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Korean-American writer Ed Park /photo by Sylvia Plachy
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If the author Ed Park stands out among his fellow Korean-American writers, it is because there is no trace of Koreanness in his work. His subject is strictly the American, and more precisely the New Yorker¡¯s, experience. His first novel ¡°Personal Days¡± about Manhattan office workers on the brink of layoff has conquered the U.S. media and literary circles.
Published in May, the book is a comic and satirical account of the subtle relationships of American white-collar workers as they tackle future insecurity, competitive survival and companionship at work. Newsweek and Time magazines have reviewed the book, and an enthusiastic New York Times review concludes, "As the economy continues its free fall, Park¡¯s book may serve as a handy guide for navigating unemployment and uncertainty."
With its universal American theme, the book is a new-ish phenomenon among ethnic Korean writers, who have on the whole tended to deal with issues of identity. The novel has struck a chord with American readers with its tales of survival in a layoff tsunami, post-merger labor conflicts, layoff-related neologisms and workers' bickering about their pathetic situation over drinks after work.
Park has set himself apart from the three big names in Korean American literature -- Lee Chang-rae (¡°A Gesture Life¡±), Lee Min-jin (¡°Free Food for Millionaires¡±) and Susan Choi (¡°A Person of Interest¡±) -- who have often depicted American society from an outsider's point of view.
Born in Buffalo in 1970, Park majored in English at Yale and went on to Columbia University. He started his career with the New York weekly Village Voice in 1995. In the summer of 2006, he was laid off over a corporate merger, which turned him from an editor into a writer. In an interview with the Chosun Ilbo, Park says, "I hadn¡¯t thought of writing about office life before then. It was painful to go to work with a pending layoff, but it was an opportunity to experience friendship, relationships, fear, suffering, pathos and walkouts. I started writing the novel watching coworkers get sacked. By the time I was axed, the draft was nearly complete."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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