Kim Ja-rim
Kim Ja-rim | |
|---|---|
| Native name | 김자림 |
| Born | August 21, 1926 Pyongyang, Korea, Empire of Japan |
| Died | September 26, 1994 Seattle, Washington State, United States of America |
| Occupation | |
| Language | Korean |
| Nationality | Korean |
| Alma mater | Pyongyang Normal School (dropped out of Korean language department) |
| Period | 1959—1991 |
| Genre |
|
| Notable works | Iminsun[a] |
| Spouse | Yang Myong-mun |
Kim Ja-rim[b] (21 August 1926 – 26 September 1994) was a Korean playwright, essayist, and teacher. She was the first professional Korean female playwright.
Her childhood name was Kim Chŏngsuk.[c][d]
Life
Kim was born in Pyongyang during the period that Korea was under Japanese rule. She was the third daughter of nine children. Her father was a professor of pharmacy whose family followed traditional Confucian principles, and her mother was a Christian elementary school graduate. When she was young, Kim's mother was ill, so she was raised in "an enlightened and liberal environment" by her maternal grandmother.[1]:193-194
After dropping out of Pyongyang Normal School, she worked as a teacher in Pyongyang before moving to Seoul in 1949. She married the poet Yang Myong-mun in 1952, marrying for love rather than a traditional arranged marriage.[1]:195 She continued to work as a teacher before making her debut in 1959 as a playwright with Dolgae-baram,[e] a one-act play published by Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's oldest daily newspaper.[2]:84
Work
Kim was the first professional Korean female playwright, among a group of others who wrote and had their work performed beginning in the 1960s, called the 'first generation of women playwrights' by scholar Lee Mi Won.[2][3] According to Kim, she chose a career in drama because she believed in the social functions of art to "lead culture, purify emotion, and reveal humanity."[1]
In 1959, she published her debut one-act play, Dolgae-baram.[e] She received sharp criticism for it, the play being dismissed as a "common love story."[2]
In 1965, she established the Women's Theater (Yoin Kukchang), a theatre company with the intention of "awakening" women through plays that dealt with women's issues from a female perspective.[1]:195
Kim was the first female playwright to stage a play in the National Theater of Korea, her 1966 play Iminsun,[a] which is considered to be her magnum opus. It features more than 28 characters on stage, and depicts a Korean farming community trying to move to Brazil to make more money.[2]:86-87
An anthology of her early plays was published in 1971, also titled Iminsun.[a][4] This collection includes her 1970 one-act Hwa-don.[f][2]
As of 1984, she had produced twenty plays, five radio and TV dramas, and one novel.[1]:192
Notes
- ^ a b c The Emigrant Ship, Korean: 이민선
- ^ Korean: 김자림; Hanja: 金玆林; pronounced [kim.t͡ɕa.rim]
- ^ Romanized using the McCune–Reischauer system as she was born before the divison of Korea per English Wikipedia's Korean naming conventions
- ^ Korean: 김정숙; Hanja: 金貞淑; pronounced [kim.t͡ɕʌŋ.suk]
- ^ a b The Whirlwind, Korean: 돌개바람
- ^ Flower Pig, Korean: 화돈
Bibliography
- Kim, Ock-Ran (October 31, 1999). "The Femininity and Modernity of Kim Ja-Rim`s Drama in 1960s". The Journal of Korean drama and theatre (in Korean). The Learned Society Of Korean Drama And Theatre – via Korea Journal Central.
- Kwon, Jingyeong (August 2023). 1960년대 여성 극작가의 가족 형상화 방식 : 김자림과 박현숙을 중심으로 [The Family Figuration of 1960s Women Playwright : Focusing on Kim Ja-rim and Park Hyon-sook] (Thesis) (in Korean). Korea University. doi:10.23186/korea.000000276503.11009.0000126.
References
- ^ a b c d e Shim, Jung Soon (December 1984). Self vs. Tradition: Images of women in modern American and Korean drama (PhD thesis). University of Hawaii. Retrieved August 13, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Hong, Moonyoung (April 28, 2024). "Women Playwrights at the Crossroads: A Comparative Study of Ireland and Korea in the Mid-Twentieth Century". Review of Irish Studies in Europe. 7 (1): 77–98. doi:10.32803/rise.v7i1.3252.
- ^ Lee, Meewon (September 2023). "A Study on Korean Women Playwrights of the 20th century as the Pioneers of Korean Feminism". 연극교육연구. 44. doi:10.46262/KTE.44.1.4. ISSN 1738-155X – via Koreanstudies Information Service System.
- ^ Park, Hye-ryeong (December 1, 2003). "A Study on the Feministic Vision of Kim, Ja-Rim -focused on the plays of Iminsun-" 김자림의 희곡에 나타난 여성인식 -희곡집 『이민선』을 중심으로-. Theses on Korean Literature (in Korean). 35: 249.