Yi Kiyŏng was born in Chungcheongnam Province (충청남도) in 1895. After his mother passed away in 1907, he enrolled at an underfunded school close to his home before transferring in 1907 to the Yeongjin School (사립영진학교) and graduating in 1910. In 1922, he studied abroad in Japan at the Seisoku English School(東京正則英語學校) for high school.
Yi made his literary debut in 1924 through his story “My Brother’s Secret Letter” (오빠의비밀편지). He also joined the Korean Artists Proletarian Association (KAPF) in 1925 and was subsequently arrested in 1931 for his KAPF membership. He would later defect to North Korea after liberation and continue his work as an prolific writer, publishing 90 short stories, 14 books, and 3 plays. In North Korea, he also had the opportunity to serve in the North Korean Federation of Literature and Arts.
Yi is best known as a representative author of proletarian fiction featuring the agrarian lifestyles of Koreans in the northern borderlands between Korea and China. His serialized work “Hometown” (고향), published from 1933-1934, and “Seohwa” (서화 /鼠火) depicted the exploitation of farmers that motivated them to emigrate to Manchuria, Japan, and China. He passed away due to illness in North Korea during the summer of 1984.
For more information see:
- https://library.ltikorea.or.kr/writer/200282
- https://www.doopedia.co.kr/doopedia/master/master.do?_method=view&MAS_IDX=101013000779122
- https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0043868
- https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315622811-4
Bibliography
Examples of Writing
Image Gallery
