Richard E Kim

I recently finished reading Richard Kim's novel, The Martyred, and am currently reading Lost Names, which is a fictionalized memoir about his boyhood in Korea under Japanese occupation. The Martyred takes place in North Korea in 1950 at the very start of the Korean War and draws on Kim's experience as a member of the Korean military from 1950 to 1954, when he was 18-22 years old. The narrator is a Captain Lee, an officer in the South Korean military, but the protagonist is a North Korean Presbyterian minister, Pastor Shin, who is a deeply ambiguous character. I first read this novel in 1964 when it was first published; it was extraordinarily popular at that time, on the Times best-seller list for weeks and nominated for the National Book Award. I was quite moved by it's portrayal of Pastor Shin. After a second reading 55 years later I can still say it is a powerful book that raises very fundamental questions about faith; I like its paradoxes and ambiguities. I can also see that is has some flaws as a novel. It is written in a very "flat" tone - which contributes to its bleakness in a way that is appropriate to its setting and subject, but which also can be seen as a weakness. Lost Names is better written and quite engaging. The title refers to the effort of the Japanese occupiers of Korea to erase all traces of Korean identity and culture, which culminated in the demand that all Koreans give up their Korean names and assume a Japanese name given to them by the authorities. With North Korea being so much in the news of late, these are very interesting books. I am relatively ignorant about Korea, as I suspect most Americans are.

Kim (1932-2009) came to the U.S. in the mid-1950s, was educated at Middlebury College and went on to earn three Master's Degrees, in Writing at John's Hopkins, Fine Arts at Iowa Writer's Workshop and Asian Language and Literature at Harvard. He taught for a while at UMass, Amherst, and lived for many years until his death in 2009 just down the road from Katie and Savanna in Shutesbury (which is where I am right now). His widow, Penelope ("Penny") still lives just down the road and has been Shutesbury Town Moderator for many years. Katie and Savanna know her, of course. She sings in the Leverett Chorus with Savanna and they often car-pool together. But Richard Kim and his work do not appear to be well-known in Shutsbury. Katie and Savanna never met him. I'm hoping I can meet her some day soon. I would love to talk with her about Richard, his life and work. I have many questions, and I think he deserves to be better-known. Maybe a Richard Kim Festival at the 10th anniversary of his death this year would be in order. I doubt that I will be able to organize such an event, however. But, you never know. It does look like we'll be going out to Wyoming in early June.

Richard E Kim, c. 1964

We are going to have an adventure on Tuesday of this week. John has bought a used Honda Insight which is located in Danby, VT and we're going to go get it and bring it back on Tuesday. It will be inspected in Danby and then driven back to Putney. This sounds easy, but there is a hitch. The Insight is a peculiar hybrid, and this car has a not entirely reliable battery pack which will have to be replaced. It runs, but will it run for 80 miles or so? That is the question. We will follow John and use our AAA card to get it towed if need be.

The Honda Insight - similar to John's - cool car!