Our Twisted Hero
(YI MUN YOL)
When Han Pyongt''ae is twelve, his family moves from Seoul to a provincial
town and he joins a new elementary school. He finds his class totally under the
thumb of Om Sokdae. Sokdae is not a bully but a genuine dictator, a charismatic
leader who maintains order as much by cleverness as by force, and who mobilizes
the class to achieve and against outsiders. For months Pyongt''ae fights his
rule, attempting to stage a revolt, refusing to kow-tow, and facing ostracism
and harassment as a result. Eventually he gives in and, raised to be Sokdae''s
right-hand man, comes to enjoy the privileges of power. Then a new teacher
arrives and everything falls apart...
Our Twisted Hero is clearly an allegory for Korean politics, for
the transition from an arguably benevolent but totalitarian regime to an
uncertain democracy. It is never didactic or clumsy, however, and it works as a
story of a child at school, without any political background. While the setting
is Korean, the individual quandary is universal ? the psychological lure of the
strongman and the comfort and security he brings. Our Twisted Hero is
short ? more a novella than a novel ? but spare and unadorned and focused; as a
study in childhood politics it can stand next to Lord of the Flies.
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