At Dusk

In the evening of his life, a wealthy man begins to wonder if he might have missed the point, in Hwang Sok-yong’s wise & thoughtful novel, where he continues his gentle yet urgent project of evaluating Korea’s past and examining things, & the people, that have been given up in a never-ending quest to move forward. Translated by Sora Kim-Russell.

Park Minwoo is a success. Born into poverty in Seoul, he has ridden the wave of development in a rapidly modernising society. His hard work & ambition have brought him wealth & satisfaction. But when his company is investigated for corruption, he’s forced to reconsider his role in the transformation of his country. At the same time, he receives an unexpected message from a woman that he once loved & then betrayed. As memories return unbidden, he begins to reassess his successful life. 

"... a perfect slice of Koreana; a touching, somewhat depressive narrative full of nostalgia that shows the underbelly of a nation through the life of characters inhabiting society's bottom rung ... suffused with a subdued sense of nihilism that comes from being poor and having no viable options ... Sok-yong brilliantly shows the ennui young South Koreans are forced into by the system ... a superb look at South Korea filtered through a variety of lenses ... By offering such an array of narratives & framing them within the politics & culture of Korea, Sok-yong proves once again that fiction can be the best way to tell devastating truths."  -  Gabino Iglesias, NPR

Hwang Sok-yong was born in Changchun, China, in January 1943.  In 1993, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for an unauthorised trip to North Korea to promote artistic exchange between the two Koreas. He was released five years later on a special pardon by the new president. He has been shortlisted for the Prix Femina Étranger & was awarded the Émile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature for At Dusk.