He was born in Cheongun-dong of Seoul. He attended the Seoul National University, where he studied Korean Language Education. He dropped out in 1970. From 1994 to 1997, he taught Korean language and literature at Sejong University. Since 1999, he has served as the head of Buak Literary Center.

He has written novels, short stories, and political and social commentaries.

In 1999, he was awarded the Ho-Am Prize in the Arts. Yi is currently a visiting scholar at the Korea Institute, Harvard University.

Bibliography

• Our Twisted Hero (우리들의 일그러진 영웅) (1987), which was made into a 1992 film, directed by Park Chong-won
• The Son of Man
• Wild Ox
• For the Vanished Things
• The Shadow of Darkness
• Hail to the Emperor!
• A Snail's Outing
• At This Desolate Station
• Geumsijo
• The Age of Heroes
• The Poet and the Thief
• The Night Before, Or the Last Night of This Era
• Change
• Bird with Golden Wings
• Frontier Between Two Empires (epic novel in 12 Volumes, 1998)

External links

• Biography
• Review summary of Our Twisted Hero
• Review of Our Twisted Hero
• Picture of Yi Munyol
• IMDB entry