Quiet Odyssey
Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America is an autobiography by Mary Paik Lee, published by University of Washington Press in 1990. Sucheng Chan wrote the introduction, which is 30 pages long.[1]
At the time of publication, it was the sole full length book about a 1903-1905 arrival immigrant from Korea to the United States that was still in print at the time. There was also an out of print book about a Korean immigrant who arrived in that time period.[2] Additionally, it was the first autobiography to have coverage of a whole life that was in a full length format and that was written by an American woman of Asian ancestry.[3]
Background
The work originated from a manuscript. Wayne Patterson of St. Norbert College stated that Chan was "largely responsible" for obtaining the manuscript and facilitating it being made into a full length volume.[1]
Contents
The author, in this work, also writes about historical events happening during her lifetime.[4]
Patterson stated that the "unbridled optimism" expressed, despite a lack of money and prejudice, was "striking, almost quaint".[2]
The volume has multiple photographs of the author's family. Reviewer Glenna Matthews referred to them as "eloquent".[5]
Reception
![[icon]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small}
Elaine H. Kim of University of California Berkeley wrote that the book is a "profoundly significant accomplishment",[6] and that she praised both the "vivid" narrative from the author and the notes from Chan.[7]
Publishers Weekly wrote that the book is "accessible" and that the notes given by Lee "make [it] a worthwhile addition to the scholarship on Asian American culture."[4]
In a web page about Notable Asian Americans in Riverside, the University of California Riverside noted that the book is "a remarkable first-person account of Korean American immigrant life in the early part of the 20th century".[8]
References
- Kim, Elaine H. (1991). "Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America". Pacific Affairs. 64 (2): 290–292. doi:10.2307/2760003. JSTOR 2760003.
- Matthews, Glenna (1991). "Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America". Agricultural History. 65 (1): 113–115. JSTOR 3743693.
- Patterson, Wayne (1992). "Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America (review)". Korean Studies. 16. University of Hawai'i Press: 125–126. doi:10.1353/ks.1992.0010.
Notes
- Patterson, p. 126.
- Patterson, p. 125.
- Matthews, p. 113-114.
- "Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
- Matthews, p. 114-115.
- Kim, p. 292.
- Kim, p. 290.
- "Asian American Riverside". aar.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
Further reading
- Hata, Nadine Ishitani (September 1992). "Book Reviews -- Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America by Mary Paik Lee and edited by Sucheng Chan". The Journal of American History. 79 (2). doi:10.2307/2080143. JSTOR 2080143. ProQuest 224919991.
- Leonard, Karen (January 1993). "Reviewed work: Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America, Mary Paik Lee, Sucheng Chan". Journal of American Ethnic History. 12 (2): 78–80. JSTOR 27501047.
- Lin, Patricia (1991–1992). "Reviewed Work: Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America by Mary Paik Lee, Sucheng Chan". MELUS. 17 (1 Native American Fiction: Myth and Criticism): 114–117. doi:10.2307/467329. JSTOR 467329. - The date of the article is Spring 1991-Spring 1992
- Min, Yong Soon (February 1991). "Promised land, broken promises" (PDF). The Women's Review of Books. 8 (5): 11. doi:10.2307/4020905. JSTOR 4020905.
External links
Mary Paik Lee
Mary Paik Lee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | August 17, 1900 |
| Died | February 14, 1995 (aged 94) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Citizenship | American |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 백광선 |
| Hanja | 白廣善 [1] |
| RR | Baek Gwangseon |
| MR | Paek Kwangsŏn |
Mary Paik Lee (August 17, 1900[2] – February 14, 1995[3]) was a Korean American writer most known for her autobiography, Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America. She was born in the Korean Empire and moved to the United States in 1905, briefly settling in Riverside, California, in 1906. Lee and her family relocated throughout California in search of employment, eventually landing in Willows, CA, where Lee attended high school as the only Asian in her class.[4]
Over the course of her life, Lee, her parents, and her husband would suffer many hardships. Her memoir, Quiet Odyssey, was published in 1990. It is noted for being one of the few memoirs by an Asian American woman, and the only memoir by a Korean American woman that covers the majority of the twentieth century. She provides an important cultural viewpoint on the last century, from the perspective of one of America's first Korean pioneers.
Biography
Early life and emigration (1900–1905)
Lee was born Paek Kuang-Sun in Pyongyang (now the capital of North Korea) in the Korean Empire in 1900.[5] Her father, Paik Sin Koo, came from a line of ministers and teachers and was preparing for ordination prior to the family’s emigration.[6]
For many Koreans, their stable life in Korea was disrupted during the Russo-Japanese War when Japan began to tighten its control over the Korean peninsula.[7] In 1905, the Paik family was unexpectedly driven out of their home when the Japanese military demanded the family vacate the property so it could be used to house soldiers.[6] During the family’s flight, Lee’s father encountered recruiters for Hawaiian sugar plantations and signed a labor contract that provided the family free passage to Hawaii in exchange for his work.[8]
Life in Hawaii (1905–1906)
The Paik family first settled on a plantation located in Oahu, where Lee’s father performed various manual labor such as hoeing and weeding. Though the family could not afford much during their time on the plantation, they remained within an insular Korean community centered around a local church. When Lee’s second brother, Daw Sun (Ernest), was born, Lee’s father borrowed money from friends to pay for the passage to California to seek better economic prospects for the family.[9]
Settlement in Riverside (1906–1912)
In California, the Paik family settled in Riverside, where they joined a settlement of single Korean men and several familiar families from their home village, including the family of activist Ahn Chang-ho. The community lived in a “camp” (known as Pachappa Camp) consisting of one-room shacks originally built in the 1880s for Chinese railroad workers.[10] To make a living for themselves, the family started a business to cook meals for the local Korean laborers, which required them to acquire industrial cooking pots and groceries from local Chinese merchants.[9]
On Saturdays, Mary would go to the slaughterhouse and collect animal organs that the butchers threw out and thought were not appropriate to sell. She competed with Mexican children for the preferred pieces of meat while the butchers laughed at them. At one point, she told her father that she did not want to continue going because they were making fun of her, but her father told her to be grateful that the butchers threw out the meat, or else they would starve.[9]
Education and cultural adaptation
Lee began her American education at the Washington Irving School in Riverside.[11] On her first day, she was intimidated by a group of girls who danced around her in the playground, chanting “Ching chong Chinaman”. She was also frightened when the teacher welcomed her, so she ran back home.[9]
As Lee and her brother Meung Sun navigated their new environment, they soon learned that their schoolmates found Korean names too difficult to remember and decided to give their younger siblings American names. They named their brother born in Hawaii (Daw Sun) “Ernest” and their brother born in Riverside “Stanford”.[12]
Adulthood and marriage (1912–1940)
The Paik family eventually moved from Riverside to Willows, California, where Lee attended high school and worked as a domestic laborer to support her education. In Willows, she met Hung Man Lee (H.M. Lee), a Korean immigrant who had previously worked in Mexico before moving to the United States. The couple was married on January 1, 1919, at the American Presbyterian Church.[13] Lee and her husband worked as tenant farmers and produce merchants, eventually settling in Los Angeles in 1921.[14] The couple successfully raised three sons: Henry, Allan, and Anthony (Tony).[6]
Later life and community work (1940–1995)
In their later years, the Lee couple managed apartment buildings in Los Angeles and supported the broader Korean American community in LA. Following H.M. Lee’s death on June 29, 1975, Mary moved to San Francisco.[15] In her 80s, she became a prominent volunteer interpreter at a local Korean senior center, where she spent a decade assisting other immigrants in navigating social services.[16]
Publication of Quiet Odyssey and legacy
In 1986, Lee began drafting her life story in the form of a 65-page manuscript.[17] Her work caught the attention of historian Sucheng Chan, who recognized the manuscript’s unique value as a rare first-person account of an early 20th-century Korean woman’s life. Through close collaboration with Chan to ensure historical accuracy, Lee expanded the work into Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America, published by the University of Washington Press in 1990.[17]
The book was the first full-length autobiography by a woman of Asian ancestry to cover an entire life from the 1903–1905 immigration wave.[17] Lee’s detailed documentation provides a nuanced narrative of the lives of Asian American women in the pre-1965 era, which is often dominated by male migration stories.[18] Lee died in San Francisco in 1995 at the age of 94.[3]
References
- 김욱동 [Kim Dong-wook] (November 2008), 박노영의 『중국인의 기회』: 이민 자서전의 가능성과 한계 [No-Yong Park’s 'Chinaman’s Chance': Possibilities and Limitations of Immigrant Autobiography], 외국문학연구 (in Korean), pp. 31–49
- Mary Paik Lee (1990). Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-96969-5.
- "California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VP3M-MY4 : 26 November 2014), Mary Paik Lee, 14 Feb 1995; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.
- Dublin, Thomas, ed. (1993). "The Childhood of Mary Paik, 1905-1917". Immigrant Voices: New Lives in America. University of Illinois Press. pp. 158–183.
- Lin, Patricia; Lee, Mary Paik; Chan, Sucheng (March 1, 1992). "Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America". MELUS. 17 (1): 114. doi:10.2307/467329. JSTOR 467329.
- Lee, Mary Paik (1990). Quiet odyssey: a pioneer Korean woman in America. A Samuel and Althea Stroum book. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-295-96969-5.
- Pak, B. B. (December 2022). "The Final Stage of Negotiations: Beginning of the Russo–Japanese War 1904–1905". Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 92 (S12): S1175–S1184. doi:10.1134/S1019331622180101. ISSN 1019-3316.
- Lee, Mary Paik (1990). "1". Quiet odyssey: a pioneer Korean woman in America. A Samuel and Althea Stroum book. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-96969-5.
- Lee, Mary Paik (1990). "2". Quiet odyssey: a pioneer Korean woman in America. A Samuel and Althea Stroum book. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-96969-5.
- Chang, Edward T.; Brown, Hannah (August 1, 2018). "Pachappa Camp". California History. 95 (3): 46–56. doi:10.1525/ch.2018.95.3.46. ISSN 0162-2897.
- Lee, Mary Paik (1990). Quiet odyssey: a pioneer Korean woman in America. A Samuel and Althea Stroum book. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-295-96969-5.
- Lee, Mary Paik (1990). Quiet odyssey: a pioneer Korean woman in America. A Samuel and Althea Stroum book. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-295-96969-5.
- Lee, Mary Paik (1990). Quiet odyssey: a pioneer Korean woman in America. A Samuel and Althea Stroum book. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-295-96969-5.
- Lee, Mary Paik (1990). Quiet odyssey: a pioneer Korean woman in America. A Samuel and Althea Stroum book. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-295-96969-5.
- Lee, Mary Paik (1990). Quiet odyssey: a pioneer Korean woman in America. A Samuel and Althea Stroum book. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-295-96969-5.
- Lee, Mary Paik (1990). "15". Quiet odyssey: a pioneer Korean woman in America. A Samuel and Althea Stroum book. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-96969-5.
- Lee, Mary Paik (1990). "Preface". Quiet odyssey: a pioneer Korean woman in America. A Samuel and Althea Stroum book. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-96969-5.
- Dorothy Fujita-Rony (2013). "A Shared Pacific Arena: Empire, Agriculture, and the Life Narratives of Mary Paik Lee, Angeles Monrayo, and Mary Tomita". Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. 34 (2): 25–51. doi:10.5250/fronjwomestud.34.2.0025. JSTOR 10.5250/fronjwomestud.34.2.0025.
Bibliography
Chiu, Monica. "Constructing 'Home' in Mary Paik Lee's Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America." Ed. Susan L. Roberson.U of Missouri P, 1998. 121-136. ProQuest. Web. 19 Sep. 2013.
Fujita-Rony, Dorothy. "A Shared Pacific Arena: Empire, Agriculture, and the Life Narratives of Mary Paik Lee, Angeles Monrayo, and Mary Tomita." Frontiers 34.2 (2013): 25,51,272. ProQuest. Web. 18 Sep. 2013.
External links
메리 백 리
메리 백 리 Mary Paik Lee | |
|---|---|
| 본명 | 백광선 |
| 로마자 표기 | Baek Gwang-seon |
| 출생 | 1900년 평양 |
| 사망 | 1995년 캘리포니아주 |
| 성별 | 여성 |
| 국적 | 미국 |
| 직업 | 작가 |
메리 백 리(Mary Paik Lee, 1900년~1995년)는 한국계 미국인 작가이다. 백광선(白廣善)[1]이라는 이름으로 조선민주주의인민공화국의 현재 수도 평양에서 태어났다. 1905년에 가족과 함께 그곳을 떠나 그 해 5월 하와이에 도착했다. 1906년 12월 하와이에서 극심한 차별을 경험한 뒤 캘리포니아주로 이주했고 메리 백 리는 여생을 그곳에서 보냈다.
자서전
- 《Quiet Odyssey》 paperback판. University of Washington Press. 1990년 5월. ISBN ISBN 0295969695
|isbn=값 확인 필요: invalid character (도움말).
각주
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Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America
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Mary Paik Lee, born Paik Kuang Sun in 1900, left her native country in 1905, traveling with her parents as a political refugee after Japan imposed control over Korea at the close of the Russo-Japanese War. Her father labored in the sugar plantations of Hawaii for a year and a half before taking his family to California, where Mrs. Lee has lived ever since. Though her father knew the comforts enjoyed by the educated traditional elite in Korea, after emigration he and his family shared the poverty stricken existence endured by thousands of Asian immigrants in early twentieth century America. Mrs. Lee’s parents earned their living as farm laborers, tenant farmers, cooks, and janitors, and the family always took in laundry. Her father tried mercury mining until his health gave out. In their turn, Mrs. Lee and her husband farmed, sold produce, and managed apartment buildings.
The author is engagingly outspoken and is extremely observant of her social and natural surroundings. Recounted incidents take on memorable life, as do the sharply etched settings of California’s agricultural and mining country. She tells of singular hardship surmounted with resilience and characteristic grace. During much of her life Asian Americans were not treated as full human beings, yet she kept a powerful vision of what the United States could be.
Review
“In this moving testament, Lee shares with her readers her feelings of growing up poor, Asian, and female. . . . An excellent primary source, enhanced by Chan’s scholarly additions, that will enrich a variety of subjects such as anthropology, women in history, psychology, and Asian studies.”―School Library Journal“Lee’s indomitable spirit pervades this absorbing autobiography spanning much of the 20th century. . . . [Chan’s] notes help make this brief, accessible volume a worthwhile addition to the scholarship on Asian American culture.”―Publishers Weekly
Product details
Publisher : University of Washington Press
Publication date : 1 April 1990
Language : English
Print length : 266 pages
==
세진님, 요청하신 메리 백 리(Mary Paik Lee, 백구상)의 자서전 <조용한 오디세이: 미국의 한 한인 여성 개척자>(Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America)에 대한 요약 및 평론입니다.
<조용한 오디세이: 미국의 한 한인 여성 개척자> 요약 및 평론
1. 작품 개요 및 배경
<조용한 오디세이: 미국의 한 한인 여성 개척자>(Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America)는 1900년 평양에서 태어나 1905년 다섯 살의 나이에 가족과 함께 미국으로 이주한 메리 백 리(한국명: 백구상, 1900~1995)의 자서전이다. 1990년 아시아계 미국인 역사학자 수청 찬(Sucheng Chan)의 편집과 해제를 거쳐 워싱턴 대학교 출판부에서 출간되었다.
이 책은 20세기 초 하와이 사탕수수 농장과 캘리포니아 농촌 지대로 이주한 초기 한인 이민사에서 극히 드문 '여성의 육성'으로 기록된 1차 사료다. 당대 아시아계 이민 서사가 남성 노동자 중심의 투쟁이나 영웅적 성공 신화에 편중되어 있던 것과 달리, 이 작품은 밑바닥 삶을 견뎌낸 한 평범한 여성의 시선으로 20세기 미국의 인종 차별, 경제적 궁핍, 젠더 억압, 그리고 끈질긴 생존의 역사를 담담하게 증언한다.
2. 본문 요약
제1부: 떠남과 정착, 어린 시절의 노동과 차별
1905년, 일본의 침략 위협과 가난을 피해 메리 백 리의 가족은 하와이 사탕수수 농장으로 향하는 배에 오른다. 그러나 하와이의 노동 환경은 노예 상태에 가까웠고, 부친은 더 나은 기회를 찾아 1906년 샌프란시스코 지진 직후 캘리포니아 본토로 건너간다.
본토의 삶 역시 혹독했다. 가족은 캘리포니아 전역(리버사이드, 클레어몬트, 콜루사 등)을 떠돌며 과수원 노동, 철도 침목 작업, 요리, 빨래 등 닥치는 대로 일했다. 메리는 열 살도 채 되지 않은 나이에 학교를 다니며 백인 가정의 가사 노동과 사탕무 수확, 벼농사 노동에 투입되었다.
학교와 거리에서 마주한 인종 차별은 노골적이었다. 백인 아이들은 메리를 둘러싸고 조롱 노래를 불렀으며 침을 뱉기도 했다. 주거 제한 규정과 아시아계 배척 정서 속에서 이주 노동자 가족은 언제나 불안정한 비인간적 환경에 내몰렸다. 그러나 부모의 엄격한 기독교적 윤리의식과 배움에 대한 열망 속에서 메리는 차별을 견디며 초·중등 교육을 마친다.
제2부: 결혼, 대공황, 그리고 경제적 투쟁
1920년 메리는 한인 청년 H. M. 이(Lee)와 결혼한다. 부부는 독립적인 경제적 기반을 마련하기 위해 캘리포니아의 척박한 농경지에서 소작농으로 쌀 농사를 짓기 시작한다. 그러나 1913년 및 1920년에 제정된 <캘리포니아 외인토지법>(Alien Land Laws)으로 인해 시민권 취득이 불가능했던 아시아계 이민자들은 토지를 소유할 수 없었다. 이로 인해 백인 지주들의 횡포와 계약 파기, 법적 사기에 끊임없이 시달려야 했다.
1930년대 대공황의 여파와 잇따른 흉작, 수해로 인해 가족은 전 재산을 잃고 파산 위기에 직면한다. 그러나 메리는 좌절하지 않고 이동식 간이식당(다이너) 운영, 농산물 트럭 운전, 식료품점 운영 등 억척스럽게 생계를 꾸려나간다. 메리는 세 아들을 키워내며 가계 경제의 실질적 동반자이자 관리자로서 중심을 잡는다.
제3부: 전쟁의 그림자와 노년의 회고
제2차 세계대전이 발발하자 미국 내 아시아인에 대한 경계와 차별은 극에 달했다. 한국인은 일본인과 외모가 비슷하다는 이유만으로 거리에서 공격을 받거나 수용소로 끌려갈 위협에 노출되었다. 메리의 가족은 자신이 한국인임을 증명하는 표식을 지니고 다녀야 하는 수모를 겪으면서도 군에 입대한 아들들을 뒷바라지했다.
전쟁이 끝난 후 점차 경제적 안정을 찾았고, 남편과 사별한 후 노년에 접어든 메리는 자신의 지나온 삶을 기록하기 시작한다. 그는 자신의 고난을 과장하거나 사회를 향해 격렬하게 저주를 퍼붓지 않는다. 대신 살아남았다는 사실 자체, 그리고 역경 속에서도 인간으로서의 존엄과 정직함을 잃지 않았다는 사실에 담담한 자부심을 드러내며 글을 맺는다.
3. 심층 평론
1) 침묵을 깬 '평범한 여성'의 미시사(Microhistory)
<조용한 오디세이>의 문학적·역사적 가치는 거대 담론에 가려져 있던 디아스포라 여성의 일상과 노동을 전면에 복원했다는 점에 있다. 초기 한인 이민사 연구는 주로 독립운동 자금 지원, 안창호나 이승만 등 남성 지도자 중심의 민족주의 운동에 초점을 맞추어 왔다.
반면 메리 백 리의 텍스트는 끼니를 잇기 위해 사탕무를 캐고, 백인 농장주의 셔츠를 다림질하며, 아이들의 학비를 벌기 위해 트럭을 몰아야 했던 생활인의 물질적 조건을 여과 없이 보여준다. 이는 지배 서사에서 배제되었던 '주변부 중의 주변부' 여성이 써 내려간 강력한 미시사적 기록이다.
2) 절제된 문체 속에 담긴 '조용한' 저항
제목에 쓰인 <조용한>(Quiet)이라는 수식어는 수동적 복종을 의미하지 않는다. 메리의 서술 방식은 감정의 과잉이나 자기 연민을 철저히 배제한다. 극심한 인종 차별이나 경제적 착취를 묘사할 때도 분노를 폭발시키는 대신, 객관적 사실을 건조하게 나열하는 방식을 택한다.
이러한 절제미는 역설적으로 당시 미국 사회가 제도적으로 자행한 구조적 폭력(외인토지법, 인종분리 정책, 시민권 제한)의 부당함을 더욱 선명하게 드러낸다. 그의 '조용함'은 억압적 환경에 굴복한 침묵이 아니라, 파괴되지 않고 존엄을 지켜내며 생존 자체로 제도의 모순을 고발하는 강인한 저항의 태도다.
3) 젠더, 계급, 인종의 교차성(Intersectionality)
메리의 삶은 인종주의, 계급적 착취, 가부장적 젠더 역할이 복합적으로 얽힌 교차적 억압의 현장이었다. 백인 주류 사회에서는 유색인종 이민자로서 차별받았고, 자본주의 경제 구조에서는 토지 소유가 금지된 빈곤한 소작농 계급이었으며, 가정과 커뮤니티 내부에서는 전통적 여성의 돌봄 노동을 묵묵히 감당해야 했다.
그러나 메리는 이러한 다층적 한계 속에서 무기력한 피해자로 남지 않았다. 그는 가계 경제의 주체적 의사결정권자로서 상업 활동을 주도했고, 자녀들의 교육을 관철시켰다. 이 텍스트는 인종·계급·성별의 삼중 억압 속에서도 주체성을 발휘한 초기 이민 여성의 에이전시(agency)를 뚜렷하게 증명한다.
4. 결론
<조용한 오디세이>는 아메리칸드림의 환상을 걷어내고, 20세기 초 미국이라는 공간이 아시아계 이민자에게 강요했던 가혹한 생존 조건을 정직하게 기록한 증언 문학이다. 거창한 정치적 구호 없이도 담담한 노동과 삶의 궤적만으로 역사의 공백을 채우는 이 작품은, 오늘날 디아스포라 문학 및 이민자 연구에서 결코 빼놓을 수 없는 고전적 텍스트로 평가받는다.
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