Jang Jeongil


Jang Jeongil is a South Korean poet, playwright, and novelist.

Life

Jang Jeongil was born in Dalseong County, Daegu, South Korea in 1962. He embarked on his literary career in 1984 when four of his poems including “Gangjeong ganda” were published in volume 3 of The World of Language.

Work

Jang Jeongil kicked off his literary career in 1984 with the publication of four poems including Going to Gangjeong in The World of Language and was quickly labeled a "masochistic terrorist," and a poet who "exposes pretensions of wickedness in society with devilishly puritanical spirit".
In 1987, his play Interior Drama was chosen as the winner of the New Spring Literary Contest sponsored by Dong-a Ilbo and his poetry collection A Meditation on Hamburger won the Kim Su-yeong Literature Prize. Despite the fact that his formal education ended after he graduated from Seongseo Middle School, Jang Jeong-il possesses encyclopedic knowledge of poetry, music, drama and culture, which heightened public fascination with the author.
Jang’s When Adam Opens His Eyes contains stories of many different genres.
Much of Jang Jeongil's work has been adapted into movies or plays, including his A Journey with Oedipus. Jang’s work relies on the innovative technique of communicating through self-destruction. Exposing the destructive evil lying underneath the seemingly wholesome exterior of the society, the author purposely stimulates a feeling of discomfort in the readers while revealing himself fully and without shame. Jang was arrested when the court judged his novel, Try Lying to Me to be pornographic.

Works in Translation

  • The Shampoo Fairy - This work was later the inspiration for the 1990 song '샴푸의 요정' by the band Light & Salt, Jang Kee-Ho & Park Sung-Sik. Further eliciting a 2020 remake of the same name by Tomorrow X Together
  • Voices in Diversity: Poets from Postwar Korea
  • When Adam's Eyes Opened

Works in Korean (Partial)

Poetry Collections
  • A Meditation on Hamburger
  • Catching a Cab in the Road
Short-Story Collections
Collection of Plays

Awards