Yun Humyong | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Yun Sang-gyu (1946-01-17)January 17, 1946 |
| Died | May 8, 2025(2025-05-08) (aged 79) |
| Language | Korean |
| Nationality | South Korean |
| Alma mater | Yonsei |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 윤상규 [1] |
| Hanja | 尹尙奎 |
| RR | Yun Sanggyu |
| MR | Yun Sanggyu |
| Pen name | |
| Hangul | 윤후명 |
| Hanja | 尹厚明 |
| RR | Yun Humyeong |
| MR | Yun Humyŏng |
Yun Hu-myong[a] (January 17, 1946 – May 8, 2025) was a South Korean writer who published poetry, novels, and essays.[3]
Background
Yun was born in the city of Gangneung in Gangwon, South Korea, under the name Yun Sang-gyu. He received his bachelor's degree in philosophy from Yonsei University.[4]
Yun died on May 8, 2025, at the age of 79.[5]
Work
Although he was one of the major Korean writers of the 1980s, Yun's fiction maintains some distance from the dominant trend in Korean fiction of 1980s—the concern with realism as an effective literary tool in rendering contemporary social situations. Instead, what supports Yun's fictional world are individual desire and the power of fantasy. The archetypal situation in Yun's works is that of a man suffering from a sense of ontological lack; deadened by routines of daily life, he immerses himself in fantasy or travel in order to secure what life in the real world has denied him—meaning of existence and genuine engagement with another human being. Often this search hinges on the protagonist's ardent yearning for a woman. The fantasy cannot last, but it is the ceaseless movement away from the vulgar reality that has the potential to resurrect the self from existential insecurity, loneliness, or despair. Such romantic individualism is heightened by the sensitive, lyrical style of writing that reflects Yun's poetic sensibilities.[3]
Yun's novels deal with the relationship between fantasy and reality in individuals' lives. In a similar fashion, his poetry deals with the connection between the profound and the mundane.
Books
- Expert Archer, poetry, (1977)
- Don Juan's Love, novel, (1983)
- Resurrecting Birds, novel, (1985)
- There Is No Ape, novel, (1989)
- To Stars, novel, (1990)
- You, My Bad Darling, essays, (1990)
- The Generation Without Promise, novel, (약속없는 세대)
Awards
His poems were awarded the Kyonghyang Shinmun Literature prize in 1967, Then in 1979, he was awarded the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award for his short stories in 1979. In the 1980s, he received several awards for his fiction.[6] In 1995, he was awarded the Yi Sang Literary Prize for White Boat. In 2021, he won the Samil Prize.
References
- ^ This is the author's preferred Romanization per LTI Korea[2]
- ^ 조수미 씨에게 금관 문화훈장… 50주년 맞은 문화훈장 15명 수훈. Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (South Korea) (in Korean). 2023-10-27.
윤후명(본명 윤상규)
- ^ "Author Database". LTI Korea. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
- ^ a b "Yun Hu-myong" LTI Korea Datasheet available at LTI Korea Library or online at: "Author Database - Korea Literature Translation Institute". Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
- ^ Lee, Kyung-ho (1996). "Yu, Hu Myong". Who's Who in Korean Literature. Seoul: Hollym. pp. 553–53. ISBN 1-56591-066-4.
- ^ Kim, Jin-joo. "소설 '하얀 배' 윤후명 작가 별세…향년 79세". m.news.nate.com (in Korean). The Korea Times. Retrieved May 8, 2025.
- ^ KOREAN LITERATURE TODAY Volume 2, No.3, Fall 1997 Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine URL accessed July 29, 2007
