The Issue of Appeal

While both foreign and Korean classics played an important role in promoting satire, it was only part of a larger effort to raise a new generation of contemporary satirists – the latter-day “Gogols and Shchedrins.” Since satire was viewed as indispensable in helping eradicate any vestiges of old beliefs and customs, a modern army of satirists had to be promptly trained and deployed to accomplish this task. Yet, given the prevailing bias toward satire among contemporary North Korean writers who continued to regard it in traditional terms as a “low” and “vulgar” form of literature, few volunteered for join the ranks. Therefore, in order to implement the new policy the state had to find a way to coax unenthusiastic writers into doing its bidding.

The way chosen by the state to introduce satirical elements into contemporary Korean literature was through a new literary genre of otcherk, actively promoted by critics and literary officials around this time. Essentially an essay form, otcherk shared much in common with the tradition of political pamphlets and feuilletons, which had been widely used by Russian opposition leaders, political activists, and revolutionaries of all stripes in the early 20th century. Known by its Russian name in Korean, otcherk was a hybrid style mixing journalistic reportage with fictional storytelling. Otcherk gained popularity in the Soviet Union during the war and remained in vogue through the postwar decade. While otcherk was free to borrow from any other modes and genres of writing and could vary in tone from exalted to humorous, it tended to favor more often than not a satirical mode of presentation.

As a result, the overwhelming majority of contemporary literary satire in North Korea assumed the form of an otcherk. The country’s leading literary journal, Chosŏn munhak, helped introduce the work of Erenburg, Sholokhov, Leonov, and other Soviet otcherkists to North Korean literary circles and the public at large. Since otcherk was a new genre for North Korean literature lacking a well-developed theoretical foundation, North Korean writers were expected to master the form through emulating model works of Soviet authors.

As one article explained, at the heart of any otcherk is an event on which the writer must provide his or her commentary and opinion, while making certain that the audience is entertained by the story and influenced by the underlying political message at the same time. In order to achieve that, an otcherk must have an “appeal” (hŭngmi), that is, it must elicit interest from the reader, whether it is on the basis of the plot, character

portrayal, or style. Practically speaking, appeal usually meant that the writer had an obligation to spice up his work with some element of the comic.69

This strategy seems to have paid off, as in a matter of just a few years one writer remarked that, “recently this unfamiliar to us genre has developed a great deal.”70 Yet, the same author criticized North Korean otcherkists for placing too much stress on “facts” (sasil) in their writing, leading to a “documentalist tendency” (kirokchuŭijŏk kyŏnghyang). He, furthermore, pointed out that the use of comic techniques in most otcherks was rather superficial and caused no more than “light laughter” (kabyŏun usŭm) among the audience, leaving the reader unaffected on a deeper level.71 Another critic reminded that the most important aspect of this genre was its “critical spirit” (pip’anjŏk ppap’ossŭ), which often became forfeited by North Korean otcherkists who focused too much on facts and details and tended to avoid direct criticism.72

It was precisely this problem that critics tried to address through a flurry of articles which instructed fledgling North Korean satirists in the art of otcherk writing. The situation with uncritical otcherks and the “light laughter” they produced, in fact, encapsulates the very dilemma faced by North Korean writers. On the one hand, they had to write in a style they were not very familiar with, which many of them also continued to view as secondary and unimportant in relation to their true literary aspirations, given the elitist views on literature still harbored by many North Korean writers at the time. On the

69 _{Ri Hyo-un, “Munhak changnŭ o-ch’erŭkkŭ e kwanhayŏ: ch’angjak pang’pŏp ŭl chungsim ŭro” [On the} literary genre of otcherk: focusing on the creative method], Chosŏn munhak 12 (1952): 126-141.

70 _{Ibid., 135.} 71 _{Ibid., 142.}

72 _{Kang Nŭng-su, “Och’erŭk’ŭ munhak esŏ chegitoenŭn myŏt kaji munje” [A few questions raised by} otcherk literature], Chosŏn munhak 6 (1958): 135-144.

other hand, engaging in direct criticism of real, rather than fictional events and people, while amusing many at the expense of the few, was fraught with all sorts of consequences that could put one’s career (and possibly life) on the line.

In sum, North Korean writers found it difficult to strike a balance between fact and fiction and keep their stories deeply critical and genuinely entertaining at the same time. Even after six years, most otcherks were still more dry fact than fiction and only superficially funny at best. In 1957, one writer lamented in his speech at the Second National Journalists’ Congress that it still “feels that we have too little humor and satire in our newspapers and magazines.”73 Another critic writing about the situation with theater complained that although many new plays had been produced in recent years, hardly any of them were able capture the interest of the audience – it became all too common to see patrons leave theater in the middle of the show.74