Park Sang-ryung

Park Sang-ryoong (August 26, 1940 to July 1, 2017) is a South Korean novelist and short story writer. His most famous work is A Study of Death (1975), a novel which describes forty days leading to the death of an unnamed monk. He refers to his work as "Japsseul" (잡설) or a talk on everything because his writings all form a large metaphysical musing on the nature of humanity, transcendence, and death. He has a reputation for being a formidable and challenging writer not only because of his exhaustive range of symbolism and allusion, but also because of his complex, experimental style. The work was adapted to film and went to the 1996 Cannes Film Festival where it was shortlisted for Critics Choice. As of 2012, he has published five novels, three short story collections, and one essay collection and is considered one of the most notable Korean authors of his generation.

Park Sang-ryoong was born on 26 August 1940 in Jangsu, Jeollabuk-do. He was the youngest of eight surviving children; one of his elder brothers died when he was four. Because his mother was forty-five when he was born, he had a complex about her mortality. This became more evident after his mother died when he was sixteen. He began making poems in middle school and only became a fiction writer when he could no longer sustain himself by writing only poetry. In 1961, he enrolled in Sorabol Art College to study creative writing. His debut was in 1963 when he published a short story called “Ageldama” in Sasangge. Its success enabled him to publish more stories in this journal. He transferred to Kyunghee University as a political science and international studies major in 1965, but he never attended opting to accept a position at Sasangge in 1967. On the same year, he married Bae Yoo-ja. Then in 1969 invited by his wife, immigrated to Vancouver, Canada. His three daughters were born during this period (Christina, Ondine, and Augustine). Meanwhile, he continued to write and publish in Korean and as an influence in Korean literary circles. He moved back to Korea in 1998 with the intention of permanent settlement, but he continued to travel between Canada and Korea. Park Sang-Ryoong passed away on July 1, 2017.