Reexamining Kang Kyungae, a 1930s Female Writer: Reading Her Anew through "Narrative of the Subaltern"

Song Myunghee Publishes
"Kang Kyungae, Narrative of the Subaltern"
A New Perspective on 1930s Diasporic Women's Literature

A new book has been published that sheds fresh light on the literary world of Kang Kyungae (1906?1944), a leading female writer of the 1930s, from feminist and postcolonial perspectives.

Song Myunghee, literary critic and professor emeritus at Pukyong National University, recently released "Kang Kyungae, Narrative of the Subaltern" (Knowledge and Culture).

The author is a scholar who has long been dedicated to feminist criticism and women's literature studies. This book is her fourth research work on female writers, following studies on Na Hyesok, Kim Myungsoon, and Kim Ilyeop.

Kang Kyungae was an author who lived and worked in the Jiandao region during the 1930s. Her major works, including "Human Problem" (1934), "Mother and Daughter," "Salt," and "Manuscript Fee of Two Hundred Won," strongly reflect the realities of Jiandao as a diasporic space.

Kang Kyungae is regarded as an important writer in the literary histories of Korea, North Korea, and the Korean-Chinese community in China. Born in Hwanghae Province and a Marxist, she depicted social issues from a class perspective, which has been positively highlighted in North Korean literary history. In addition, her experiences in Jiandao have made her a key subject of research in the literary history of the Korean-Chinese community in China.

In this book, Song analyzes Kang Kyungae's long, medium, and short stories as well as her essays. The book is organized into five chapters: ▲Jiandao and Diaspora ▲Femininity and Masculinity ▲Poverty and Disability among the Lowest Class ▲Female Bildungsroman and Mother-Daughter Relationships ▲Feminism and Feminist Geography.

This study applies a variety of theoretical frameworks that have recently attracted attention in academia, including diaspora studies, human geography, disability theory, and feminist geography. Song stated, "I aimed to highlight Kang Kyungae, a writer of the 1930s, as an author who can be read meaningfully even today, beyond the evaluations of her time."

The title of the book, "Narrative of the Subaltern," is inspired by the concept of "subaltern" used by postcolonial feminist Gayatri Spivak (G.C. Spivak).

Song explained, "Kang Kyungae depicted the stories of marginalized figures excluded from dominant discourse, as described by Spivak, and portrayed them as subjects resisting the logic of capital. This is why I chose this title."

Song made her literary debut in 1980 through "Contemporary Literature" and later served as a professor in the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Pukyong National University. She has published more than 50 books, including "Revive, Kim Myungsoon" (2019), which was selected as an Excellent Sejong Book (Academic Category).

"Kang Kyungae, Narrative of the Subaltern" is being recognized as a new approach to the diasporic women's literature of the 1930s, an area that has been relatively neglected in studies of female writers, and as a work that has broadened the horizon for sustainable women's literature research.

Cover of Narrative by Kang Kyungae, Servalton.

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