In volume one of Go Eun's 1995 autobiographical novel "My Bronze Age," Korea's representative modern poet-essayist depicts Jongsam prostitution, in particular the rooms that the prostitutes worked out of.
"There was a girl whose entire wall was lined with records. Another was behind pulled, pink nylon curtains bringing a man back to his wedding night ecstasy. What was really sad though were the posters with english phrases like 'Sweet Home' and 'Happy' that lined the walls where the girls hung their treasured garments that were constantly being ripped off of them."
Such a realistic picture of a Jongsam room belies the frequent visits that the author must have made to Jongsam. To be honest, if I had to choose a piece of literature that best captures Jongsam, Go Eun's "Generation" published in the April 1972 version of "1950's Non-fiction: The Literature of Destruction, 16" would be my immediate choice.
The following excerpt describes why men from that generation had to go to Jongsam.
"The alcohol of Myeongdong and the women of Jongsam were the true homes of writers in the wake of the destruction from the 1950s. Drinking cheap alcohol in Myeongdong and running to Jongro 3-ga to get stuck in cheap women allowed us to colourfully escape the dark post-war atmosphere.
The war was over. All the writers and citizens had returned. The wasted youth and writers of ruin imitated Oscar Wilde and Rimbaud. Since they quickly mimicked the existentialists as well as the fallen house of Heungson Daewongun, the despair, anxiety, irrationality, extreme situations, existence, solitude - the lexicon of the post-war period all became the same. When the war ended they all had to embrace the feeling of loss together. In the 1950s, a tremendous void was left in their hearts that they had to cover with something. They hadn't only lost their mothers or their homes. They didn't just lose books. That time they climbed up Namsan with their first love, and ran right back down spasming in ecstasy without even hugging her was lost.
They lost their homes. Philosophies were lost. Everything was lost. Their beloved Soonhee became a whore the foreigners called Elena. Houses, destroyed; philosophies, barren. Those damaged souls had to find a way to deal with such an overwhelming feeling of loss. And that was [through] alcohol and whores.
..... The Jongsam girls provided deep consolation. Of course this doesn't mean the girls were cute or had good bodies. They were destroyed, and like ruin their rotten temperment was without equal. Yet just going there and experiencing such disillusionment was consolation enough.
Let's go! To our hometown, Jongsam!
Let's go! To our eternal lovers! Oh! Oh! My sun, my night!"
~ An original translation of
Vol. Of Son Jung-mok's
'The Story of Seoul's City Planning'
