Younghill Kang

Younghill Kang (; June 5, 1898 – December 2, 1972) was a Korean-American writer. He is best known for his 1931 novel The Grass Roof (the first Korean American novel) Kang's antipathy for Syngman Rhee was said to have influenced the book's framing. He has been called "the father of Korean American literature."

Early life and education As a child in Korea, Kang was educated in both Confucian and Christian missionary schools. In 1921, he fled Korea because of his participation in the Korean independence movement; he went first to Canada (where he briefly studied at Dalhousie University), then to the United States. He received his B.S. from Boston University in 1925 and an Ed.M. in English education from Harvard University in 1927. The Grass Roof was well received in its time, since it seemed to confirm American disdain for Korea. East Goes West, however, criticized the United States and therefore was less popular until the multicultural movement gave it renewed attention.

In addition to The Grass Roof and East Goes West, Kang translated Korean literature into English and reviewed books for The New York Times. Kang also traveled in Europe for two years on a Guggenheim Fellowship, curated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and worked as an Asian expert for the U.S. government in both the U.S. Military Office of Publications and the Corps Office of Civil Information.

Kang received the Halperine Kaminsky Prize, the 1953 Louis S. Weiss Memorial Prize, and an honorary doctorate from Koryo University.

The Grass Roof The Grass Roof uses the character of Chungpa Han to depict Kang's life in Korea and to explain his decision to leave. Han chooses to leave Korea rather than join the popular resistance movement fighting for independence from the Japanese. He has been influenced by Western literature and prefers the promises of individualism in the West to the mass movements, nationalism, and emphasis on family connections that he sees in a Korea he believes is dying.

East Goes West East Goes West continues the story of Han (standing in for Kang) and his life in the United States, where he notices how involved his fellow immigrants are in Korean independence and how much they hope to return to their native land. His distance from his fellow immigrants increases his sense of loneliness in his new country. Moreover, his hopes for a new life in the West are never realized, as his dreams exceed the reality of American opportunity at that time. He befriends two other Koreans—Jum and Kim—who are also interested in becoming truly American, but they too have never been able to enter fully into American society. He hopes that furthering his schooling will be the solution, but even a scholarship to college does not solve his problems. As the novel ends, Han has found most of his dreams dashed, except for the Buddhist hope of a life beyond this one.