[1] The Dwarf was a best-seller in Korea and was also made into a feature film titled A Small Ball Shot by a Midget (1980) by director Lee Won-se.

[2] The Dwarf is a work of social criticism which focuses on the forced redevelopment of Hangbook-dong (행복동) in Seoul in the 1970s, and the human costs that accompanied it.

The Dwarf revolves around a literal “little guy,” and his family and friends, and their changing economic and social relationships which are destroyed by Korean modernization.

At the time the novel was being written the Park government roamed the streets of Seoul, its fashion police literally measuring the hair-length of men and the skirt-length of women.

The Dwarf combines realism with a fantastic structure that places readers in the horrific and fragmented era the work describes.