"Three Generations" charts the tensions in the Jo family in 1930s Japanese-occupied Seoul. Yom's keenly observant eye reveals family tensions with profound insight. His characters are so alive that if you cut the pages they might bleed. Delving deeply into each character's history and beliefs, he illuminates the diverse pressures and impulses driving each one. This Korean classic also brings forth the larger issues at hand, revealing Korea's situation under Japanese rule, the traditional Korean familial structure, political movements of the 1930s (both national and international), and the battle between the modern and the traditional. Touted as one of Korea's most important works of fiction, "Three Generations" gave birth to naturalism in Korean literature. Best representing the Seoul dialect of the time, Yom is celebrated for his contributions to the Korean literary cannon; "Three Generations" remains a mandatory read for high school students. The long-awaited publication of this masterpiece in English is a literary event.
Yom Sang-seop was born in 1897 in Seoul. In 1919, he participated in an independence movement against the Japanese, for which he was jailed. He published his first stories in the same year. In 1931, he published "Samdae"(Three Generations) as a serial in "Chosun Ilbo," the Korean national daily, followed by many novels and stories. He died of cancer in 1963.
Translator Yu Young-nan's translations include Pak Wan-so's "The Naked Tree"(Columbia University Press, 1995), Yi In-hwa's "Everlasting Empire" (EastBridge 2001), Yi Mu-young's "Farmers"(Homa & Sekey, 2002), and Han Sung-won's "Father and Son," co-translated by Julie Pickering (Homa & Sekey, 2002).
