Children's Folktale Collection Published by Hwang Sok-yong: "Korean Folktales Are Stories of Common People... Imagination Shines More Than in the West"

Published Volume 5 of Hwang Sok-yong's Children's Folktale Collection
Plans to Release 50 Volumes by April Next Year

"Western European fairy tales or folktales are mostly stories of the upper class, but our country's folktales are stories of ordinary people. They have a groundbreaking aspect that surpasses the West in terms of imagination and fantasy."

This is what author Hwang Sok-yong said, who published 'Hwang Sok-yong's Children's Folktale Collection (Human Cube)'. At the publication meeting held on the morning of the 14th at the Francisco Education Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, Hwang explained, "Before going global, it is necessary to establish an identity that accurately knows 'Who am I?'. Folktales are the source of our stories and can be said to be the origin of K-content. I wrote this with the heart of a grandfather so that children can demonstrate imagination and creativity based on our content."

Novelist Hwang Sok-yong

Hwang explained that all the works he has published so far were based on folktales, which he calls 'folktale realism.' This means that the stories were created based on the daily lives of common people. He emphasized, "The folktale realm is the intermediate zone before the daily lives of the common people become history. Only with folktales does the era gain significance and transition into history."

The folktale series consists of a total of 50 volumes containing 150 stories. He collected stories for over 20 years and planned for 5 years, releasing volumes 1 to 5 this time. He carefully reinterpreted existing folktale collections such as 'The Great Collection of Korean Oral Literature,' 'Korean Oral Folklore,' and 'Daedongyaseung.' For folktales that exist in various versions nationwide, he followed the original form from the place of origin, and if not, he prioritized entertainment. Hwang said, "In the case of 'Baridegi,' the Jeolla Province version is interesting, but for 'Gangsinmu,' we included the Hwanghae Province version according to the original form."

The criterion for selecting folktales is 'sinmyeong' (joyful spirit). Hwang said, "It is often said that the unique sentiment of our people is 'han (limitation or grief),' but that concept was given by Japanese aesthetic critics during the Japanese colonial period. Our people did not succumb to pain and despair or remain stagnant; instead, they transformed adversity into laughter and hope through dance, song, and stories." He cited the wit and humor in 'The Sun and the Moon,' where siblings who lost their mother to a tiger and faced threats to their own lives cleverly tricked the tiger with perilla oil instead of grieving.

Through this work, Korean folktales will be introduced to the world. Hwang co-founded a company called 'Purimedia' with Human Cube Publishing to provide 'movingtoons,' a level of video prior to animation, and folktales in English, Chinese, Spanish, and other languages. Hwang said, "'Kongjwi and Patjwi' and 'Cinderella' have very similar story structures, but 'Cinderella' is globally famous because it was popularized through Disney animations and movies. We will let the world know the fun and excellence of our stories."

Hwang, who said his imagination was stimulated while working on folktales, revealed that he is planning his next work, a novel tentatively titled 'The Tree.' "There is a 650-year-old tree in Saemangeum, and I am thinking of a novel narrated by that tree," he said.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.