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A review by spacestationtrustfund
Yi Sang: Selected Works by Yi Sang
4.0
『이상 작품선』 is the best English-language book on Yi Sang (이상), né Kim Haegyeong (김해경), I've read yet. Contains various poems originally written in Japanese, translated by Sawako Nakayasu; poems written in Korean, translated by Jack Jung; various essays originally written in Korean, translated by Jack Jung; various stories originally written in Korean, translated by Choi Don-Mee (최돈미) and Joyelle McSweeney; and various biographical and contextual information. The majority (forty-nine poems, six essays, two short stories) of the book was originally written in Korean, with only twelve poems originally written in Japanese, and those included additional information by the translators which explained some of the ways in which Yi Sang modified and subverted the language of the Japanese colonisers.
Although I like to think I know a fair amount about Yi Sang (certainly more than the average person, which is sadly not that difficult given how underappreciated he is), there was some information I'd never heard, such as Kwon Yeongmin (권영민)'s theory that Yi Sang's pen name was chosen "in order to honor a gift given to him by a fellow painter friend ... The gift was purportedly a painter's box made out of plum wood. The Literary Chinese characters for Yi Sang's name are 李箱. The first character, 李 (Yi), means 'plum tree,' and the second character, 箱 (Sang), means 'box.' Yi Sang's painter friend was likely Korean impressionist painter Gu Bon-woong ... Later, Gu Bon-woong would also paint a portrait of Yi Sang, titled 'Portrait of a Friend.'"
That's Gu Bon-ung (구본웅), Yi Sang's lifelong best friend (and possibly lover). Here they are:
Cute, right? This is the portrait, titled 『우인상』 (友人像):
The only story I'd heard before is Pak Taewon (박태원)'s claim that a Japanese supervisor mistakenly called him "Mr. Lee" (the second-most-common Korean surname) instead of "Mr. Kim" (the first-most-common Korean surname), i.e., 李さん (Li-san) in Japanese, which would be 이상 (Yi-sang) in Korean. The kanji 李箱 are also homophonous for 異常 (strange, abnormal), 理想 (an ideal), and 以上 (aforementioned, more than), among others.
Also, there's a higher-quality version of one of my favourite pictures of Yi Sang:
Wasn't he cute? I think he was real cute.
Although I like to think I know a fair amount about Yi Sang (certainly more than the average person, which is sadly not that difficult given how underappreciated he is), there was some information I'd never heard, such as Kwon Yeongmin (권영민)'s theory that Yi Sang's pen name was chosen "in order to honor a gift given to him by a fellow painter friend ... The gift was purportedly a painter's box made out of plum wood. The Literary Chinese characters for Yi Sang's name are 李箱. The first character, 李 (Yi), means 'plum tree,' and the second character, 箱 (Sang), means 'box.' Yi Sang's painter friend was likely Korean impressionist painter Gu Bon-woong ... Later, Gu Bon-woong would also paint a portrait of Yi Sang, titled 'Portrait of a Friend.'"
That's Gu Bon-ung (구본웅), Yi Sang's lifelong best friend (and possibly lover). Here they are:
Cute, right? This is the portrait, titled 『우인상』 (友人像):
The only story I'd heard before is Pak Taewon (박태원)'s claim that a Japanese supervisor mistakenly called him "Mr. Lee" (the second-most-common Korean surname) instead of "Mr. Kim" (the first-most-common Korean surname), i.e., 李さん (Li-san) in Japanese, which would be 이상 (Yi-sang) in Korean. The kanji 李箱 are also homophonous for 異常 (strange, abnormal), 理想 (an ideal), and 以上 (aforementioned, more than), among others.
Also, there's a higher-quality version of one of my favourite pictures of Yi Sang:
Wasn't he cute? I think he was real cute.