#Interview by literary critic Jeon So-yeong

It is symbolic of Korea’s social landscape. Members of the Korean society in the 1970s were isolated in multiple ways. Politically, their freedom was taken away by dictatorship and the country’s overly rapid industrialization brought about materialism, which placed more importance on capital and goods than on human dignity. The story provides a scathing view of reality in which even man is reduced to an object. The story shows that those who are not respected as human beings are as same as unfamiliar objects in someone else’s room. 

_____

“Who’s there?”

He shouted out cautiously. He sensed a set of eyes from between the walls. He plopped down on the sofa and began glaring at all the furniture he could see.

  

He kept stirring the spoon. He suddenly realized that the long-handled spoon in his hand was no ordinary spoon. Then the spoon appeared to have wiped off the rust on his consciousness and resembled a fish with glittering scales that soared toward the surface from a sphere outside of his vision. He opened his eyes wide, vowing to look at all the objections in the room carefully. Then, all the objects that he became aware of started to shake and become merrier. 

  

“누구요?”

그는 조심스럽게 소리를 지른다.

벽사이의 눈을 의식한다.

그는 사납게 소파에 누워, 시선에 닿는 가구들을 노려보기 시작한다.

  

그는 스푼을 집요하게 젓는다.

갑자기 그는 그의 손에 쥐어진 손잡이가 긴 스푼이 

여느 스푼이 아님을 느낀다.

그러자 스푼이 그의 의식의 녹을 벗기고,

눈에 보이는 상태 밖에서 수면을 향해 비상하는,

비늘 번뜩이는 물고기처럼 튀어오르는 것을 보았다.

그는 온 방안의 물건을 자세히 보리라고 다짐하고는 눈을 부릅뜬다.

그러자 그의 의식이 닿는 물건들마다 일제히 흔들거리면서 흥을 돋우기 시작하는 것이었다.

This whole situation is bizarre – the owner of the room becoming an object and the objects becoming animated to take over the room. The owner, now turned into an inanimate object, is locked away in the attic. This may be what the feeling of isolation felt by modern men is like. 

_____

  

That was when he felt his legs become rigid. Since he thought about fleeing from this room, he was trying to move quietly while making as little noise as possible. 

But he couldn’t move his legs. He felt his legs with his hands, but the legs were already hard as plaster and numb. So, he decided to crawl on his hands toward the switch.

But even before he reached the switch, he realized his whole body was beginning to stiffen. So, he gave up. He decided to call it a strange occurrence and quietly gathered his legs to stand up. It seemed as if he was being resurrected. 

그는 서서히 다리 부분이 경직되어 오는 것을 느꼈다.

처음에 그는 이 방에서 도망가리라 생각했었기 때문에,

될 수 있는 한 소리를 내지 않고

살금살금 움직이리라 마음먹고 천천히 몸을 움직이려 했을 때였다.

그러나 그는 다리를 움직일 수 었었다.

이미 온몸이 굳어오는 것을 발견하였다.

그래서 그는 숫제 체념해버렸다.

참 이상한 일이라고 생각하면서 그는 조용히 다리를 모으고 직립하였다.

그는 마치 부활하는 것처럼 보였다.

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Choi In-ho (Born in Seoul in Oct. 1945)

His professional writing career started when his “Patient Apprentice” won an award in 1967 at the New Spring Literary Contest sponsored by Chosun Ilbo. 

“A Stranger’s Room” was published in “Literature and Intelligence” in 1971 and won the Hyundai Literature Award in 1972.