He went to Japan in 1926 and devoted himself to writing fiction. He wrote two novels — Love and Crime and Two Minds — before he returned home in 1928, married Kim Yeong-ok, and joined the Chosun Ilbo daily as the head of its Arts and Science section. While at the paper, his third novel Running Wild appeared.
Three Generations invoked little interest while it came out in serial form, and no criticism on the work was published during the colonial period. It managed to evade the Japanese authorities’ attention. Despite the novel’s importance, it was published in book form only in November 1948, three years after Korea’s liberation from Japan. At the time of publication, the author revised the second half of the book, making the ending more optimistic. Some critics believe that the revision reflects his changed outlook in the wake of the liberation. Compared with the serialized novel, this version focuses more on Deok-gi’s family history than socialist activism.
The novel revolves around a passionate quest for new ideology and the negative climate that thwarts this quest; lurking behind the seemingly long-winded narrative is the author’s critical eye. The characters in this work are not the figures involved in exciting adventures who take readers into the whirlwind of the times; rather, they are ordinary people carrying on their lives during the colonial period. Kim Dong-in, a well-known writer and Yom’s contemporary, described Yom’s works as putting readers under the weight of a “dull pain.”
Three Generations depicts, in a prodding fashion, the mental landscape under the colonial rule from a pessimistic perspective. With the lively use of language of Jungin, or the traditional middle class, to which the author belonged, he manages to reveal the sensibility of this class, which played a pioneering role in the history of Korea’s enlightenment (late 19th century). The story gives shape to the confrontation and conflict of three generations — the late Joseon Dynasty, the enlightenment period, and the colonial era.
The Korean Literary History (1997), penned by Kim Yun-sik and Kim Hyeon, assesses Yom as “revealing the limitations of the society at the time and simultaneously those of his own class.” They go on to say, “Since the Korean society he criticizes is the one perceived by the Jungin class, he takes on the appearance of reactionism.”
In 1924, with the formation of the Korean Artist Proletarian Federation (KAPF), proletarian literature became the mainstay of Korean literature. Yom challenged this faction. In a critical article entitled “Refuting Bak Yeong-hui’s View in Discussing Newly Emerging Literature,” he supported the national literature movement, with its basic thrust of “digging out what is Korean,” which was in opposition to the proletarian literary movement, whose focus was the liberation of the oppressed. While his commitment to this liberation was unwavering, Yom insisted that the quest for Korean-ness should come first. He embraced tradition and the possibility of bringing new, unfettered life to traditional forms; he recognized the sustaining value of sijo, a traditional verse form (or folk song), with a conviction beyond nostalgia. He believed that a literary work was the reflection of the writer’s character and moral influence and that traditional forms of literature could serve as vessels for the vision of the modern writer. In response, Kim Gi-jin, a core figure of the KAPF, disparaged Yom’s argument as a “variation of ultra-nationalism, conservatism, and idealism.”
While a disciple of traditional literary form in theory, in practice Yom used the novel to paint a broad picture of Korea’s colonial era with a fresh perspective and a clear voice. He explores a handful of complex individuals forging their own lives within the context of a nation’s history. The Korean Literary History purports: “Three Generations is not simply one of Yom’s best works, but one of the outstanding literary achievements during Korea’s colonial era. The work reveals his sense of reality in its full splendor and also vividly depicts multi-faceted interactions of different classes.” It effectively reproduces a society in the throes of drastic change through the most concrete unit of society — a middle class family.
In On the Eve of the Uprising, Korean reality was perceived as a cemetery where the Japanese imperialists carried out their vicious exploitation. The authors of the Korean Literary History suggest that Three Generations is a more cool-headed rearrangement of society shaped by the remains of the pent-up anger that erupted in On the Eve of the Uprising.
Sim Hun, a novelist of the period, explains: “Sang-seop is known for his rich vocabulary. One of his special skills is his exquisite command of the expressions used in the homes of the former Jungin Class or merchant circles, in their full vulgarity. No one can compete with him in this respect.”
It was only in the 1960s, however, that critics began to consider Three Generations a masterpiece of Korean fiction in the 20th century. Young critics, calling themselves the generation of the 1961 Student Uprising for democratization, published a stream of criticism on the work, contributing to raising the novel’s status in the Korean literary canon. Their consensus is that through this work, Yom instills pride into the generation of citizens who did not receive a Japanese colonial education.
Yom was one of the few Korean writers who did not write in Japanese or publish pro-Japanese articles at a time when the Empire’s suppression was at its worst. He lived in Manchuria from 1936 to 1945, at the height of Japanese hard-line policy — it is uncertain whether by choice or chance. What is clear is that Yom was at no point in his career under the thumb of the Japanese, and that he managed to remain true to his ideals.
Kim Chie-sou