Writer Yi Mun-yŏl at Harvard

In February 2007, Harvard welcomed Yi Mun-yŏl as a Writer-in-Residence at the Korea Institute. A prolific writer, Yi Mun-yŏl is author of more than 20 full-scale novels and over 50 short stories. His books have been translated into more than 15 languages and have won numerous national and international awards.

This is the second time Yi has accepted a position as a Writer-in-Residence at an American university. Prior to coming to Harvard, Yi was Writer-in-Residence at the University of California—Berkeley from 2005 to 2006. “I like the atmosphere at Harvard,” says Yi. “Everybody is so studious and hardworking. The wealth of resources that are available here—particularly at the Yenching library—is also impressive.”

In April 5, 2007, Yi gave a talk at the Korea Colloquium in CGIS South building entitled “Haunted by Nightmare: Enlightenment Paranoia in Korean Literature.” In addition to giving lectures, Yi also plans on studying English, meeting scholars in Korean studies at Harvard, and, of course, writing his next novel. He is also organizing a conference on sijo, a type of Korean poetry, with the Korea Foundation professor of Korean literature David McCann. It is scheduled to be held next year in Andong, South Korea.

Yi Mun-yŏl

Born in Seoul, Korea in 1948, Yi Mun-yŏl studied Korean literature at Seoul National University. In 1970, he was forced to quit school to help his family and held many jobs, mostly in newspaper companies. In 1979 he began his career as a writer, and has since written many critically acclaimed novels, including Son of Man, A Portrait of My Youth, Heroic Age, and The Poet. He will finish his post at Harvard in December 2008.