Na Hye-sok was born on April 28, 1896; pioneering Korean feminist, author, poet, journalist, and the first professional woman painter in Korea, who used the pseudonym Jeongwol. Her short story, Kyonghul (1918), about a woman’s self-discovery, is considered the first feminist work in Korean literature. After her husband divorced her for infidelity while they were living in Paris, her reputation was ruined when she published A Divorce Confession, which challenged male dominance and repression of women’s sexuality in Korean society. Unable to sell her writing or her paintings, she spent her last years living on the charity of Buddhist monasteries. Her paintings are now highly regarded and sell for thousands of dollars, but it is difficult to authenticate her later work, and a number of fakes have appeared on the market.

To read her poem “The Doll’s House” click:

The Doll’s House

by Na Hye-Sok

1

Playing with my doll
makes me happy and later
I become my father’s doll
and later my husband’s
I make them happy
I become their comfort

Let Nora go
at last
graciously
from her prison
unlock the gate
let Nora go free

 2

Like my responsibility
to my husband and my children
I have divine responsibility
to make myself human
to follow that path
to become human

3

My heart knows
without the taste of real human
from the walls torn down
worthless is my body

4

Oh, dear beloved daughters
look at me
devote yourselves with all your heart
a new day behind the rainstorm
will find you
and I

Let Nora go
at last
graciously
from her prison
unlock the gate
let Nora go free

written in 1921 – translated into English by Tanya Ho Kong