1980년 동아일보 신춘문예에 단편소설 「혼자웃기」가 당선되어 작품 활동을 시작했다. 장편소설 『누구나 평행선 너머의 사랑을 꿈꾼다』 『밤의 눈』을 냈으며, 소설집에는 『다시 시작하는 끝』 『길에서 형님을 잃다』 『테하차피의 달』 『병산읍지 편찬약사』가 있다. 일반 저서로는 『이야기를 걷다』 『소설로 읽는 부산』 등이 있다. 요산문학상과 만해문학상 등을 수상했다.

Lee Mu-young (1908~1960) was a South Korean novelist. Alongside Sim Hun and Park Yeong-jun, he was one of the forerunners of agriculture literature in twentieth-century Korea. His representative works include “Je-1-gwa je1-jang” (제1과 제1장 Act 1, Scene 1) (1939), “Heugui noye” (흙의 노예 Slave to Soil) (1940), and Nongmin (농민 Farmers) (1950).

Cho's writing is sparse and explicit, though it can also seem surreal. His most famous work is The Dwarf. The Dwarf is a yŏnjak sosŏl (linked novel) or collection of separately published short stories which can stand alone or supplement each other. This fractured structure, along with Cho's jump-cutting, juxtapositional, and un-sign-posted narrative portrays a society that "severs men from the natural rhythms and shape of creation." It is a powerful work of social criticism focusing on the forced redevelopment of Seoul in the 1970s, and the human costs that accompanied it. It combines biting realism with an often fantastic structure that pulls a reader into the difficult and fragmented era the work describes. Cho combines a kaleidoscopic narrative approach, powerful use of scientific symbols, and a dead-flat and deadeye narrative tone. Reading The Dwarf requires some attention, but the interlocking narrative arcs and often disconcerting internal shifts in narrator or time frame are both supportive of the theme of the book and ultimately rewarding. Koreans consider this work to be one of the critical works of the 1970s.

Han Soosan (born 1946) is a South Korean novelist.