Choi Jae-hoon

Choi Jae-hoon (Hangul 최제훈; born 1973) is a South Korean writer. Rather than following the Korean literary tradition, he draws inspiration primarily from Western literature. His short story collection Kwireubal namjagui seong (퀴르발 남작의 성 The Castle of Baron Curval) is replete with film and pop culture references like crime fiction by Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie as well as subculture elements like the vampire, Frankenstein's monster, and cannibalism. Citing The Catcher in the Rye as his favorite book, Choi said in an interview that it is what piqued his interest in the novel and he has read all existing translations of the work into Korean. Choi's novels have been well-received in South Korea. Kwireubal namjagui seong (The Castle of Baron Curval), in particular, was featured in the South Korean TV show The Secret Readers Club, suggesting its popular appeal and literary value. Life Choi Jae-hoon was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1973. He studied business at Yonsei University and creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts. He made his literary debut in 2007 when his short story “Kwireubal namjagui seong” (퀴르발 남작의 성 The Castle of Baron Curval), inspired by the character President Curval in Marquis de Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom, won the New Writer’s Award from Literature and Society. His first novel Ilgop gaeui goyangi nun (일곱 개의 고양이 눈 Seven Cat Eyes) consists of four novellas, where each plot is connected to the next like a never-ending chain and unfolds like a mystery novel. It won the 44th Hankook Ilbo Literary Award. As a high school student, Choi was unsure of his career aspirations and chose to study business in university over the liberal arts for practical reasons. While serving his compulsory term in the South Korean military, however, he contemplated his future and decided to write because it was what he liked and did best. He set a preliminary goal of reading a hundred books during his military service, and by the end of his term he managed to read 103 titles ranging from classics by Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy to bestsellers by Haruki Murakami. When he told his friends he would become a novelist, they responded with incredulity. No one in his family had nurtured any artistic ambitions. His father, a civil servant, supposedly joked, “You really are Choi Chiwon’s descendant. It looks like those genes have finally passed onto someone, after thirty-four generations!”