Yi Sang: Selected Works

Yi Sang (1920-1937) was a painter, architect, poet and writer of 1930s Korea, when Korean peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule. Yi Sang wrote and published in both Korean and Japanese until his early death from tuberculosis at the age of 27, after imprisonment by Japanese police for thought crimes in Tokyo. His work shows innovative engagement with European modernism, especially that of Surrealism and Dada. He is considered one of the most experimental writers of Korean modernism.

• Yi Sang: A Timeline (by Jack Jung)Poem No. 1Poems No. 4 & 5Poemstranslated from the Korean by Jack JungIBird’s Eye ViewPoem 1Poem 2Poem 3Poem 4Poem 5Poem 6Poem 7Poem 8Poem 9Poem 10Poem 11Poem 12Poem 13Poem 14Flowering TreeThis Kind of Poetry1933, 6, 1MirrorCommon AnniversaryPoem 15II* Titled * For * So * Yŏng *DecorumPaper TombstonePaper Tombstone—The Missing Wife—FortunetellingBrazierMorningsFamilyFortunetellingPathIIIStreet Outside StreetClear MirrorCritical Conditions○Ban○Pursuit○Drowning○Cliff○White Painting○Lineage○Location○Prostitution○Lifetime○Innards○Blood Relation○Self-PortraitI WED A TOY BRIDEIVParadise LostGirlParagraphs on Blood RelationsParadise LostFace MirrorMoon WoundYi Sang’s cover design ofChosun and Architecture magazineReproductions of poems in Japanese: “Architecture Infinite Hexagon: Diagnosis 0:1” and “Architecture Infinite Hexagon: 22 years”Poemstranslated from the Japanese by Sawako NakayasuIntroduction to the Japanese Poems of Yi Sang (by Sawako Nakayasu)from Abnormal Reversible Reaction○Abnormal Reversible Reaction○Fragment Scenery○ ▽’s Games○ Beard○Hungerfrom Bird’s Eye View○Two People—1—○Two People—2—○LE URINE○Movementfrom Solid Angle Blueprint○Memorandum on the Line 1○Memorandum on the Line 2○Memorandum on the Line 3○Memorandum on the Line 4○Memorandum on the Line 5○Memorandum on the Line 6○Memorandum on the Line 7from Architecture Infinite Six-Sided Figure○AU MAGASIN DE NOUVEAUTES○Diagnosis 0:1Yi Sang with writer Pak T’ae-wŏn and poet Kim So-unEssaystranslated from the Korean by Jack JungA Journey into the Mountain VillageEnnuiAfter SickbedSad StoryA Letter to My SisterTokyonotesStoriestranslated from the Korean by Don Mee Choi and Joyelle McSweeneyYi Sang’s House (by Don Mee Choi)Page from “Spider&SpiderMeetPigs” with original spacing in Korean and EnglishSpider&SpiderMeetPigsnotesTrue Story—Lost FlowernotesAfterword: Thirteen for Yi Sang, for Arachne (by Joyelle McSweeney)Yi Sang Collage (by Don Mee Choi)Acknowledgments