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When Han Pyongt'ae is twelve, his family moves from Seoul to a provincial town and he joins a new elementary school. He finds his class totally under the thumb of Om Sokdae. Sokdae is not a bully but a genuine dictator, a charismatic leader who maintains order as much by cleverness as by force, and who mobilises the class to achieve and against outsiders. For months Pyongt'ae fights his rule, attempting to stage a revolt, refusing to kow-tow, and facing ostracism and harassment as a result. Eventually he gives in and, raised to be Sokdae's right-hand man, comes to enjoy the privileges of power. Then a new teacher arrives and everything falls apart...

Our Twisted Hero is clearly an allegory for Korean politics, for the transition from an arguably benevolent but totalitarian regime to an uncertain democracy. It is never didactic or clumsy, however, and it works as a story of a child at school, without any political background. While the setting is Korean, the individual quandary is universal — the psychological lure of the strongman and the comfort and security he brings. Our Twisted Hero is short — more a novella than a novel — but spare and unadorned and focused; as a study in childhood politics it can stand next to Lord of the Flies.

李文烈

南韓最傑出的當代小說家，生於1948年，曾擔任記者和教師。《人子》(1979)、《那一年冬天》(1980)、《有一對金色翅膀的鳥》(1982)、《皇上萬歲》(1983)等小說作品，讓他聲名鵲起。晚近作品包括2000年的《歌中之歌》。迄今共創作了數十篇的長、短篇小說，以及兩本政治經濟評論文章的結集。 李文烈的作品已翻譯成法文、德文、英文等語言，並贏得南韓許多權威文學獎，包括「今日作家獎」、「東仁文學獎」、「大韓民國文學獎」、「中央文化大獎」，以及「現代文學獎」等。 1987年的《扭曲的英雄》，寫成於南韓威權統治依然酷烈的時候，不但贏得「李箱文學獎」，1992年還曾搬上大銀幕。