`Feather’ Portrays Joy of Trivial Routines

By Chung Ah-young

Staff Reporter

Celebrated author Gong Ji-young claimed that her essays would be as ``light'' as a feather, in a departure from her previous works that touched on heavy social themes. The essays, in fact, are truly fun and interesting.

Gong's new book, ``Light as a Feather,'' was compiled from her essay series posted last year in the Hankyoreh, a local daily.

The 46-year-old writer, who was an ardent student activist in the 1980s, is a best-selling author who peaked in the 1990s through her candid and sensible writing style in such novels as ``Go It Alone Like the Rhinoceros Horn'' and ``Mackerel.''

Gong is often regarded as a feminist writer for mostly dealing with the conflicts and complexities women face in male-oriented societies. In reality, she always has to fight with people seeing her as a divorcee and single mother ahead of her authorship.

Nevertheless, in the new book, Gong tries to shed light on her pleasant daily life, revolving on trivial happenings around her friends, family and fans.

She shows insight to take note of the little things that make up common daily life.

``As I get old, I realize the big things I used to be obsessed with in my youth are actually experienced through very trivial and small things. For example, we can feel the high atmospheric pressure only through sunlight and light winds, while feeling the low atmospheric pressure only through snow, fog and clouds. But we never say we are walking on the low atmospheric pressure or the high atmospheric pressure. … So I want to talk about the petty things such as grass leaves, a persimmon tree, a radio program, side dishes and taxes, which are offshoots of gigantic things such as history, the earth, ecology and politics,'' she said.

Gong introduces various episodes of her friends, who revitalize her in hard times. A friend who is living in Mt. Jiri allows her or anybody who needs a rest in a remote rustic house to stay. She also recalls staying in Gangwon Province and the locals who have the warm-hearted minds she has never encountered in Seoul.

The author shared an episode of being mesmerized by China pink flowers in a jar at a cafe but then beginning to doubt whether the flowers were real. She picked one and crumpled it; the flower stained her fingers blue and purple.

After the ``horrible experience'' of killing a living creature, she discovered the difference between real and fake without touching.