Mater 2-10

Somehow he didn't feel the emptiness under his feet. When he played sports by walking over and over the railing area, he felt the urge to walk on air. Jinoh eased her body through the bars, leaning over, and extended one leg. He looked like he was stepping on a soft mattress or comforter. Holding the railing with both hands, he stuck both feet out. Jinoh Lee, a worker who is fired from his factory, organizes a high-altitude sit-in. Perched on the catwalk of a sixteen-story chimney during the long, bitter cold nights, Jinoh talks with his ancestors and friends, wonders about the meaning of life, and recalls wisdom passed down through the generations. Mater 2-10 is at once an epic tale capturing a nation's longing for a railway line that would connect North and South, a magical-realistic novel, and the culmination of Hwang Sok-yong's literary career, achieving show the pain of a divided nation while portraying a century of Korean history, from the Japanese colonial era to the 21st century.