcebook. (United Kingdom: Routledge, 2013).
Theresa Hyun, Writing Women in Korea: Translation and Feminism in the Early Twentieth Century. (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2004). Accessed May 14, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvvn6z3.
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