Jo Jung-rae's 'Hangang' Surpasses 1 Million Copies... All Three Volumes of the Epic Novel Trilogy Reach 1 Million Copies

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Publisher Haenaem announced that Jo Jung-rae's Hangang has surpassed its 1 millionth copy in print. With this, Jo Jung-rae's epic novel trilogy, including Taebaek Sanmaek (2.66 million copies) and Arirang (1.44 million copies), has all exceeded 1 million copies in print.

Hangang is a novel that captures Korean society from the late 1950s to the early 1980s on 15,000 manuscript sheets. It began serialization in 1998 in Hankyoreh, with Part 1 Gyeongnang Sidae and Part 2 Yuhyeong Sidae published in 2001, and Part 3 Bulsin Sidae published in 2002, completing all 10 volumes in 3 years and 8 months. Hangang surpassed 1.5 million copies sold within six months of completion and has sold over 3.05 million copies to date.

Jo Jung-rae's representative epic trilogy weaves the national history of the Republic of Korea spanning a century, from the Japanese colonial period through the Korean War to the era of economic development. While completing the trilogy, the author wrote 51,500 manuscript sheets and created about 1,200 characters. The last novel of the trilogy, Hangang, explores the contradictions and divisions of Korean society, where reckless "growth-first" policies were promoted amid the ruins still scarred by division and war, leading to developmental dictatorship and the advent of proletarian capitalism. It vividly portrays the reality of Korean workers in the 1960s and 1970s, from urban laborers risking their lives in brutal working conditions to overseas workers enduring lonely and harsh labor in countries like Germany and Vietnam to earn foreign currency. It also candidly reveals the dark shadows cast over society by the Yushin regime, intensified anti-communism, violence, torture, and regionalism.

Haenaem announced that to commemorate Jo Jung-rae's 50th anniversary since his literary debut, they have published a revised edition of Hangang, following the revised editions of the epic novels Taebaek Sanmaek and Arirang.

Jo Jung-rae personally revised the entire work for the first time in 31 years since the initial publication, completing a new "definitive edition." In the revised edition, vocabulary, particles, verb endings, and punctuation were carefully refined to make the sentences clearer and more specific overall. Some scenes were enhanced with more vivid descriptions to better capture the atmosphere of the situations. Unnecessary modifiers and commas were removed to improve pace and rhythm, and some characters other than the protagonist had their surnames or given names changed.

In the author's note, Jo Jung-rae expressed that he "revised with the mindset of 're-editing' once again" and hoped "the fruits of this work would be a gift to the readers."

Haenaem stated that considering the convenience of modern readers and to enhance readability and durability?important for reading epic novels?the revised edition features changes in editing. The revised edition has a smaller page size and font, and the cover was changed to a sturdy hardcover edition.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.