Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
Author Jo Jung-rae returns with love story, calls literature defense of humanity
Novelist Jo Jung-rae speaks during a press conference about his new novel "Seorikkot" at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
By Lee Hae-rin
Novelist explores love, capitalism and enduring human spirit in possibly his final full-length novel
Novelist Jo Jung-rae, best known for sweeping epics chronicling Korea’s modern history, has returned to romantic love in his new two-volume novel, “Seorikkot,” (frost flower in Korean). He said that literature must preserve human imagination and feeling in an age increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence (AI) and smartphones.
At a press conference in Seoul, the 83-year-old author said his new work, which may be his final full-length novel, was the first work in his 56-year literary career with love at its center.
“I wanted to write a sad love story,” Jo said. “But this is not a simple love story.”
The novel marks a notable departure for Jo, whose landmark historical trilogy — “Taebaek Mountain Range” (1989), “Arirang” (1994) and “Hangang” (2001) — has long been regarded as one of Korean literature’s most ambitious attempts to narrate the country’s 20th century upheavals. The three sprawling novels, which trace colonial rule, national division, war, industrialization and ordinary lives caught in history, have sold more than 15 million copies, according to the publisher, and were translated into different languages.
With “Seorikkot,” Jo returns to a question that has appeared in the emotional undercurrents of his earlier work: What can enduring love mean in a society organized around money, speed and self-interest?
Published Monday by Hainaim Publishing, the 600-page novel follows Lee Jae-i, a young man who reunites with Yoon So-in five years after leaving Korea to study abroad. Their relationship, first sparked by a poem and an artwork inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night,” unfolds against family pressure, class prejudice, illness and the destructive force of unchecked capitalism.
The author said he began considering a full-fledged love story as he grew older and became more conscious that his time to write novels is limited. He recalled being asked by readers why he wrote about history and society but not romance.
“I thought that, as I bring my live to a close, writing the love story might also have meaning,” he said.
Novelist Jo Jung-rae poses with his new novel "Seorikkot" during a press conference at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
Yet Jo said the book’s romance is inseparable from its social critique.
An aspiring artist, So-in's family is devastated after her father’s business collapses under the weight of a legal dispute and debt. Jae-i, the son of a wealthy businessman, chooses philosophy over the corporate path expected of him and commits himself to helping her.
Jo said the novel explores how “savage capitalism” can harm not only individuals but also their children and families.
“Capital’s limitless greed joins hands and compromises with state and social power, causing enormous damage and harm to human lives,” he said. “I wanted to write about how it destroys, wears down and ruins the healthiest citizens.”
The author contrasted the novel’s ruthless economic order with Jae-i’s idealistic devotion. He called the protagonist “the most unrealistic character” he created, a man who seeks to live without wrongdoing and views money with detachment. Through that apparent departure from reality, Jo said, he wanted to imagine a form of love that can attain permanence.
For Jo, love is fundamentally a source of hope.
“If human beings had no hope, with what strength could we live through this difficult life?” he said. “Love — whether between lovers, spouses or family members — is another force, like hope, that sustains our lives.”
As has been the case throughout his career, the author wrote “Seorikkot” by hand. He said handwritten sentences retain a density and tension that can be lost in the speed of computer typing. He also voiced confidence that AI cannot replace literature’s essential imaginative power.
“AI cannot write novels because it does not know where a writer’s imagination will go,” he said. “The forefront of novels, music and all the arts remains the human realm.”
Undergoing abdominal aortic surgery last September made him think a lot about death, he said, adding that his final wish would be “to die slumped over my desk while writing.”