When Buckwheat Flowers Bloom Explained

When the Buckwheat Flowers Bloom^{[1] [2]} (Korean: 메밀꽃 필 무렵) also translated as The Buckwheat Season^{[3] [4]} is a 1936 short story by Korean writer Lee Hyo-seok. That story has been described as "widely known to Koreans for its lyrical qualities",^[5] "outstanding"^[6] and a "modern classic",^[7] and even "the pinnacle of literary art in Korea", and has been adopted into a movie directed by Lee Song-gu in 1967.^[8]

The story has been subject to studies by Korean literature scholars.^[9]

Summary

Mr. Heo is a middle-aged itinerant vender, who goes market to market to sell his products with his friend, Mr. Jo. Heo has never had a serious relationship with a woman, despite his age, and has no family. The only memory he has and cherishes is about the night in Bongpyeong when he met a woman and spent the night with her. He tells this story to his friend Jo over and over again on their journey. And one night, under a luminous moon, Heo and Jo walks on a mountain road covered with full-blown buckwheat flowers, with a young itinerant vendor, Dong-i, who has decided to travel with them for a moment. Naturally, Heo repeats his story once again, and Dong-i tells the story of his mother. She is from Bongpyeong, but she had to leave her hometown after she had sex with a stranger and got pregnant with her son, Dong-i. Heo listens to the story carefully until he trips and falls into a creek. Dong-i carries Heo on his back, and Heo feels 'the warmth sinking deep into his bone.' Then he finds out that Dong-i is left-handed, just like himself.

Adaptations

The story has been adapted into several works in Korean:

• 이성구, <메밀꽃 필 무렵>, 1967. (영화) /  Lee Seong-gu, Memilggot pil muryeop (When the Buckwheat Flowers Bloom), 1967. Film.
• 김하림, , 1982. (드라마) / Kim Ha-rim, TV munhakgwan: Memilggot pil muryeop (TV Literature Hall: When the Buckwheat Flowers Bloom), KBS, 1982. TV Series.
• 홍윤정‧동희선, , 2005. (드라마) / Hong Yun-jeong and Tong Hui-seon, HDTV munhakgwan: Memilggot pil muryeop (HDTV Literature Hall: When the Buckwheat Flowers Bloom), KBS, 2005. TV Series.
• 안재훈‧한혜진, <메밀꽃, 운수 좋은 날, 그리고 봄봄>, 2014. (애니메이션) / Ahn Jae-hun, Han Hye-jin, Memilggot, unsu joeun nal, geurigo bombom (Buckwheat Flowers, a Lucky Day, and Spring, Spring), Yeonpillo Myeongsang Hagi, EBS, Gimyoungsa, 2014. Animation.
• 김도연‧김별아 외 4, 《메밀꽃 질 무렵—메밀꽃 필 무렵 이어쓰기》, 단비, 2018. (재창작 소설) / Kim Do-yeon, Kim Byeora and four others, Memilggot jil muryeop—memilggot pil muryeop i-eo-sseugi (When the Buckwheat Flowers Are Falling: Rewriting When the Buckwheat Flowers Bloom), Danbi, 2018. Reworked short story collection.

It has also received a number of translations, including at least three into English language.

External links

• Original text of the story in Korean Wikisource

Notes and References

1. Book: Sumi Chang. Integrated Korean: High Intermediate 1. Hee-Jeong Jeong. Ho-min Sohn. 31 December 2018. University of Hawaii Press. 978-0-8248-7792-7. 142. Sang-Seok Yoon.
2. Book: Jieun Kiaer. The Routledge Course in Korean Translation. 10 August 2017. Taylor & Francis. 978-1-317-21027-6. 42–.
3. Book: Seoul Selection. SEOUL Magazine October 2017. 26 September 2017. Seoul Selection. 35. GGKEY:G2P23AX9F6L.
4. Book: Chung. Modern Korean Literature. 12 October 2012. Routledge. 978-1-136-16065-3. 17–.
5. Web site: Park. Ocksue. March 2011. Universalizing the Particular in Korean-to-English Translations :The Case of a Korean Short Story, 'Memilkkot p'il muryŏp'. 2020-10-14. Journal of Universal Language. ko.
6. Book: Korean Culture. Korean Cultural Service. 1996. 14.
7. Book: Pictorial Korea. Korean Overseas Culture and Information Service. 2003. 31.
8. Book: Yŏng-il Yi. Hanʾguk Yŏnghwa Chujosa. Motion Picture Promotion Corporation. 1988. 175.
9. Choi. San. Park. Seung-Chul. 2019. A study on anlysis of modeling from the short story 'When Buckwheat Flowers Bloom' of Lee Hyoseok. Journal of Digital Convergence. 17. 8. 373–378. 10.14400/JDC.2019.17.8.373. 2713-6434.