Park Bum-shin

[7] More serialized novels followed, which exhibited Park's lyrical but realistic style, which details the dreams and frustrations of average citizens adrift in a world of base materialism and brutal opportunism.

The stories are satirical portrayals of the upsets, ambitions and disappointments of two country boys Baek Chan-gyu and Han Gil-su, who move to Seoul as it rushes toward industrialization and urbanization.

[7] In addition to his two hit novels, Park also wrote other works set against the period of South Korea's economic rise, such as The Forest Never Sleeps (Supeun jamdeulji anneunda) and I Listen to Mozart on Wednesdays (Suyoil ein Mochareuteu leul deudneunda).

The author, whose two suicide attempts as a youth speaks to deep thirst for communication with the world, could not endure criticism and discontinued writing for three years until 1996, when he published The Cart Pulled by the White Cow (Heuin so ga ggeuneun sure).

In A Filthy Desk (Deoreoun chaeksang, co-winner of the Manhae Prize for Literature in 2003[8]), Empty Room (Bin bang) and Namaste (Namseute), Park confirmed his position as a veteran author who incorporates both artistic value and popular elements into his writing.

Adapted from his provocative 2010 novel Eun-gyo in which a poet in his 70s who falls for a high school girl, Park said it reflected his own personal thoughts on aging, human psychology and desire.