Park Sangwoo is a South Korean writer. He made his literary debut in 1988 when his novella Seureojiji anneun bit won the Munye Joongang Literary Award for Best First Novel. His works include the short story collectionShagarui maeure naerineun nun and the novels Hotel Kaeliponia, Cheongchunui dongjjok, and Kkamaquitte geurimja. In 1999 he received the 23rdYi Sang Literary Award for his short story “Nae maeumui oktapbang”.
Life
Park Sangwoo was born in Gwangju, South Korea in 1958 and grew up in the city of Pocheon. His family moved to Myeongju County in 1966 when his father, a professional soldier, retired from service. He graduated Chuncheon High School in 1974 and received a degree in creative writing at Chung-Ang University in 1981. He taught at Girin Middle School in Inje County and Hwangji Middle School in the city of Taebaek. He became a full-time writer following his literary debut. He wrote mostly poetry as a college student, but after witnessing a friend commit suicide out of despair over the political turmoil of South Korea in 1980, he gave up poetry and wrote fiction.
Writing
Park Sangwoo's early work, including his debut novella Seureojiji anneun bit, explored the destruction of the individual by a violent, institutional power. But Park began to question his writing methods and thematic vision in the mid-1990s, under the pressure of being a full-time writer positioned awkwardly between a generation of young writers in their twenties and that of older writers who were active in the 1980s. Park stopped writing realist works after penning the composite novelHotel Kaeliponia, published in 1996. This change in Park's style coincides with the period of social upheaval in South Korea from the late 1980s to early 1990s, during which most of the country's writers felt a strong sense of disconnect with the transformed society. If Korean literature in the 1980s urged for social change and focused on the division of the Korean peninsula or the unethical use of power or capital, such themes lost their relevance in the 1990s. Accordingly, Park moved away from political themes in the mid-1990s and examined themes like desire, isolation, and disconnect. This shift is first seen in Satanui maeure naerineun bi, Park's short story collection published in 2000. The stories portray the lonely and demonic side of modern people who, driven mad by the monotony of their lives, destroy themselves and others. An apocalyptic mood runs through the work, which calls reality “the village of Satan” or the tedious hell of anonymous and objectified souls.
Works
1. 비밀 문장 Secret Sentences 2. 인생을 충전하는 99가지 이야기 99 Stories to Recharge Your Life 3. 작가 The Writer 4. 인형의 마을 The Village of Dolls 5. 혼자일 때 그곳에 간다 I Go There When I’m Alone 6. 짬봉 Jjamppong 7. 길모퉁이 추락천사 The Fallen Angelaround the Corner 8. 화성 Mars 9. 칼 Knife 10. 지붕 Roof 11. 사랑보다 낯선 Stranger than Love 12. 반짝이는 것은 모두 혼자다 All That Glitters Is Alone 13. 노란 잠수함 Yellow Submarine 14. 열대야 Tropical Night 15. 백마, 그 폐허 The Ruin of Baekma 16. 가시면류관 초상 Portrait of Crown of Thorns 17. 산타페 Santa Fe 18. 내 마음의 옥탑방 The Attic of My Heart 19. 말무리 반도 The Peninsula of Wild Horses 20. 까마귀떼 그림자 Shadows Cast by a Murder of Crows 21. 내 영혼은 길 위에 있다 My Soul Is On the Road 22. 사탄의 마을에 내리는 비 Rain Falling on Satan’s Village 23. 따뜻한 집 Warm House 24. 청춘의 동쪽 East of Youth 25. 카시오페아 Cassiopeia 26. 소설가는 유서를 남기지 않는다 A Novelist Does Not Leave a Will 27. 백야 White Night 28. 블루 노트 Blue Note 29. 호텔 캘리포니아 Hotel California 30. 독산동 천사의 시 The Poem of the Doksan-dong Angel 31. 섬 그리고 트라이앵글 1, 2, 3 The Island and Triangle Volumes 1-3 32. 나는 인간의 빙하기로 간다 I Leave for the Ice Age of Humans 33. 술병에 별이 떨어진다 Stars Fall on the Liquor Bottle 34. 시인 마태오 Matthew the Poet 35. 샤갈의 마을에 내리는 눈 The Snow Falling on Chagall’s Village 36. 지구인의 늦은 하오 Late Afternoon for People on Earth 37. 사람구경 Observing People
Works in Translation{{Cite web|url=http://library.ltikorea.or.kr/node/142|title=박상우 Digital Library of Korean Literature (LTI Korea)|website=library.ltikorea.or.kr|language=en|access-date=2017-12-09}}
