A major, never beforetranslated novel by the author of <em>Mujông / The Heartless</em>—often called the first modern Korean novel—<em>The Soil</em> tells the story of an idealistdedicating his life to helping the inhabitants of the rural community in whichhe was raised. Striving to influence the poor farmers of the time to improvetheir lots, become self-reliant, and thus indirectly change the reality ofcolonial life on the Korean peninsula, <em>The Soil</em> was vitallyimportant to the social movements of the time, echoing the effects andreception of such English-language novels as Upton Sinclair’s <em>The Jungle</em>.