A Literary Journey to Ganggyeong Salt Literature Museum

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What story awaits us?

Shall we step inside together?

I visited the Ganggyeong Salt Literature Museum, located at 139-2 Bukok-ri, Ganggyeong-eup, Nonsan-si, Chungcheongnam-do.

The weather was wonderfully clear that day.

The Salt Literature Museum offered many attractions, and the surrounding scenery allowed me to fully embrace the autumn atmosphere.

Shall we step inside the Salt Literature Museum together to discover what stories await us?

▲ Overview of the Salt Literature Museum

The Salt Literature Museum building stood in a tranquil location.

Let's explore what this place has to offer.

◆ Ganggyeong Salt Literature Museum

Park Beom-sin's novel 'Salt,' by the eternal young writer, was written for the 40th anniversary of his debut and is his 40th full-length novel. It is his first work written after returning to his hometown of Nonsan and the last of a trilogy denouncing the violence of capitalism, following 'My Hand Turns into a Horseshoe' and 'Business.' 'Salt,' which beautifully portrays the fathers of our time through the eventful lives of the generation that led development, is set in Ganggyeong-eup. The author, who once confessed, 'Ganggyeong is my literary womb,' used the Ganggyeong area as the primary setting for the second time since his Manhae Literary Award-winning novel, 'Dirty Desk.'

In his novel 'Salt,' the author asks us today:

'While traversing this vast consumer civilization, where are the 'fathers' who harvested fruits for consumption with animalistic labor? What did they gain and lose? Have we, all chasing the sweetness of consumption, ever deeply looked at the backs of our aging fathers?'

-From the author's note in the novel <Salt>-

Park Beom-sin wrote the novel 'Salt,' and the literature museum became the Salt Literature Museum.

This shows the significance of salt in Ganggyeong and the importance of the novel 'Salt' to the author.

▲ Sculpture

There is a striking sculpture at the entrance of the Salt Literature Museum.

Three men are sitting on a steel structure, their expressions captivating enough to make you contemplate for a while.

Let's read the description at the base to understand the artwork.

◆ Mr. Kim! How About a Soju Tonight?

It tells a story of happiness and affection in everyday life.

The artwork expresses the joys and sorrows of our fathers in a humorous and lyrical way.

Fathers who work hard at the labor site, you brush off the hardships with a cigarette and a glass of soju for your family and smile again!

I call out with a lump in my throat. Father!!

Artist Ryu Hun

The artwork seems to express the joys and sorrows of our fathers.

But the fathers look sadly too thin.

▲ To a Snail

◆ To a Snail

There are things that are bad when they are big,

and good when they are small, in this world.

For example, your house.

You dream of the biggest and tallest house in the world,

but if you have the biggest and tallest house in the world,

you can't move from this cabbage to that water dropwort,

and who will be there when you die alone?

Who will hold up the rafters of your collapsing house?

2020.12. Snowy Day

Written and Drawn by Park Beom-sin

Poets seem to see and think about things from a different perspective than ordinary people.

That's why they are poets.

▲ Author Park Beom-sin's Garden

In the garden, there was a scene that made me wonder, 'What is this combination?' which is the photo above.

This is a pine tree that Park Beom-sin cherished for 32 years at his Pyeongchang-dong residence, a stone pagoda that was at his Pyeongchang-dong residence, garden stones from his residence, and a stone millstone used at his old Ganggyeong home, all moved to this garden.

The small stone pagoda and millstone are charming.

▲ Chrysanthemum Exhibition

At the entrance of the building, quite a few pots were lined up in one place, exuding the fragrance of chrysanthemums.

The chrysanthemum exhibition was over, and potted chrysanthemum bonsai were displayed inside the building.

It was the first time I had seen chrysanthemums made into bonsai.

Seeing the bonsai, sometimes grand and sometimes modest, made me feel good.

▲ Salt Literature Museum

◆ Salt Literature Museum

Ganggyeong Port, which had prospered as a leading port city on the West Sea, and the bent backs of the fathers who overcame the poverty of the nation with animalistic labor are vividly portrayed in Park Beom-sin's novel <Salt>.

Therefore, <Salt> is a portrait of an aging father and the inner face of Ganggyeong-eup, and the story of sweet, sour, bitter, and salty 'salt' will continue in our lives.

From afar, the Salt Literature Museum reveals the shape of a ship just anchoring in the port. May all those who have crossed the sea of time with many refractions stay here at the 'Salt Literature Museum' with Park Beom-sin, even for a moment, and hopefully encounter an opportunity for a new life of blue creation as they set sail again.

Ganggyeong talks about salt, and the Salt Literature Museum talks about Park Beom-sin's novel 'Salt.'

That's probably why the Salt Literature Museum was born.

▲ Lounge

In the B1 space, there is an open space called the Ganggyeongsan Lounge.

One side has windows with a clear view of the outside, and a screen installed there continuously shows the author's videos.

And on one wall, books written by the author are displayed.

The white lights on the ceiling have the titles of the author's books written on them.

I recently saw the book 'Wrinkles.'

It's a book with a unique subject matter, so I'm glad to see the title here.

▲ Author's Study

In the author's study corner, you can sit down, put on headphones, and listen to Park Beom-sin's stories.

<Lie Down Like a Grass Leaf>, <Land of Fire>, <Cart Pulled by a White Cow>, <Dirty Desk>, <Eungyo>, <Salt> are on the list.

Press the button to hear the story and Park Beom-sin's explanation.

It would be nice to listen to Park Beom-sin's voice.

▲ Author Park Beom-sin

Park Beom-sin debuted in the literary world in 1973 when his short story <Remains of Summer> was selected in the Chosun Ilbo New Year's Literary Contest.

He then serialized short stories such as <Family>, <Stake and Tumbler>, <Nail and Hammer> and novels such as <Deeper Sleep than Death>, <Sesame Salt and Okttolme>, <Lie Down Like a Grass Leaf> <Land of Fire> in newspapers and magazines. In 1981, he won the Newcomer Award at the 1st Korea Literature Award for his novel <Winter River, High Wind>.

He has a collection of creative works <Rabbit and Submarine>, short story collections <Balloon Flown in the Morning>, <Family>, medium-length collections <Moss of the City> <They Forgot That Way> and numerous novels.

In 1993, he declared a three-year writing hiatus for deeper creative activities. In 1997, he published an autobiographical series of novels <Cart Pulled by a White Cow> based on three years of silence.

In the spring of 1999, he announced his side job as a poet by publishing <Nol> and 19 other poems in the quarterly magazine Poetry and published poems one after another.

The novels <Cholache> <Gosanja> <Eungyo> are called Park Beom-sin's <Trilogy of Aspiration> and are very popular.

Since then, he has continued to work steadily.

Authors seem to be very talented.

How can they write so many works?

I thought of Park Beom-sin as a novelist, but he is also a poet.

While looking around the Salt Literature Museum, the Trilogy of Aspiration was added to my list of works I want to read.

▲ Problem Writer Period

◈ Problem Writer Period

Born as the only son in a family with four daughters, the author, who grew up weakly under his mother's excessive favoritism, said, "I read too many books, from philosophy books to social criticism books.

In fact, unprepared reading becomes very dangerous because it is excessively biased to one side. Caught in an internal division between the world and myself, I was trapped in a despairing and pessimistic worldview, the pessimistic worldview given by existence."

During his turbulent teenage years full of intense internal conflict and anguish, Ganggyeong Station, where he commuted to Iksan by train every day, the reed forest around the Geum River, where he was happy reading books enough to forget to go to school, and the people of that time all remained with deep affection for the author who became a novelist and became an important framework for 'Park Beom-sin Literature.'

Whether it was biased to one side or read evenly, reading a lot seems to be a great nourishment for writers to write great articles.

I should also read more diligently in various genres.

▲ Popular Writer Period

◈ Popular Writer Period

The author, who mainly wrote socially critical novels, rose to the ranks of popular writers at once as <Deeper Sleep than Death>, which was serialized in the women's magazine Elegance in 1979, became popular.

At the time, it sold over 300,000 copies in paperback, making him the first best-selling author.

Since then, he has been serialized in the Chosun Ilbo <Lie Down Like a Grass Leaf> and the Dong-A Ilbo <Land of Fire> <Land of Water> in succession, and he became the most popular writer in the 1980s.

Most of his numerous novels, which criticized the social trends of the time, were made into movies and dramas, and he swept through an era as a writer who was closer to the public than anyone else.

▲ Writing Hiatus

◈ Writing Hiatus

His novels, which received a lot of public popularity, were uncomfortable for literary intellectuals.

The sadness and pain of not being properly evaluated became a great wound to the author, and eventually, he went into 'Hanteosanbang', an isolated house in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do.

He isolated himself from literature and took time for self-denial, reflection, and introspection.

Three years after declaring a writing hiatus, he made a brilliant comeback with 'Cart Pulled by a White Cow' in 1997, and since then he has earned the nicknames 'Young Writer' and 'Eternal Young Writer'.

Everyone will mature a little if they take time for self-reflection.

I'm curious how the writing changed after the writing hiatus.

▲ Longing Period

◈ Longing Period

The author, who was curious about the world of transcendence, the invisible world, and the world beyond phenomena and death, said that longing is filled with a desire for the invisible inner self of human beings and the transcendent world that cannot be reached.

<Cholache> (2008), <Gosanja> (2009), and <Eungyo> (2010) are well known as Park Beom-sin's 'Trilogy of Aspiration'.

These works contain the author's desire to long for something that cannot be reached, to be curious about it, and to miss it.

Longing for something that cannot be reached may be a general characteristic of human beings.

What kind of longing is contained in the work?

▲ Gallery

In the B1 floor gallery, Lee Hu-ran's tenth invitational solo exhibition 'Flowing' was being held.

Let's take a look at what kind of exhibition it is.

◆ Flowing

Nature, time, and memories flow and disappear.

'Flowing' is a story about the afterimage of the mind.

I take out the landscapes that remain deep in my memory and draw them again.

My work is a process of meeting and talking with things I miss.

Through the brushstrokes of painting, erasing, and filling again,

the memories of my life gradually find new images and shapes.

Also, the landscape of my mind does not stay in one place.

Beyond the landscape, there are things that have not yet been drawn flowing like a river and like the wind.

-Author Lee Hu-ran

There were not many paintings in the gallery, but they seemed to go well with the Salt Literature Museum and the surrounding scenery.

Although it is autumn, the paintings in the canvas felt warm.

▲ Surrounding Walk

After looking around the Salt Literature Museum, I took a walk around the area.

The surrounding scenery is also art.

A small river was flowing in front of the Salt Literature Museum.

The surrounding trees were deeply colored in autumn.

The yellow ginkgo trees welcomed us brightly.

After walking a little further and passing through the reed field, a fisherman was fishing for time with quite a few fishing rods on the riverbank.

When I asked if he was catching any fish, he said that the water was too deep and the fish weren't coming out.

The scenery of the fishing rods cast is calm and nice.

It's good to go anywhere on a nice autumn day.

When you visit the Ganggyeong Salt Literature Museum, you can meet author Park Beom-sin, see paintings in the gallery inside,

If you're lucky, you can see a chrysanthemum exhibition, and you can see the wonderful autumn scenery with the river flowing.

How about a walk around the Ganggyeong Salt Literature Museum this week?

Source :https://blog.naver.com/sinmunman/224089556952

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