[2] His representative work Joseonchongdokbu (조선총독부 Joseon Government-General) (1964–1967) has received critical attention for its realistic depiction of the Korean people’s sufferings during the 36 years of Japanese colonial rule.
Afterward, he relocated to Daegu and became a member of the Republic of Korea Air Force Military Writers Corps, where he began his literary activities in earnest.
Here, he produced a number of works, including “Taeyangui yusan” (태양의 유산 The Heritage of the Sun) (1958) and received an Asian Liberation Literary Award (아세아자유문학상) (1958).
In particular, in his autobiographical debut novel “Beonyoui geori,” the main character Hyeong-sik moonlights as a book seller to earn his tuition fees and living expenses.
[4] In this respect, Yoo’s novels from this period focus, as a crucial theme, on the imbalance of human existence caused by social absurdity and insecurity.
In this short story, the author fiercely criticizes the corrupt and depraved society through a father, a member of the National Assembly during the later days of the rule of the Liberation Party, and his son, a colonel in the reserve.
The focus of his later works shifts from the attention to the external, represented by social and historical consciousness, to the internal world of an individual, the fantastic and the mysterious, death and afterlife.
[3] Among these works, “Sinui nunchori” (신의 눈초리 God’s Gaze) deals with a psychological conflict between a father, a former psychiatrist-turned stroke patient, and a son, a businessman who runs a wig export business.
[3] In this respect, the works listed in Jugeumi boineun angyeong (죽음이 보이는 안경 Glasses That Can See Death) (1977), which he wrote while fighting his illness, are a testament to his inquiry into the self in his later literary world.