안회남 安懷南
Novelist, born An Pil-seung; debuted with Hair, became head of the fiction section of the Joseon Writers' Alliance after liberation and went north; son of An Guk-seon
| Life | 1909 |
| Era | 일제강점기~해방 후 |
| Clan | 죽산 안씨 |
Life & career
An Hoe-nam (安懷南, born 1909) was a novelist of the Juksan An clan whose birth name was An Pil-seung. He was born on 15 November 1909 in Hanseong in the Korean Empire; his father was An Guk-seon (1878-1926), author of the new novel Assembly of Beasts. Wikipedia describes him as An Guk-seon's only son, with a great-grandfather An Gwang-muk, a grandfather An Pil-su and an adoptive grandfather An Gyeong-su; the critic An Mak was his younger sixth-degree cousin. His year of death is unknown because his activities after going north are unclear.
He entered the literary world in 1931 when his short story Hair (Bal) won the Chosun Ilbo spring literary contest. In the 1930s he worked with members of the Guinhoe group, writing mainly psychological I-novels at first. During the Pacific War he was conscripted to Japan for about a year and, after returning, published works based on that experience. Wikipedia does not address whether this conscription constituted pro-Japanese activity, and this page makes no judgment.
After liberation he passed through the leftist Joseon Literature Construction Headquarters and took part in forming the Joseon Writers' Alliance, serving as chairman of its fiction section. He is known to have gone north around 1947, and in 1948 published the novella The Sorrow of the Peasants (presumed to be after he went north), exposing the poverty of farmers under the US military government. In the Korean War he came to Seoul with a war-correspondent group and returned north with Bak Tae-won, Hyeon Deok, Seol Jeong-sik and others. He is said to have been a Workers' Party committee member, though the date is unconfirmed; the claim that he was purged in the 1960s is unverified, and only activity until about 1954 is confirmed. He is described as a writer who moved from early psychological fiction to post-liberation social criticism and is mentioned together with his father An Guk-seon as writers of the Juksan An clan.
His Fiction
He first wrote mainly psychological I-novels, later published works based on his wartime conscription experience, and after liberation exposed the poverty of farmers in The Sorrow of the Peasants.
After Going North
He went north around 1947 and returned to the north after coming to Seoul with a war-correspondent group in the Korean War. His activity is confirmed only until about 1954, so his year of death is unknown.