Lee, Dong-kyu took the rostrum in the early 1930s and passed away in the spring of 1952. During these over 20 years as relatively short period of time, he was active as novelist, playwright, critic and children's literature beyond the boundaries of the genre. So he was an unusual writer who introduced nearly the amount of side dozens of works as counted nowadays. However, he and his works have not received much on the people, therefore it has not been enough discussion on the whole world of his works. Under the such awareness of this issue, the purpose of this article is to arrange his life with viewing his whole works in varying the subject in time, to settle the basement of the full-fledged discussion and to support to estimate his position on the history of literature.
He was born in Seoul on the 8th September in 1911 with Chul-a as pseudonym. He submitted some poets in 1930, published short novel 「Mute」 in ≪A-deung≫on December in 1931 and began his full-fledged literary activity as joining in Korean Proletariat Artist Federation(KAPF) in 1932. He got detained in Jun-ju prison for the case of the 2nd KAPF arrest in October 1934, after being set free as probation in December in 1935, he published the collection of plays 『Princess Rang-nang』 working in ≪Monthly tale≫. After 1940, he posted the series of works which seemed like to support the policy of the Empire of Japan, but showed over 10 of novels and critiques including the full-length novel 『Kim, Yu-shin the General』 published in March 1944, just before the Liberation. In early 1946, just after the Liberation, he came to North Korea, become the central executive committee in the federation of literature and art in North Korea, after that he was active in the center of the literature in North Korea, as serving as the editor in chief in ≪Democratic Korea≫, as being appointed in the professor of the college of education in Pyung-yang. During the Korean war, he came to South Korea as the member of the war writers, after that he entered Ji-ri mountain for no way to North Korea, became the partisan there. Then it is supposed that he was killed by gun in the spring of 1952.
His works are able to separated toughly between before the Liberation and after that time. The time his taking the rostrum, he embodied the lives of workers and farmer as the member of the KAPF, after being set free from the prison as probation, he paid attention and described the lives of women and the intellectual which belong other class of full society in colonial reality. So, before the Liberation he focused in describing the various lives that should endure isolated painful their lives in that time, after the Liberation, on the other hand, he did best to criticize the situation of the only confusion and chaos from the division and conflict still having the remnant of the Japanese Empire. Because he couldn't easily permit that time's fault which lost the urgent problem setting the ideal society and state.
The eye of insight and criticism for reality is the key word which penetrates the world of works in that have a little bit different trend between before the Liberation and after that time. Without the eye of insight which penetrates the whole society, it was impossible to describe the various group in before the Liberation, without the eye of criticism which could reach his desire for that time, on the other side, it was also impossible for him to point the remnant of the Japanese Empire where little difference between before the Liberation and after that time or to dream the ideal society and state with distinguish between South Korea and North Korea, it would be said.