From Wonso Pond

Title Page, Copyright Page

More praise for From Wŏnso Pond “At once a folktale and a page-turner that acquires the dignity of tragedy. Samuel Perry has given us a new masterpiece, whose closing question is as urgent for us today as it was in 1934.” —Norma Field, author of In the Realm of a Dying Emperor: Japan at Century’s End “A vibrant account of the travails of Japanese colonialism, as experienced by workers and women, by the pioneering feminist writer of the Korean left.” —Andre Schmid, author of Korea Between Empires: 1895–1919 “How refreshing it is to have a good old-fashioned story, told without narrative tricks or artifice. Kang Kyŏng-ae’s From Wŏnso Pond is a powerful novel that charts the struggles of her impassioned characters as they learn to live, work, and love. The questions Kang poses and the issues she tackles are as universal as they are enduring. This essential work should be required reading for anyone interested in Korean history and literature.” —Sung J. Woo, author of Everything Asian: A Novel “This novel’s canonical status will remain unchallenged for years to come. It is a rare blessing that the English-language version was produced by Samuel Perry, whose first-rate linguistic talent, literary sensitivity, and scholarly rigor are distinctively channeled through his passion for social change and aesthetic excellence.” —Kyeong-Hee Choi, associate professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago “From Wŏnso Pond is a powerful literary indictment of sexual and economic exploitation of the poverty-ridden farming population in 1930s colonial Korea.” —Yung-Hee Kim, professor of Korean Literature at the University of Hawaii at Manoa k a n g k y o n g - a e Translated by samuel perry ˘ Published in 2009 by the Feminist Press at The City University of New York The Graduate Center 365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5406 New York, NY 10016 www.feministpress.org Copyright © 1934 by Kang Kyŏng-ae Translation copyright © 2009 by Samuel Perry All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used, stored in any information retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission from The Feminist Press at The City University of New York, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Publication of this book was made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sunshik Min Endowment for the Advancement of Korean Literature at the Korea Institute, Harvard University, and LTI Korea. Cover and text design by Drew Stevens Cover art: Detail of Inch’ŏn by Yoshida Hatsusaburō. © www.asocie.jp. 13 12 11 10 09 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kang, Kyŏng-ae, 1906-1944. [In’gan munje. English] From Wŏnso Pond : a novel / by Kang Kyŏng-ae ; translated by Samuel Perry. — 1st ed.      p. cm. ISBN 978-1-55861-601-1 (pbk.) — ISBN 978-1-55861-602-8 (library cloth) I. Perry, Samuel. II. Title. PL991.38.K6I5413 2009 895.1’352—dc22 2008033701 ...