Chae Man-sik

Chae Man-sik or Ch'ae Mansik (, June 17, 1902 – June 11, 1950) was a Korean novelist known for his satirical bent.

Chae Man-sik was born in Okgu (now Gunsan), Jeollabuk-do, South Korea, to a family of the Pyeonggang Chae clan.

He graduated from Choongang High School and attended Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.

He worked as a reporter for the publications Dong-a Ilbo, Chosun Ilbo, and Gaebyeok, as well as working as an editor for the Gaebyeok Publishing Company's many magazines, including Hyeseong (Comet) and Jeilseon (제일선, Frontline).

Chae Man-sik entered the literary scene with the publication of his short story "Toward the Three Paths" (세길로, 1924).

After publishing his first short story, "Toward the Three Paths" (세길로, 1924) in the magazine Joseon Literary World (ko:조선문단), Chae Man-sik's literary career began.

He first gained critical attention ten years later with the publication of the short story "A Ready-Made Life" (레디메이드 인생, 1934).

His early stories and plays were written from a class-sensitive perspective, and, with the publication of "A Ready-Made Life" (레디메이드 인생, 1934), he began to focus his attention specifically on the plight of intellectuals and artists during an era of colonial oppression, which he expanded upon in later works such as "An Intellectual and Mung-Bean Cake" (인텔리와 빈대떡) and "My Innocent Uncle" (치숙, 1938).

In 1936 he moved to Kaesong (now in North Korea) to devote himself solely to creative writing.

Having been arrested by the Japanese colonial government in 1938 as a result of his affiliation with the Society for Reading (독서회), Chae Man-sik was released on the condition that he participate in a pro-Japanese literary organization, the Korean Literary Society for Patriotism (조선문인보국회).

Chae complied, writing a handful of pro-Japanese works as a result, including a celebratory account of what he had observed when visiting the Japanese Army's Manchurian Front in December 1942.

After Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, however, Chae Man-sik openly reproached the pro-Japanese actions of Korean intellectuals at the end of the colonial period, his own included, by writing such works as Sinner Against the Nation (민족의 죄인) and "The Path of History" (영노, 1946).

The short stories "Constable Maeng" (맹순사, 1946) and "Story of a Rice Paddy" (논 이야기) are particularly noteworthy in this regard, focusing on the turbulence and confusion of a society embarking upon the difficult process of rebuilding a nation.

He published over 290 works in total throughout his life, including novels, short stories, essays, plays, and reviews.

Until his death in 1950 (shortly before the outbreak of the Korean War), Chae Man-sik continued to produce satires of contemporary society in post-liberation Korea.

Chae Man-sik's collected works were published in 1989 in the quarterly magazine Creation and Criticism (창작과비평사) by the publishing house Changbi (formerly known as Creation and Criticism until 2003).