[The World on the Page] How Should We View the 'Ethics of Representation' in Depicting Others' Lives?

Real Lives in Literature Can Change a Person’s Life ? Caution Needed
We Cannot Stop Others from Telling Our Stories
Stories Are the Fabric That Weave Our Lives Together

The ethics of representation are once again becoming a social debate. It is an age-old controversy surrounding what and how a writer should speak, and how far they can go, when telling the real lives of others in literary works. The trigger for this discussion is Jeong Jidon’s novels The Night Guard’s Diary (Hyundae Munhak) and Brave New Human (Banknamu). About ten days ago, a woman claimed that the author arbitrarily cited her life story, including stalking experiences and family history, causing her psychological harm and distress. Given that the two were former lovers, that the woman had suffered from actual stalking and frequently confided in the author about it, that the character’s name in the work is the same as hers, and that their family histories are similar, the claim is likely true.

A similar incident occurred earlier this year. The winning work of the Dong-A Ilbo New Year Literary Contest, Homo Hundred, became embroiled in controversy after a complaint that "my life was unauthorizedly preserved in the novel." The story revolves around a fictional media company, the Glasses Health Newspaper, and is based on the author’s real experiences. Former journalist colleagues of the author expressed emotional hurt over the dark stories depicted in the novel and questioned the author’s ethics.

This is not the first time such issues have arisen in the literary world. In 2021, Kim Sehee’s Love of the Harbor (Minumsa), which portrays the friendship of high school girls growing up in a port city, faced a similar controversy. A friend of the author criticized her for including her private life in the novel, which forcibly revealed her sexual identity to those around her. This was seen as an inconsiderate act that failed to sufficiently consider the social marginalization of sexual minorities.

Each time such incidents occur, the responses from authors and publishers have been similar. When the affected party voices their grievances on social media and sympathetic readers protest or boycott, the author issues an apology and explains their position, while the publisher suspends sales of the book without much responsibility. The Jeong Jidon case was also quickly settled within ten days after the complaint.

However, the ethics of representation are not so simple as to be resolved by giving the author a yellow or red card. It is true that art holds the power to completely destroy a person’s life. As Susan Sontag once said, "Just as the camera is a sublimation of the gun, taking someone’s photograph is a sublimation of murder." By engraving the lives of those around us into our works, we can affect their real lives. This is one reason for the existence of art. If a work lacks the power to change a person’s life or transform the reality of a society, it is nothing. Therefore, it is understandable that the affected party may seek to promptly suspend the work’s effect before harm accumulates.

This transformative power of art is also why a writer must exercise extreme caution when representing the lives of others. Otherwise, the lives and sufferings of others may be forcibly exhibited, mocked, defaced, or destroyed for all to see. No matter how great a work is, it cannot take precedence over someone’s life. Thus, writers must always carefully consider the full context of the lives they depict and speak with prudence.

However, there are several points to consider together. First, the idea that one must obtain prior permission or consent when others tell my life story is somewhat surprising. Of course, the life I have lived belongs entirely to me. But stories about that life, no matter how unique, are not solely mine. They also belong to those deeply connected to me, to those who happened to share the same time and space, and to those who have heard the story from others. Humanity has built ethics and formed communities through the power to take others’ stories and make them our own?that is, through imitation and empathy.

In The Fragility of Goodness (Saemulgyeol), Martha Nussbaum said, "Compassion connects our imagination to the goodness of others, makes others the focus of our intense concern, expands ethical awareness, and enables us to understand the human significance inherent in events or politics." Without bringing the lives of others into our imagination and settling them into stories, neither ethics nor human meaning exists. The moment we give up representing others, the community disappears.

Moreover, we cannot stop others from telling our life stories. Living ‘alone’ means living with others, sharing emotions, exchanging thoughts, and appearing as protagonists and supporting characters in various stories, which is our very life. If the ‘I’ that frequently appears in others’ stories were absent, the self would be nothing. Therefore, while one may angrily protest if done poorly, claiming exclusive ownership over one’s life story is foolish. Permission is not required to tell others’ lives. This is separate from the ethical and legal responsibility for the consequences of those stories.

Stories are essentially vast murals woven by intertwining one’s own life with the lives of others. Walter Benjamin said, "The storyteller derives the content of the story from experience. It may be direct experience or something heard. Then, the storyteller transforms that experience into the experience of the listener." Since experience is the only source of stories, a purely personal story excluding others’ stories, a tale not imitating reality but entirely fabricated from fantasy, or a perfect imaginary story not reducible to reality is impossible.

Homo Narrens, the storytelling human, is essentially about gathering raw experiences and weaving them into stories to discover deep meanings and hidden orders. No matter how great, no author can escape this fate as a storyteller. Demanding the impossible from authors suppresses freedom of expression and enforces silence. What we should ask of authors is to write with humility and caution, mindful of the risks of representation.

Jang Eun-su, Publishing Culture Critic