Choi Suchol was born in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, in 1958. He completed a BA and MA in French Language and Literature at Seoul National University. He made his debut in 1981 when his short story “Blind Spot” won the Chosun Ilbo New Writer’s Contest. He is the author of several short story collections including A Castle in the Air; Montage; and Short Nap by the Roadside, and the novels including In the Stomach of a Whale; An Anarchist’s Love; Cicada; Pest; and Bed. He is also the recipient of the Yun Dong-ju Literary Award and Yi Sang Literary Award. Currently, he is a professor of creative writing at Hanshin University.
1. Life
The point of departure for Choi Suchol's fiction is the claim that genuine communication has become impossible in the print culture of the modern age, and he is known for the abstruse quality of his works. Without resorting to traditional structure or characterization, Choi delves into the liminal area between the conscious and the subconscious, often placing as much emphasis on language and the style of writing as the content itself.
This claim forms the basis of his early work, "Gongjung nugak," which features a protagonist who desires to but cannot communicate with the world. "Sorie daehan myeongsang" (소리에 대한 명상 A Meditation on Sounds) and "Siseon go" (시선고 A Consideration of the Eyes) resurrect systems of meaning inscribed onto the physical body itself as possible alternatives to the written language. The search for a means of communication that predates actual language continues in "Hwadu, girok, hwaseok" (화두, 기록, 화석 Hwadu, Record, Fossil), Byeokhwa geurineun namja (벽화 그리는 남자 The Mural Painter) and "Eoreumui dogani" (얼음의 도가니 Crucible of Ice).
Choi Suchol's method is often clinical; he dissects or lengthens observed phenomena and reconstructs them in a way that deliberately flouts the principle of recognizability. His search for alternative means of communication is predicated on the desire to achieve sympathetic understanding with other beings, a desire he views as being frustrated in the modern world of overdetermined signs.
LTI Korea 
DLKL 
SIWF 