ABSTRACT
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of Yi Sang, one of the most renowned Korean avant-garde writers. It is generally acknowledged by Korean literary critics that he was the first to introduce surrealist elements in his poems and short stories in the early 1930s. Born during the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula (1910–1945), during his early school years Yi Sang was initially interested in studying painting. However, he decided to become an architect: he received his first architectural education from Gyeongseong Technical High School and started to work as an architectural technician for the Japanese Government- General of Korea in 1929 ( Figure 9.1 ).
