At Dusk

(Paperback)

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Description

In the evening of his life, a wealthy man begins to wonder if he might have missed the point. In the evening of his life, a wealthy man begins to wonder if he might have missed the point. Parl Minwoo is a success story. Born into poverty in a miserable neighbourhood of Seoul, he has ridden the wave of development in his country. Now the director of a large architectural firm, his hard work and ambition have brought him triumph and satisfaction. But that all begins to change when he receives a message from a childhood friend he once loved. As memories return unbidden, he recalls a world he thought he had left behind - a world he now realises that he has helped to destroy. 'At Dusk is a small but powerful novel from one of South Korea's most esteemed novelists ... The questions At Dusk raises are timeless, and perfect for more serious book-group discussions.' -Annie Condon, Readings 'Having been imprisoned for political reasons, Hwang has a restrained, delicate touch, alive to the nuances of memory, the slipperiness of the past, and the difficult choices life forces us to make ... Subtly political, deeply humane, a story about home, loss, and the cost of a country's advancement.' STARRED REVIEW -Kirkus 'Hwang Sok-yong's At Dusk is a perfect slice of Koreana ... shows the underbelly of a nation through the life of characters inhabiting society's bottom rung ... Sok-yong proves once again that fiction can be the best way to tell devastating truths.' -Gabino Iglesias, NPR

Author Bio

Hwang Sok-yong was born in 1943 and is arguably Korea's most renowned author. In 1993, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for an unauthorised trip to the North to promote exchange between artists in the two Koreas. Five years later, he was released on a special pardon by the new president. The recipient of Korea's highest literary prizes, he has been shortlisted for the Prix Femina Etranger and was awarded the Emile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature for his book At Dusk. His novels and short stories are published in North and South Korea, Japan, China, France, Germany, and the United States. Previous novels include The Ancient Garden, The Story of Mister Han, The Guest, and The Shadow of Arms.