Yi Munyeol

Yi has been awarded almost every major national literary prize, and his works have been translated into 21 different languages as of 2021. An informal count has estimated that over 30 million copies of his books have been sold. An estimated 50 thousand copies have been sold in France. One of his works was also selected by the German Literature Society as one of the best publications of 2011. In 2011, Yi Mun-yol was also the first Korean fiction writer to have a story appear in The New Yorker ("An Anonymous Island", translated by Heinz Insu Fenkl). Many of Yi's novels have been adapted for film including: Our Twisted Hero, Portrait of Days of Youth, Our Joyful Young Days, Anonymous Island, Son of Man, Lette's Song, All That Falls Has Wings. The first four of these are available with English captions from the Korean Classic Film Archive Website. His novel, Fox Hunting, was adapted for a musical play, The Last Empress, which depicts the life of Empress Myeongseong, who the Japanese agents referred to as a fox spirit and their operation to assassinate her as fox hunting. The play was performed in Seoul, London and New York.

Son of Man explores the theme of the complex relationship between God and humanity through the eyes of two characters who are doubtful of the Jewish and Christian worldviews. The work consists of two novels, a detective story and the unpublished manuscript of a novel written by the victim of a murder. The latter, the inner story and core of the work, imagines the character of Ahasuerus, the Wandering Jew. In the first half of the story, Ahasuerus leaves his home in Judea and embarks on a quest to understand the meanings of religious ideologies from across the ancient world. As described in a Korean Literature Now review, his travels to the centers of religious thought lead him to conclude that all were the product of "political intrigue and the base desires of a frightened populace" In the second half of the story, he returns to his homeland. He undertakes a fast in the desert where he meets the Great Spirit, an opponent of the Jewish god, Yahweh. In an alternate telling of the gospel story of the Temptation of Jesus, he also finds Jesus, who is similarly fasting, and attempts to convince him of the unreasonableness of the laws of Yahweh, with respect to free will, human suffering and punishment for sin. Ahasuerus petitions Jesus to turn rocks into bread to feed a suffering humanity, to no avail. A similar confrontation occurs when Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount, when Ahasuerus accuses Jesus of offering "empty promises of paradise". Finally, he meets Jesus on his way to Calvary and refuses to aid him. This act leads him to be sentenced to wander the earth forever, a fate which allows him to continue his search for truth. The unpublished manuscript of the novel was written by a former theology student, Min Yoseop, who has been murdered. He left seminary, disillusioned by the perceived hypocrisy he found there and, together with a devoted follower, attempts to relieve the suffering of downtrodden Koreans (so prevalent after the Korean war) in a more direct way. The text of the manuscript provides clues to solving the murder. There are strong parallels between Min Yoseop and Ahasuerus, both of whom are consumed by their philosophical ideals. The tragic outcome was considered an expression of Yi's pessimism concerning the ability of people to save themselves. Brother Anthony, who translated this work, noted that, in his view, the work represents criticism of Protestant Christianity in South Korea after the Korean war. At the time, some pastors preyed on the vulnerability of their parishioners for their own economic advantage. He suggested that Yi's views may have been influenced by his upbringing which was steeped in Confucianism. The work has been revised several times, most recently in 2020. In an interview that was conducted while that revision was underway, Yi stated that when the original book was published, the Korean public had very little knowledge of comparative religion and he believed that his work helped to fill that void. It was well documented with 335 footnotes, although these were not included in the English translation. An academic review concluded that it was derived from apocrypha, Gnosticism and the perspective of Korean Minjung theology (literally the peoples' theology).

Yi had a long association with the Korean publishing company, Minumsa, which published his work over a 40-year period. This association was broken in 2020 when another publishing company, RH Korea, began to reissue some of his work including Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Son of Man.

Hail to the Emperor! deals with the heated competition of imperial world powers around Korea at the end of the 19th century and goes on through the Japanese colonial era, the Korean War and the period of military dictatorial rule, penetrating through the modern history of Korea. With a Don Quixote-esque protagonist, the novel adopts a rich traditional style of prose displaying a comprehensive understanding of traditional East Asian literature, and drawing readers into the narrative with powerful descriptions of the turbulent history of Korea. Michelle Tanenbaum, in a review of the influence of Cervantes' Don Quixote on Korean literature concluded that Yi's Hail to the Emperor! was highly successful in capturing the spirit of the original novel. The protagonist, always referred to as the Emperor, "manifests a madness for excessive reading; he seeks out adventures that are directed toward the search for justice; he is accompanied by assistants who are equally mad; he inhabits the world of the past, which of course has vanished; and finally, he repeatedly commits insane acts, transforming the work into a comedy."

Choice is a novelized biography of Jang Gye-hyang, a 17th-century ancestor, by marriage, of Yi Mun-yol. (She is referred to in the book as Mrs. Jang, her maiden name, which is common practice in Korea.)  She was the daughter of Jang Heung-hyo, pen name Gyeongdang, a renowned Confucian scholar. She is highly talented in art and poetry which leads her father to lament that she was born a woman. His lament was interpreted as an expression of love but also as a warning of the discord that would occur if she were to insist on realizing her talents. She "chooses" instead to become a devoted wife, daughter-in-law, and mother. She rationalizes her circumstance with the statement: "there is nothing bigger and more beautiful than maintaining this world as a wife and preparing for a better world in the future as a mother". Mrs. Jang's talent for poetry once again awakened in her old age, after giving it up as a child. This allows her to stand at the peak under a matriarchal system, which is inspired by the patriarchal system.

In Appointment with My Brother, Yi Mun-yul imagines meeting with his half brother, born to his father and a new wife in North Korea. After the protagonist learns that his father has died after a 40-year separation, he makes an appointment to meet his North Korean half-brother and discovers that, despite their ideological differences, they have strong family ties. Their bond is cemented after drinking soju, a strong Korean drink, after a makeshift ceremony to honor their father. Heinz Insu Fenkl, the translator of the 2017 version of the novel, offered this assessment: "Yi Mun-yol's Meeting with My Brother offers a sobering, disillusioning, and yet poignant and hopeful perspective on the volatile relationship between the divided Koreas."

Yi has written novels, short stories, and Korean adaptations of classic Chinese novels, as well as political and social commentaries. In 2014, he stated "I have written 50 short stories and novellas in six volumes, 18 novels in 20 volumes, and two epic novels in 22 volumes. In addition, I have written two volumes of essays, one travelogue, and compiled and annotated a total of 20 volumes of Chinese classics, as well as 10 volumes of short and medium-length masterpieces of world literature."

In London Book Fair event interviews in 2014, Yi stated that had Our Twisted Hero been written realistically rather than allegorically, it never would have been published because of the censorship in South Korea in the 1980s when it was written. He went on to comment that after Chun Doo-hwan [a military strongman] became the president of South Korea, there was an understanding for intellectuals that if they stayed quiet, they wouldn't be punished.

In the early 2000s, Yi wrote newspaper opinion articles which stirred controversy for a political right leaning perspective. His book Homo Executans (2006) included a boiler mechanic, who claimed to be a reincarnation of Jesus, and a Mary Magdalen figure who worshiped him. The boiler mechanic is assassinated by activists who are abolished in turn by his followers. Apparently, it was intended as an analogical representation of left/right tensions in Korean society. It was considered highly political for some of the rhetoric included. Yi was also criticized for perceived anti-feminists portrayals of women during the Joseon period in Choice. In addition to these political/cultural controversies, concerns were raised over seeming unattributed similarities in plot and story between Our Twisted Hero and an earlier short story by another author.

Since 1999, he has also served as the head of Buak Literary Center, residential teaching facility for writers which he founded. He also has close ties to Gwangsan Literature Research Institute, in Dudeul Village (his hometown in Yeongyang county) and was instrumental in establishing its library which contains 20,000 books.

– Dong-A Ilbo award (1979) for Saehagok– Today's Writer Award (1979) for Son of Man– Dong-in Literary Award (1982) for Golden Phoenix, also known as Garuda– Korea Literature Prize (1983) for Hail to the Emperor– Joongang Literary Award (1984) for Age of Heroes– Yi Sang Literary Award (1987) for Our Twisted Hero– Hyundae Munhak Prize (1992) The Poet and The Thief– Republic of Korean Culture and Arts Award (1992)– France Medal of Cultural and Artistic Merit(1992)– 21st Century Literature Award (1998) for The Night Before, Or the Last Night of This Era– Ho-am Prize for the Arts (1999) for Border– The National Academy of Arts Award (2009)– Dongni Literature Prize (2012) for Lithuanian Woman

Finally in 1977, one of his short stories received honorable mention in literary awards given by Daegu Maeil Newspaper, after which he adopted the name Yi Mun-yol. The character, Mun, in his adopted name means "writer". He was awarded the Dong-A Ilbo award for a short story, Saehagok, in 1979. In 1979, he was also able at last to have his novel, The Son of Man, published and it won the prestigious Today's Writer Award. He then published a series of novels and short stories including Golden Phoenix, Hail to the Emperor, Age of Heroes and Our Twisted Hero, each of which won awards. He reached the peak of his literary productivity in the 1980s and 1990s but continued to write. His novel Lithuanian Woman won the Dongni Literature Prize in 2012. From 1994 to 1997, he taught Korean language and literature at Sejong University. He is currently a chair professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

Yi Mun-yol (born May 18, 1948) is a South Korean writer. Yi's given name at birth was Yol; the character, Mun (which translates as "writer"), was added after he took up a writing career. His works include novels, short stories and Korean adaptations of classic Chinese novels as well as political and social commentaries. An informal count has estimated that over 30 million copies of his books have been sold and, as of 2021, they have been translated into 21 languages. His works have garnered many literary awards and many have been adapted for film and television.

Yi Mun-yol was born in Cheongun-dong, a neighborhood in central Seoul, South Korea in 1948, but the outbreak of the Korean War and his father's defection to North Korea forced his family to move about until they settled in Yeongyang County, Gyeongsangbuk-do, the ancestral seat of his family. The fact that his father defected dramatically affected his life, as he was seen and treated as "the son of a political offender", and was "passed around among relatives He dropped out of the College of Education of Seoul National University in 1970. He then studied for the Korean bar exam and failed three times. He entered literary contests with little success. The manuscript of Son of Man, which later became his debut novel in book form, was rejected. He married in 1973 and then joined the army to complete his compulsory military service. After he was discharged from the army, he taught school at a private institute.