문학과 지성사

Yi Chong-Jun was born in 1939 in Jangheung, South Jeolla Province, and studied German literature at Seoul National University. He has left numerous works in the span of forty years since his debut in 1965 when his short story “Leaving the Hospital” appeared in The World of Thought [Sasanggye]. The most famous works by Yi are the novels Your Paradise, Come Unto Down, An Unwritten Autobiography, The Dancing Priest, Now Raise Our Glass, White Attire, Festival, The Mythical Island, and The Age of Myth, the short story collections Let Me Show You Starts, The Wall of Rumors, The Dream of a Mask, Let’s Write Autobiographies, The Living Swamp, The Fire Worshipers, The Short Freeman, Seopyeonje, Flowers Wither, A River Flows, In Search of Lost Word, and I Had to Forget The Place Again. In addition to teaching students at Hanyang University and Sunchon National University, he also served as a member of the National Academy of Arts, Republic of Korea. He passed away in July 2008 due to chronic illness and was buried in his hometown Jangheung.

He was the recipient of the 1968 Dong-in Literary Award, the 1969 Korean Culture and Arts Award, the 1976 Hankuk Creative Writing Award, the 1978 Yi Sang Literary Award, the 1990 Isan Literary Award, the 1994 Daesan Literary Award, the 1998 21st Century Literary Award, the 2003 Inchon Award, and the 2007 Ho-am Prize in the Arts, and posthumously awarded the Gold Crown Class Order of Cultural Merit by the President of South Korea.