The power of `faction`

The U.S. and the U.K. call a novel based on a true story "faction." Author Truman Capote’s "In Cold Blood (1965)" is considered the first case of faction in modern literature. He wrote and completed the story by interviewing many people involved in criminal cases after reading newspaper articles on homicides. "Roots," a bestselling novel written in the 1970s by African-American writer Alex Haley, who traced six generations of his ancestors, is widely known in Korea as well. Many TV viewers cried when watching the TV series “Roots,” which was based on historical facts. Norman Mailer, who wrote “The Armies of the Night” and “The Executioner`s Song,” is another well-known faction writer.

The Korean movie "Dogani," which has sent shockwaves throughout Korean society, is a based the novel of the same name written in 2009 by novelist Gong Ji-young. Based on a true story in Gwangju, the book is a rarity in the Korean literary community. It deals with a series of rapes that occurred at a school for hearing impaired students for four years from 2000. Gong also completed in 2004 “Maundy Thursday,” a novel critical of capital punishment, after interviewing a number of death row inmates. This novel cannot be considered faction, but she seems to have made meticulous preparation to write quality faction.

Faction is both literary work and newswriting. In this sense, Gong is both a novelist and reporter. She is a great journalist who has unearthed and exposed “misdemeanors within a small institution with dominant power.” She was often criticized due to “I Can Fly,” a rather light and non-serious novel, and “Gong Ji-young’s Sudowon Kihaeng (Trip to Mastery),” an experience-based story that lacks faithfulness. She apparently has grown into a heavyweight author who criticizes society through her writing.

Despite all this, Gong does not hold a balanced view of politics. In an interview with a magazine, she said, “The suspect (in the novel) was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison by a lower court. The prosecutor demanded three years in prison but this was increased by the court to five years due to the severity of the crime. Soon after the administration was replaced, candlelight vigils (against U.S. beef imports) took place. In the meantime, the defendant was granted a stay of execution in the second trial. Even a brief mention of this story wasn`t carried by any newspaper due to the news domination of candlelight vigils.” Gong criticized the incumbent Lee Myung-bak administration without justifiable cause, but the case was handled by the same court in the first and second trials, which was under the leadership of Supreme Court Chief Justice Lee Yong-hun. The crimes themselves occurred from 2000 to 2004 under the administrations of Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, who always clamored for human rights.

Editorial Writer Song Pyeong-in (pisong@donga.com)