Cho Seon-jak explained

Cho Seon-jak
Birth Date:13 November 1940
Occupation:Novelist
Nationality:South Korean
Period:1940-present
Genre:Modern Korean Fiction
Notableworks:The Preview and Other Stories
Korean name
Hangul:조선작
Rr:Jo Seon-jak
Mr:Cho Sŏn-chak

Cho Seon-jak (born 1940) is a South Korean writer.[1]

Life

Cho Seon-jak was born in Daejeon, South Korea.[2] Cho Seonjak graduated from Daejeon Teachers' School and debuted with The Tomb of the Patriots, which was published in Generation .[3] The Tomb of the Patriots won Generation's top writing prize in 1971 and was also adapted as a TV drama by MBC television in South Korea.[2]

Life

Cho's works focus on the injustice inherent in social structure, and his work often focused on social outcasts. Yeongja’s Heyday features prostitutes and other social outcasts as central characters to investigate social injustice and High Voltage Wire indirectly probes into the hidden forces threatening the everyday life of common men. Heyday was also made into a feature film, which is collected in the Korean Film Archives "100 Korean Movies."[4]

Cho Seon-jak’s work depicts without bias the wretchedness of lives victimized by industrialization and rapid economic growth of the 1970s.[3] [5]

The Korea Literature Translation Institute sums up his work:

The injustice woven into the very structure of society, as can be seen in the difficult lives of the social outcasts, forms the thematic basis for Cho Seonjak’s works. Despite the gravity of the subject matter, Cho is able to incorporate witty, entertaining expressions into the narrative. Yeongja’s Heyday features prostitutes and other social outcasts as central characters to investigate social injustice and High Voltage Wire indirectly probes into the hidden forces threatening the everyday life of common men. Cho Seonjak’s work depicts without bias the wretchedness of lives victimized by industrialization and rapid economic growth of the 1970.[6]

Some praised Cho for his honesty, while others attacked him as a sensationalist. In the introduction to The Preview and Other Stories, the editors not that the latter response seem to have come largely from the very members of society that Cho portrayed as callously ignoring the suffering of the marginalized.[2]

Work

Works in English

Works in Korean (partial)

Novels
Short story collections

Notes and References

  1. "김채원 " datasheet available at: Web site: Author Database - Korea Literature Translation Institute . 2013-09-03 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130921055413/http://klti.or.kr/ke_04_03_011.do . 2013-09-21 .
  2. The Preview and Other Stories, Asian Humanities Press, 2003. vii
  3. http://www.klti.or.kr/AuthorApp?mode=6010&aiNum=12543
  4. Web site: Image . 2015-04-07 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140222161307/http://www.koreafilm.org/feature/100_53.asp . 2014-02-22 .
  5. Web site: LIST Magazine . 2010-11-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110722142333/http://www.list.or.kr/articles/article_view.htm?Div1=8&Idx=298 . 2011-07-22 . dead .
  6. Source-attribution|"Cho S-ehui" LTI Korea Datasheet available at LTI Korea Library or online at: Web site: Author Database - Korea Literature Translation Institute . 2013-09-03 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130921055413/http://klti.or.kr/ke_04_03_011.do . 2013-09-21 .
  7. Book: Son-Jak Cho . Chan Young Kim . David R. Carter . The Preview and Other Stories. Amazon. 978-0895818287.