Collection: Love in the Big City

Love in the Big City (대도시의 사랑법) by Sang Young Park (translated by Anton Hur) is a vibrant, witty, and deeply candid queer novel that stands as a major landmark in contemporary Korean literature.

Content

Told through four interconnected novellas, the story follows Young, a witty, cynical, and free-spirited gay man navigating youth, romance, identity, and grief in modern Seoul. The book tracks his life across various stages: sharing a tiny apartment with his best female friend Jaehee while going out in Itaewon, caring for his devoutly religious, dying mother, navigating an intense relationship with a man named Gyu-ho while living with HIV, and dealing with heartbreak during a trip to Bangkok. Through Young's candid voice, the novel captures the messy realities of young adulthood, modern intimacy, and queer life in a conservative society.