Gim Su-yeon

Gim Su-yeon (1241 - 1265) was a Jeongmian writer during the Kim dynasty who wrote The Tale of Heuksamdo.

Life
Gim was born to a noble family in Hapcheon. She was known to have a voracious appetite for books and learning, but had only a limited knowledge of due to lack of support from her family, who saw the learning of Tianqian characters as unnecessary and unbefitting of women. In 1260, she was married to Sil Dong-ik and bore three children with him. In 1265, Gim caught a severe cold and died.

The Tale of Heuksamdo
In 1263, Gim Su-yeon wrote "The Tale of Heuksamdo," an early novel describing a society run by women on the island of Heuksamdo in North Jeongmi. Gim herself had never been to Heuksamdo, but several tales exist in Jeongmi regarding women and the island (how there are more women then men due to many men losing their lives at sea, as well as women having more power than on the mainland due to greater participation in daily life and work as the island is not well-suited for agriculture).

Unlike most stories written at the time, particularly by men, the novel is written entirely in Jeonggeul and in the Jeongmian language. There was heavy backlash against the book and most copies were eventually burned by royal decree in 1301. It was believed that all copies of the novel were lost until the discovery of a copy in 1798 in an old private residence, upon which it resumed printing and circulation. A different version of the novel was discovered in 1852.