Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo
When Kim Jiyoung starts exhibiting bizarre behaviours, her husband takes her to a psychiatrist. What follows is a succinct account of Jiyoung’s life, from birth to elementary school, from the office to her days at home caring for a small baby. Throughout, she comes up against persistent sexism.
There is nothing extraordinary about what happens to Jiyoung in this novel: a laughing remark by a doctor in response to a birth injury; a lecture from her father for her ‘short skirt’ after a young man hassles her on the way home from school; being passed over for a promotion at work in favour of a male colleague. But there is something unnerving about the event’s dispassionate narration, and as the incidents pile up over the years, a feeling of claustrophobia intensifies, building to a bleakly ironic conclusion.
It’s immediately apparent when reading this work that Jiyoung has been constructed as a kind of ‘millennial everywoman’. Author Cho Nam-joo has said she wished to show what ordinary life looked like for women in South Korea by emphasising common experiences instead of depicting extreme circumstances. This effect is achieved in part by the inclusion of elements of autobiography and documentary into the work.
The English language version of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 (from translator Jamie Chang) also comes to Australian readers with a fascinating backstory. This novel sparked an incredible response upon its initial publication in South Korea where it has sold more than a million copies. Hailed as a groundbreaking feminist work, its even-tempered yet candid critique of the entrenched gender discrimination in modern South Korean society resonated strongly with many readers, while also attracting vehement hatred from others. This is not just a story for South Korea however; Jiyoung’s struggles against misogyny will unfortunately be all too familiar to non-Korean readers and this slim, deft and slightly strange novel leaves a bitter aftertaste.
