ABSTRACT
Hahn Moo-Sook (Han Musuk, 1918-1993) debuted in 1943, toward the end of Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945), when her first fulllength novel, Tiingpul tiiniin yo in (A Woman Holding a Lamp), written in Japanese, won the first prize in the fiction contest held by Sinsidae (New Age) magazine.! Soon after this breakthrough, Hahn ventured into the field of drama, when she wrote two award-winning plays one year after another, a one-act play, "Maum" (The Heart, 1943), and a four-act play, "Sori kkot" (Frost Flowers, 1944).2 These works signaled Hahn's early success in experimenting in genres other than the noveP and served as a concrete indication of her multifaceted literary talents. Hahn established another literary milestone when her second full-length novel, Yoksa niin hiiriinda (History Flows), received the top prize in the competition held by the newspaper Kukche sinha (International News) in 1948.4 Throughout her career Hahn tried her hand at several other genres, and her versatility is displayed in a wide spectrum of works, ranging from literary criticism to public lectures, travelogues, broadcasts, and interviews.s The only genre she little touched is poetry. In the end, Hahn's reputation rests on her achievement as a writer of short stories and full-length novels.6
