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Lee Sung-il

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In this Korean name, the family name is Lee.

Sung-Il Lee (Korean: 이성일; born 1943) is a South Korean professor, author, and translator. He is currently a professor emeritus at Yonsei University.

Biography

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He was born in Seoul in 1943. Sung-Il Lee grew up in South Korea and studied English at Yonsei University. He received his MA from UC Davis in 1973 and PhD from Texas Tech University in 1980.[1] In 1981, he started his lectures at Yonsei University and taught Shakespeare, English Renaissance drama and medieval English literature. He retired from the faculty in 2009.[2] As a professor emeritus at Yonsei University, he continues his works of translation.

Work

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During his career as a professor, Sung-Il Lee expressed his interest in Korean literature translation and criticized the translations mostly done by native English speakers.[3] He translated Korean literature into English, which includes his work of translating Hansi (漢詩, Korean classical poems in Chinese). His translations were published in a volume titled The Moonlit Pond.[4] The book was critically acclaimed by American publishers such as Choice Reviews which included Lee’s work in Outstanding Academic Books in 1998.[5][6] This book also received the 4th Award for Korean Literature Translation given by Korean Culture and Arts Foundation (currently Literature Translation Institute of Korea) in 1999.[7]

After the retirement in 2009, he continued his works of Korean literature translation. In 2011, he translated the works of Korean poet Yoo Chi-jin in support of The Daesan Foundation and published them in a volume titled Blue Stallion.[8]  In 2014, he translated the works of Korean poet Yi Yuksa and published them in a volume The Vertex, which partly includes the translations by Lee’s father In-Su Lee, the former professor at Korea University.[9] In 2016, his Shin Seok Jeong translation was selected as a beneficiary of The Daesan Foundation,[10] which was later published in the title Do You Know That Faraway Land?.[11] In 2019, he published his translated works of Jo Ji-hun in a volume titled Shedding of the Petals and held publication ceremony in New York.[12]

Aside from his Korean literature translation, he also translates English medieval and Renaissance literature. He translated the works of Shakespeare[13] and Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy[14] in Korean. Moreover, he worked on and critically acclaimed for the modern translation of Beowulf, which is notable as a non-native English speaker’s project.[15]

Publications

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  • The Moonlit Pond: Korean Classical Poems in Chinese. Copper Canyon Press, 1997.
  • The Brush and The Sword: Kasa, Korean Classical Poems in Prose. Cross-Cultural Communications, 2009.
  • Blue Stallion: Poems of Yu Chi-whan. Homa & Sekey Books, 2011.
  • The Crane in the Clouds: Shijo: Korean Classical Poems in the Vernacular. Homa & Sekey Books, 2013.
  • Nostalgia: Poems of Chung Ji-yong. Cross-Cultural Communications, 2017.
  • Beowulf in Parallel Texts: Translated with Textual and Explanatory Notes. Cascade Books, 2018.
  • Shedding of the Petals: Poems of Cho Jihoon A Dual Language Edition with Parallel Texts in Korean and English (English and Korean Edition). Cross-Cultural Communications, 2019.
  • Do You Know That Faraway Land?, Cross-Cultural Communications, 2020.
  • 고대영시선: 베오울프 외. 한국문화사, 2017.
  • 서반아비극. 소명출판, 2020.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Sung-Il Lee". Copper Canyon Press. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  2. ^ "연대 정창영 교수등 18명 퇴임". Seoul Economic Daily. 2009-01-14.
  3. ^ "한국문학/김우창-이성일교수 문제 제기". The Chosun Ilbo. 1994-03-22.
  4. ^ "[문학화제]한시 영역집 '달빛 연못' 미 언론서 호평". JoongAng Ilbo. 1998-09-10.
  5. ^ "[문학마을] 「탁월한 학술서적」 선정". The Dong-a Ilbo. 1999-03-02.
  6. ^ "[연세 뉴스] 이성일 교수 한시영역집 OAB 선정". Yonsei University. 1999-03-16. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  7. ^ "[동정] 이성일 교수(영어영문학전공)". Yonsei University. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  8. ^ "청마 유치진 시선집 Blue Stallion". KYOBO The Daesan Foundation. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  9. ^ "이육사 영문 시집 'The Vertex' 이성일 명예교수 '3代 합작' 펴내". The Korea Economic Daily. 2014-11-02.
  10. ^ "2016 한국문학 번역, 연구, 출판지원 지원대상작 선정". KYOBO The Daesan Foundation. 2016-08-10. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  11. ^ "[신간] '신석정 시'에 담긴 아름다운 시행, 영어권 독자에 소개". 전북일보 (in Korean). 2020-05-27. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  12. ^ "조지훈 英譯시집 첫 출간…뉴욕서 출판기념회". Maeil Business News Korea. 2019-09-22.
  13. ^ "이성일 교수, 셰익스피어 선집 1차분 번역". Yonhap News Agency (in Korean). 2011-08-10. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  14. ^ "[신간 안내] 영문학과 이성일 명예교수, 《서반아비극》 번역 출간". Yonsei University. 2020-06-11. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  15. ^ "Lee praised for modern translation of 'Beowulf'". The Korea Times. 2017-09-29. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
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