Choi Suchol

Choi Suchol (born May 13, 1958) is a South Korean author.

Life
Choi Suchol was born on May 13, 1958, in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do. After attending Chuncheon High School, Choi received undergraduate and graduate degrees in French Literature from Seoul National University. His doctoral dissertation was on the writings of Michel Butor. He debuted in 1981 by winning the New Spring Literary Contest sponsored by the Chosun Ilbo with his story “Blindspot”. He has also taught Creative Writing at Hanshin University.

Work
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. This claim forms the basis of his early work, “Tower in the Air”, which features a protagonist who desires but cannot communicate with the world. “A Meditation on Sounds”, “A Consideration of the Eyes” , and “Body Language” 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 “The Beginning of Story, Record, Fossil”, The Death of an Anarchist , The Mural Painter and “Crucible of Ice” (, 1993). 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.

Works in Translation

 * 一个无政府主义者的爱情 (어느 무정부주의자의 사랑)

Works in Korean (Partial)
Short Story Collections Novels
 * Tower in the Air (1985)
 * Background and Outline (, 1987)
 * The Beginning of a Story
 * Record, Fossil (1987)
 * Intimate Stories of the Body
 * Belly of a Whale (, 1989)
 * The Death of an Anarchist (1990)
 * The Mural Painter (1992)

Awards

 * Yi Sang Literary Award (1993)