A Guardian Book of the Day — ‘A masterpiece of Korean history.’

A Guardian Book of the Day — ‘A masterpiece of Korean history.’

‘Undoubtedly the most powerful voice in Asia today.’

‘This nearly 500-page novel opens with a laid-off railroad worker in Seoul camped out on a platform atop a factory chimney, where he will stay for 410 consecutive days in protest. As he braves the elements, his ancestors, also railroad workers, visit to relive the murders, imprisonment, and torture they endured under Japanese and US occupation while fighting for better working conditions. The Nobel Prize in literature almost always goes to a European, but for the next one that’s awarded to a non-European, I’m rooting for Hwang Sok-yong, perhaps South Korea’s most renowned author.’

‘Bittersweet and darkly comic … richly rewarding read … This is a novel that shines a light on what it means to be an industrial worker in Korea and to wrestle with the issues of worker exploitation, international tension, and a still-divided nation.’

‘[A]n absorbing look at an intriguing period of Korean history.’

‘Epic.’

‘A large and comprehensive book about a Korea we rarely see in the West, blending the sweeping historical narrative of a nation with an individual’s quest for justice. Hwang highlights the political struggles of the working class with the story of a complicated national history of occupation and freedom, all seen through the lens of Jino, on his perch on top of a factory chimney, where he is staging a protest against being unfairly laid-off.’

‘This book has “major work by major writer” written all over it, and it is certainly a novel of epic ambition and convincing delivery. Mater 2-10, like Hwang Sok-yong’s previously translated novels, Familiar Things and the Booker-longlisted At Dusk, shows a writer with panoramic range on societal issues, who still retains a compassionate touch with human stories at a more intimate level.’

‘It is to Korea what One Hundred Years of Solitude is to Colombia or Midnight’s Children is to India, a masterpiece that takes you on a guided tour through a country’s most important historical moments.’

‘Mater 2-10 pulled aside a curtain that I barely knew existed so that I could peek at what lay on the other side … Sora Kim-Russell and Youngjae Josephine Bae do a masterful job of translating the novel … This trip across the landscape of history and up into the heights of activism proves both exhilarating and unforgettable.’

‘The story can be read as either an earnest story with noted sympathy for the workers’ movement and the activism of the Josen Communist Party during the struggle against the Japanese. Indeed the author claims the story was inspired by an aging former activist he met in Pyeongyang during an illegal trip to North Korea. Conversely, it could also be a satire of those who claim to work for the common man, but who are often more involved in esoteric ideological discussion than in actual work, as when the leaders of the communist movement in Korea don’t live in Korea at all and spend far too much time discussing and debating the “Party line” when fellow activists are being tortured to death.’

‘The male narrative of the three generations of railroad workers is complemented by female narratives. In particular, in the flooded Yeongdeungpo area, the legendary performance of Juandaek, who saved people and goods with superhuman strength and wisdom, and outstanding wit, and Shingeumi’s magical powers and foresight, prevent this novel from being confined to rigid realism. The depiction of the old times around Yeongdeungpo, where the author’s own childhood memories dwell, makes even readers who have nothing to do with the time and space immerse themselves.’

‘A cross-section of the 100-year history of the Korean Peninsula woven by Hwang Sok-yong, a world-renowned master beyond Korea.’

‘Mater 2-10 is an epic novel.’

Praise for Familiar Things:

‘A powerful examination of capitalism from one of South Korea’s most acclaimed authors … [Hwang] challenges us to look back and reevaluate the cost of modernisation, and see what and whom we have left behind.’

Praise for Familiar Things:

‘Hwang Sok-yong is one of South Korea’s foremost writers, a powerful voice for society’s marginalised.’

Praise for At Dusk:

‘Having been imprisoned for political reasons, Hwang has a restrained, delicate touch, alive to the nuances of memory, the slipperiness of the past, and the difficult choices life forces us to make ... Subtly political, deeply humane, a story about home, loss, and the cost of a country’s advancement.’

Praise for Familiar Things:

‘As one of the country’s most prominent novelists, Hwang has never shied away from controversy … With Familiar Things, Hwang turns his attention to the underside of South Korea’s remarkable economic development, namely, the vast underclass it has created.’

Praise for Familiar Things:

‘Sora Kim-Russell’s translation moves gracefully between gritty, whiffy realism and folk-tale spookiness.’

Praise for At Dusk:

‘It’s a regretful, bittersweet exploration of modernisation, which picks away at the country’s past and present, slowly becoming a moving reflection of what we gain and lose as individuals and a society in the name of progress … [Hwang’s] writing is laced with the hard-won wisdom of a man with plenty left to say.’

Hwang Sok-yong was born in 1943 and is arguably Korea’s most renowned author. In 1993, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for an unauthorised trip to the North to promote exchange between artists in the two Koreas. Five years later, he was released on a special pardon by the new president. The recipient of Korea’s highest literary prizes, he has been shortlisted for the Prix Femina Etranger and was awarded the Emile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature for his book At Dusk. His novels and short stories are published in North and South Korea, Japan, China, France, Germany, and the United States. Previous novels include The Ancient Garden, The Story of Mister Han, The Guest, and The Shadow of Arms. Sora Kim-Russell has translated numerous works of Korean fiction, including Hwang Sok-yong’s Princess Bari (Garnet Publishing, 2015), Familiar Things (Scribe, 2017), and At Dusk (Scribe, 2018), which was longlisted for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize. Winner of the 2019 LTI Korea Award for Aspiring Translators and the 2021 Korea Times Modern Korean Literature Translation Award, Youngjae Josephine Bae’s translations include Imaginary Athens: urban space and memory in Berlin, Tokyo, and Seoul (Routledge, 2020) and A Global History of Ginseng: imperialism, modernity, and orientalism (Routledge, 2022).