A towering figure of Korean literature, Park Wan-suh’s masterpiece returns in a new special edition, paired with the photography of Lee Okto. These works connect timeless literature with contemporary art, inviting new readers. Her autobiographical novels Who Ate All the Shinga? and That Mountain Had Always Been There—the “self-portrait in fiction” series—remain staples of Korean literature, beloved for over thirty years as must-reads for middle and high school students. Together they have sold more than 1.7 million copies, leaving an indelible mark on Korean literary history. Life Pattern Korea. Even now, decades after their first publication, they shine as steady bestsellers and continue to be passed down to new generations. Now reissued as a special recover edition with Lee Okto’s photography, the books bring radiant and vivid memories into the present, transforming them into living spaces for today’s readers. Life Pattern Korea. Who Ate All the Shinga? is the first volume of Park Wan-suh’s autobiographical cycle, written “relying only on memory.” It depicts her dreamy childhood in the 1930s village of Bakjeokgol in Gaepung, and her coming of age through her twenties in Seoul, devastated by the Korean War of the 1950s. Life Pattern Korea. The novel stands as both a personal narrative and a universal history of Korea’s turbulent twentieth century.
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Author: 박완서 Publisher: 웅진지식하우스 Parkyoungsa (2025)
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