Monday, June 04, 2018

THE MARTYRED




Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org


The Martyred, Richard E Kim, George Braziller Inc, 1964, 316 pp
The Martyred was #7 on the 1964 bestseller list. Though I did not completely dislike the novel, it was so strange I wondered how it became a top ten bestseller.
 Richard E Kim was a Korean born author who emigrated to the US in 1955 at the age of 23, became an American citizen and was educated in political science, history and writing. His profession was teaching at the university level and he received numerous awards and fellowships. In other words, he was the kind of immigrant who worked hard and made the most of the opportunities he found in America, as is true of most immigrants as long as the opportunities are available.
The Martyred was his first novel and concerns the 1950s Korean War from the viewpoint of a South Korean military man. Captain Lee, Army Intelligence, is ordered by Colonel Chang to investigate the killing of 12 Christian ministers by the Communists. Chang wants to determine why two of the 14 ministers rounded up had been spared.
If you know Korean War history, which I did not and had to look up, there was a time early in the war in mid 1950 when the South Korean army occupied the northern city of Pyongyang. Colonel Chang is close-mouthed about his reasons for the investigation but Captain Lee is one who follows orders without much questioning. Neither man is religious but as the story progresses it becomes clear that Chang is looking for some propaganda he can use against the Communists. He wants his Captain to make sure no ministers betrayed others to save themselves. Captain Lee, on the other hand, becomes intrigued by Mr Shin, one of the survivors.

Richard Kim's writing style is spare and almost devoid of emotion with awkward dialogue. I have not often read an American bestseller that feels this way. For most of the story I could not grasp what Kim was getting at in his story. Eventually it became more a story about spiritual conflict among the ministers and their parishioners at that time. 
Catholicism first came into Korea from China in the late 1700s. It had a rocky beginning and its members were disciplined or imprisoned by the Korean government. Then followed the annexation of Korea by Japan from 1910 to 1945. Both Catholic and Protestant churches grew during that time and became part of the Korean Independence movement against Japan.

I learned the information in the paragraph above from my own perusal on the Web, done after I finished the book. I also have to thank Min Jin Lee for her wonderful novel Pachinko in which she covers some of that history. I found it interesting that initially Christianity in Korea was looked upon as a force for reforming the Confucian system in order to modernize the country.

What I surmise then is that Christianity was a growing religion there for a long time and by the time of the Korean War was also under threat from Communism. Since American bestseller lists in the 20th century often included novels about religion, I can see how this novel might have caught on with the American book buying and book reading public. It also fits in with the extreme anti-communist mood of the times.

While I didn't exactly enjoy the book it did lead to a better understanding of Korea. That is no small thing in these troubled political times when North Korea is still communist with no love for America.

10 comments:

  1. I don't recall having heard of this author, but I see from the web that he had quite a distinguished career and was the author of many books. It must have been interesting to read this book after having read Pachinko which, like you, I enjoyed tremendously. Did you read The Orphan Master's Son? Another fascinating book that gives a unique perspective on life in North Korea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, all the reading adds up as a picture of a country. I love that. The Orphan Master's Son was masterful. I don't think I will ever forget it.

      Delete
  2. The author, being an academic, may have imprinted this book with the dry writing more often seen in academia than in popular bestselling books; however, it seems that it worked. Perhaps he was stating things as they had been: unadorned, bleak and, why not, morally complex, as events most often are/were in that kind of social system. War certainly must have made matters worse.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are correct Carmen, in that the style ultimately worked. What you say here made me also realize that the main character, Captain Lee, was after all an investigator, so the tone of the writing reflected that and in fact gave insight into Lee's personality at the time.

      Delete
  3. It sounds a bit stilted - the dialogue and all but it sounds like you got something out of it. I have a copy of Pachinko for the summer. Ahhh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I got a lot out of it. It brought another piece of history to life for me. I hope you get to Pachinko. It is a great novel.

      Delete
  4. Sounds like an interesting history of Korea, but rather dry... I am interested in learning more about Korea, especially in lieu of the current political climate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are quite a few books out there these days. You might like Pachinko.

      Delete
  5. Thanks, I had not heard of that author. I'm not sure I'll read this one, but maybe Lost Names

    ReplyDelete