Contradictions

By Yang Gui-ja

(Cornell East Asia Series)

Among many popular novels in the late 1990s, author Yang Gui-ja’s 1998 best selling novel “Contradictions” has managed to be an easy read while delving into the contradictions of the human condition.

Jin-jin, a woman in her late 20s, is deeply influenced by the lives of her mother and her aunt. The twin sisters, who used look just like one another, ended up living two very different lives upon marriage. While Jin-jin’s mother suffered from her later-turned-alcoholic husband’s abuse, her aunt lived a very comfortable life with her responsible, ambitious and successful husband.

The novel is filled with such binary oppositions in the lives of its other characters as well. While Jin-jin’s younger brother is being accused of murder, her cousin attends an Ivy League school. And the two men she dates ― while she’s only in love with one of them ― also display extremely different qualities that puts Jin-jin in the middle to decide.

Author Yang Gui-ja depicts Jin-jin’s Ivy League cousin as one of the characters who do not understand the contradictions of the human condition, who do not see the grey zone in between. She criticizes Jin-jin’s brother and father for their wrongdoings, without seeing the complex and nuanced condition of their lives. She does not understand Jin-jin for loving her father in spite of all the “horrendous” things he has done to her and her family.

On her quest to finding her own happiness, Jin-jin soon decides whom she wants to be with for the rest of her life.

Mixed with romance and betrayal on top of the “contradictions” in life, this once-best selling novel is an entertaining read for anyone, with a shocking twist and an arguably sad ending.

Born in 1955 in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, Yang studied Korean literature at Wonkwang University. While many of her works dealt with lives of ordinary citizens in the 1980s, Yang began writing relatively conventional and popular novels in the 1990s. She has won several prestigious literary awards, including Yi Sang Literary Award and Yoo Juhyeon Literature Award.

(dyc@heraldcorp.com)