Jang Jung-il

Jang Jung-il (This is the author's preferred Romanization per LTI Korea^[1]) is a Korean poet and novelist.^[2]

Life

Poet, playwright and novelist Jang Jung-il was born in Dalseong, Daegu, Korea in 1962. He embarked on his literary career in 1984 when four of his poems including “Gangjeong ganda” were published in volume 3 of The World of Language .^[3]

Work

Jang Jung-il kicked off his literary career in 1984 with the publication of four poems including Going to Gangjeong in The World of Language and was quickly labeled a "masochistic terrorist," and a poet who "exposes pretenstinos of wickedness in society with devilishly puritanical spirit".^[4]

In 1987, his play Interior Drama (Sillaegeuk) was chosen as the winner of the New Spring Literary Contest sponsored by The Dong-a Ilbo and his poetry collection A Meditation on Hamburger (Haembeogeoae daehan meongsang) won the Kim Su-yeong Literature Prize. Despite the fact that his formal education ended after he graduated from Seongseo Middle School, Jang Jeong-il possesses encyclopedic knowledge of poetry, music, drama and culture, which heightened public fascination with the author.^[5] Jang’s When Adam Opens His Eyes (Adami nuneul tteulttae) contains stories of many different genres.

Much of Jang's work was made into movies or plays, including his A Journey with Oedipus.^[6] Jang’s work relies on the innovative technique of communicating through self-destruction. Exposing the destructive evil lying underneath the seemingly wholesome exterior of the society, the author purposely stimulates a feeling of discomfort in the readers while revealing himself fully and without shame. Jang was arrested when the court judged his novel, Try Lying to Me (Naegae geojinmareul haeboa, 1996) to be pornographic.^[7]

Works in Translation

• Voices in Diversity: Poets from Postwar Korea (전후시선 )
• When Adams Eyes Opened (November, 2013)

Works in Korean (Partial)

Poetry Collections

• A Meditation on Hamburger (Haembeogeoae daehan myeongsang, 1987)
• Catching a Cab in the Road (Gil anaeseo taeksi japgi) (1988)

Short-Story Collections

• I Send Myself To You (Neoaegae nareul bonaenda, 1992)
• Do You Believe in Jazz? (Neohiga jaejeureul minneunya?, 1994)
• Try Lying To Me (Naegae geojinmareul haeboa, 1996)

Collection of Plays

• A Long Journey (Gin yeohaeng, 1995).

Awards

• Kim Su-yeong Literature Prize

References

• Lee, Kyung-ho (1996). "Ahn, Jung-Hyo". Who's Who in Korean Literature. Seoul: Hollym. pp. 13–15. ISBN 1-56591-066-4. 
• "Yi Mun-Yol" Biographical PDF, LTI Korea, p. 3 available at LTI Korea Library online