[2024 Women’s Forum] Author Jeong Yujeong: "Desire Your Own Desires"

'Power K-Woman' Author Jeong Yujeong's Special Lecture
Dreamed of Being a 'Storyteller' Since Childhood
Had to Postpone Her Dream but Never Lost It
Importance of Contemplating 'Free Will'
"Desire Your Own Desires"

"The driving force that moves my life is desire."

On the 30th, writer Jeong Yu-jeong spoke about her life as a writer and her literary world during a special lecture titled "In Search of the Last Human Desire, the Wildness" at the 2024 Women Leaders Forum held at Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul.

Author Jeong Yu-jeong is giving a special lecture titled "The Last Desire of Humans, Searching for Wildness" at the 2024 Women Leaders Forum hosted by Asia Economy on the 30th at Lotte Hotel, Sogong-dong, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

In her lecture, Jeong Yu-jeong first distinguished between 'needs' and 'desires' to explain her own desire as a 'storyteller.' According to Jeong, needs are lower-level urges such as hunger, sleep, excretion, and sexual desire, whereas desire is a sapiens-like fulfillment seeking the answer to "Who am I?" in life.

For Jeong, the answer to the question "Who am I?" was 'writer.' She had been a storyteller since childhood. After reading the literary collections her mother bought for her, she would retell the stories to neighborhood children, becoming a 'star' among them. At school, she was a representative writing competitor and swept writing awards both inside and outside school. Naturally, she dreamed of becoming a writer, but she could not enter the Korean literature department. Her mother discouraged her, saying, "Live like a lion. I don't wish for you to marry well or grow up pretty," and "I hope you grow strong and take responsibility for your life." Since writing was seen as insufficient to take responsibility for herself, she reluctantly chose nursing, and the profession of writer became a secret desire. In her early twenties, her mother’s battle with liver cancer and the responsibility of caring for three younger siblings also became obstacles.

She regained her dream of becoming a writer in the sixth year after marriage. She put into practice her resolution to "quit my job and write after buying a house post-marriage." However, choosing the thriller genre, which was unpopular at the time, she barely debuted after 12 attempts. Jeong said, "When I was rejected once or twice, I thought the judges must have been mistaken. I believed I couldn’t have been rejected, but I admitted I was a frog in a well and went back to studying grammar I learned in elementary school," adding, "I had the desire to write stories that are fun, powerful, meaningful, and possess the ultimate literary beauty."

Jeong emphasized the importance of reflecting on 'free will' to those who desire their own dreams. She explained free will as "knowing what I want, being able to fully commit to it, and being able to take responsibility for it." She urged people to seriously face their desires. She shared advice from her liberal Korean language professor during college: "Don’t forget your dreams. Don’t give up. Then someday, it will happen."

Author Jeong Yu-jeong is giving a special lecture titled "The Last Desire of Humans, Searching for Wildness" at the 2024 Women Leaders Forum hosted by Asia Economy on the 30th at Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

Jeong Yu-jeong cut off her short hair, which she had maintained for the past 10 years, two years ago. She had feared losing her hair due to cancer recurrence but was declared cancer-free two years ago. Jeong said, "From my 20s to 50s, I lived fiercely like a mad person. Then I got cancer, and only in my late 50s did I receive a clean bill of health," adding, "Through those times, I learned that humans are bravest and strongest when desperate and have the strength to overcome extreme pain."

She cited "Origin of Species" as the most difficult book to write personally. Writing a novel about a psychopath conflicted with the moral standards she had built since childhood. Jeong explained, "I was afraid readers would think of me as a villain through the novel." However, through overcoming this fear, she came to believe "writers have a social responsibility to write the truth," and "readers quickly detect a writer’s hypocrisy, so I stripped away my self-deception and faced my desire to succeed, turning it into an achievement-oriented desire."

Throughout the lecture, Jeong emphasized wildness. She said, "As civilization advances and social norms increase, wildness is thought to be tamed, but still, our genes carry the primal wildness, which is a precious weapon," and stressed, "Do not desire others’ desires; desire your own desires."