Kim Wonwoo (born 1947) is a modern South Korean novelist.
1. Life
Kim Wonwoo was born on April 11, 1947 in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province. He is the younger brother of the novelist Kim Won-il (born 1942).
Kim Wonwoo attended Gyeongbuk University from which he received his B.A. in English literature and Sogang University from which he received an M.A. in Korean literature. He made his literary debut in 1977, while working at the publishing house Hyeonamsa, when his novella Imji (임지 Appointed Posts) was accepted by Hankuk Munhak. He is known for such works as "Mugijil cheongnyeon" (무기질 청년 Mineral Man), the novella Bulmyeonsusim (불면수심 Face of a Buddha, Heart of a Beast), "Soinguk" (소인국 Lilliput), "Jangaemul gyeongju" (장애물 경주 Obstacle Race), and the novel Jimseungui sigan (짐승의 시간 Hour of the Beast). He was a professor of creative writing at Keimyung University until his retirement in 2012. He has served as a judge for the Daegu Mail Shinmun New Writer's Contest and the Munhwa Il-bo New Writer's Contest, among others.
2. Writing
Kim Wonwoo made his literary debut in 1977 with the novella Imji, a scathing critique of the philistinism and commodity fetishism that he saw as pervasive in middle-class Korean society. Everyday lives of middle-class Koreans in all its unabashed materialism and self-interest, is an abiding concern in the entire body of Kim Wonwoo's fiction. His characters possess little or no individual personality, and can only find meaning in their lives through the ceaseless pursuit of profit. Because they are so entrenched in immediate material gratification, they fail to realize the sterility of their lives; Kim Wonwoo, therefore, frequently employs an outside agent to act as a mediator in his fiction.
There is, however, a certain reflectiveness that pervades Kim Wonwoo's fiction, and this quality has much to do with the way in which Kim's own experiences are brought to bear in his fictional accounts. The falsity and hypocrisy that underlie middle-class rhetoric of success is part of his life as well; the sense of weariness generated by life's routines can be detected in Kim's reminiscences of his own youth. Kim Wonwoo's critical voice thus conveys something stubborn yet honest at the same time. Combined effectively with meticulous, insightful descriptions of ordinary people and events, this voice allows Kim Wonwoo's works to become something more than mere 'novel of manners' and offer intellectually engaging portraits of life that are at once fiercely critical and heart-warming.
Kim has won the 1998 Dong-sa Literature Award and 2002 Daesan Literature Prize.
