The Prisoner: A Memoir

"In this expansive memoir, celebrated South Korean novelist Hwang Sok-yong’s life unfolds as a series of harrowing quests to further the rapprochement of North and South Korea. By cinematically intertwining his personal history with South Korea’s collective history, Hwang shows how lack of closure regarding the Korean War – there has been no formal peace treaty since the war ended in 1953 – has rendered many South Korean lives rootless and unfulfilled. Offering the reader a holistic view of his literal and metaphorical imprisonment, Hwang poignantly illustrates what it means to be exiled by politics, geography, language and emotional ties."