[One Thousand Characters a Day] No Ja-yeong, Fragments of Du-ong

Editor's NoteAsia Economy provides daily 1,000-character transcription content for readers of the ‘One Thousand Characters a Day’ newsletter. The transcription content is carefully selected according to daily and monthly themes from Eastern and Western classics, Korean literature, notable columns, and famous speeches. Today's content is from No Ja-young's . Duong (杜翁) is the transliteration of the Russian literary figure 'Tolstoy'. The text contains 738 characters.

Parthenon Temple in Greece

I like Duong among the world’s literary figures. I was deeply impressed after reading one of his posthumous works, . It contains the motto: "If your right hand commits a sin, cut it off. Losing one hand is better than going to hell with your whole body."

The protagonist of always obeyed this command, but Duong himself struggled with this issue throughout his life. A certain ancient Greek physiognomist, upon seeing Socrates’ face, said, "This man is ignorant and cruel, yet also kind." Socrates’ disciples proudly defended their teacher’s scholarly style and mocked the physiognomist, to which Socrates replied, "No, I was born with many flaws. I corrected them through the power of self-cultivation."

Duong’s appearance was certainly not that of a saint. His face, shaped like a celestial sphere, was close to wildness, and his sharp nose spoke of intense passion. Readers of his works can easily guess how much he struggled with issues of sexuality.

can be considered Duong’s confession in this regard. briefly depicts a man’s sexual struggles, downfall, resurrection, second downfall, despair, and suicide. The heroines, Leader and Stefania, are beautiful women, and the male protagonist, after extraordinary torment, struggles with whether to kill the woman or himself, ultimately choosing the latter by placing a pistol against his chest.

From this passage, one can infer an aspect of Duong and thus contemplate his inner struggles.