1938년생. 고교 졸업 후 도미하여 브라운대와 하바드대에서 수학. 후에 재도미하여 1972년 하바드대에서 D. H. 로런스 연구로 영문학박사 학위를 받았다. 1966년 계간 『창작과비평』을 창간했으며 서울대 영문과 교수, 민족문학작가회의 이사장, 시민방송 RTV 이사장, 6•15공동선언실천남측위원회 상임대표 등을 역임하며 민족문학론을 전개하고 분단체제의 체계적 인식과 실천적 극복에 매진해왔다. 현재 서울대 명예교수, 계간 『창작과비평』 편집인으로 있다.
『민족문학과 세계문학 1 / 인간해방의 논리를 찾아서』(합본 개정판) 『민족문학과 세계문학 2』『민족문학의 새 단계』『통일시대 한국문학의 보람』 등의 문학평론집과 『백낙청 회화록』(전5권)을 냈고, 그밖에 『분단체제 변혁의 공부길』 『흔들리는 분단체제』 『한반도식 통일, 현재진행형』 『어디가 중도며 어째서 변혁인가』 등의 사회평론서와 다수의 편저서가 있다. 제2회 심산상ㆍ제1회 대산문학상(평론부문)ㆍ제14회 요산문학상ㆍ제5회 만해상 실천상ㆍ제11회 늦봄문익환통일상ㆍ제11회 한겨레통일문화상ㆍ제3회 후광김대중학술상 등을 수상했다.
Born in 1938, Paik Nak-chung graduated from Kyonggi High School in Seoul and Brown University in the United States, and went on to do graduate work at Harvard University, where he received his MA (1960) and PhD (1972) in English Literature (with a dissertation on D.H. Lawrence). After starting a teaching career in the English Department of Seoul National University in 1963, he founded The Quarterly Changbi in 1966, of which he is still the Editor. In 1974 he was dismissed from Seoul National University for demanding a democratic constitution, but returned to his post in 1980 after the death of Park Chung Hee. A literary critic, he has authored: National Literature and World Literature (2 volumes; 1978 and 1985), In Search of the Logic of Human Liberation (1979), The New Stage of National Literature (1990), The Path of Practice for Transforming the Division System (1994), The Division System in Crisis (1998), Rewards of Korean Literature in the Age of Reunification (2006), Unification Korean-Style, Present Progressive Tense (2006), and Where Is the Middle Way and Wherefore Transformation? (2009), editing and co-authoring many books as well, including a five-volume Conversations of Paik Nak-chung (2007). He has received numerous awards such as the 2nd Simsan Prize (1987), the 1st Daesan Literary Prize (in Criticism, 1993), the 14th Yosan Literary Award (1997), the 5th Manhae Prize (for activism, 2001), and the 3rd Kim Dae-jung Academic Award (2009). Currently, he is Professor Emeritus of English at Seoul National University, Co-President of the Korea Peace Forum, and the South Korean Chair Emeritus of the All-Korean Committee for Implementation of the June 15 Joint Declaration.
