koreanlit1-6, Exercise 3: Yi Sang and Yun Dong-ju

Model answer:

Yi Sang (1910 to 1937): studied architecture at Gyeongseong Technical College; worked as a government building official until tuberculosis forced him out in 1933; joined the Guinhoe group in 1934. Works: Crow's Eye View (1934, 15 experimental poems, cut short after hostility) and The Wings. Early poems in Japanese. Died in Tokyo on 17 April 1937, aged 26, after detention for questioning on ideological charges and hospitalisation. Little recognition in his lifetime; reprinted from the 1950s; reputation grew in the 1970s; Yi Sang Literary Award from 1977. Uncertain: the circumstances of his death (differing interpretations); early translations were loose and inconsistent.

Yun Dong-ju (1917 to 1945): born in Longjing, Jilin; graduated Yonhi College 1941; studied English literature in Japan from 1942 (Rikkyo, then Doshisha); arrested 1943; died in Fukuoka Prison on 16 February 1945, aged 27. Sky, Wind, Star and Poem: 31 poems in January 1948 with an introduction by Chong Ji-yong; expanded edition of 116 poems in 1976. Uncertain: the cause of death (accounts of saltwater injections and experiments carry a "citation needed" tag).

Sources: Wikipedia, Yi Sang; Yun Dong-ju.