▲ 'When That Day Comes' included in the 'Sim Hoon Poetry Collection' / Provided by the National Museum of Korean Literature
Handwritten manuscripts left by Sim Hoon, the author of the poem "When That Day Comes" and the novel "Evergreen Tree," have been unveiled.
In commemoration of the 90th anniversary of his passing, the National Museum of Korean Literature showcased related materials, including handwritten manuscripts deposited by the bereaved family.
The newly deposited materials total 59 items across 46 cases, including major literary materials such as handwritten manuscripts of his representative full-length novels "Evergreen Tree," "The Weaver Girl," and "Smile of Eternity," as well as film scripts, alongside numerous personal history items such as photographs and a telegram announcing Sim Hoon's death.
The museum emphasized that the collection holds high value not only in literary history but also as archival material for the anti-Japanese independence movement, as it notably includes the poem "When That Day Comes," which could not be published as a book due to censorship under Japanese colonial rule, and "Oh, Sons of Joseon!", known to have been written upon hearing the news of Sohn Kee-chung winning the gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Sim Hoon was a novelist, poet, and journalist who represented Korean literature during the Japanese colonial period, and his literary works strongly reflect an anti-Japanese national spirit.
He participated in the March First Independence Movement in 1919 while in his fourth year at Gyeongseong First High School, and subsequently served prison time.
The "Sim Hoon Poetry Collection" that has now returned to Korea is a compilation put together directly by Sim Hoon in 1932 for the publication of a book.
The "Sim Hoon Poetry Collection" contains a letter written in the author's own hand titled "A Letter Sent to My Mother from Prison," written while he was arrested for participating in the March First Independence Movement and incarcerated in Seodaemun Prison.
It also includes "When That Day Comes," famous for its dramatic expression that on the day the motherland achieves independence, even if he were to smash his skull by ramming his head against the bell at Jongno and die of joy, he would be happy.
The cover and inner pages of the manuscript submitted to the Library of the Police Bureau of the Japanese Government-General of Joseon to gain publication permission are filled with red lines and red stamps, which are traces of censorship by the Japanese imperial authorities.
Director Im Heon-young emphasized the significance of the materials, stating, "Sim Hoon's 'When That Day Comes' deserves to be evaluated as the 'second death-defying poem' of the Japanese colonial era, standing shoulder to shoulder with 'A Poem Written in Despair' by Hwang Hyun of the late Daehan Empire."
The materials newly deposited with the museum were previously kept by Sim Hoon's bereaved family residing in the United States.
Sim Jae-ho, the third son of author Sim Hoon, was born in 1936, the year his father passed away, and has organized and spent his life protecting his father's literary materials without ever knowing his father's face.
Sim Jae-ho, who was a reporter for the Dong-A Ilbo, moved to the United States in 1974 and kept Sim Hoon's materials at his home in Arlington, Virginia.
The museum discussed the collection of Sim Hoon's literary materials starting in 2019, right after the incorporation of the foundation, and after seven years of discussions, bore fruit by signing a deposit agreement last June.
(Photo: Provided by the National Museum of Korean Literature, Yonhap News)
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