Jo Jung-rae
조정래
One of the primary themes in Jo Jeong-rae`s work, concern regarding the socio-economic roots of the division of Korea and the search for Korean reunification, is also present in his other, shorter works of fiction, such as `Han geu geuneurui jari` (한 그 그늘의 자리 Sorrow, That Shaded Place), `Yuhyeongui ttang` (유형의 땅 Land of Exile), `Inganui gyedan` (인간의 계단 Human Stairs), and `Baktoui hon` (박토의 혼 The Soul of a Barren Land). Many of his earlier works, however, such as `Cheongsandaek` (청산댁 A Woman from Cheongsan), `Pongnyeok gyosa` (폭력 교사 The Violent Instructor), `Bitaljin eumji` (비탈진 음지 The Shaded Slope), `Cheondongseol sidae` (천동설 시대 The Age of Geocentrism), and `Ibangjidae` (이방지대 Foreign Land), tend to reconstruct stories of traditional rustic life, targeting and satirizing the various absurdities of life in a much more general fashion.
