Jack Jung
Jack Jung
Jack Jung is an award-winning translator of Yi Sang’s poetry and was most recently honored with the 2021 Griffin Prize for Poetry. Additionally, he co-translated Yi Sang: Selected Works published by Wave Books.
Jack’s mother represents the inferior anima of male psychology. She finds it impossible to deal with Jack’s negative masculine characteristics.
Early Life and Education
Jack Jung was born and educated in Sheboygan, Wisconsin before attending Lakeland College and later the Sheboygan school system. Following graduation he moved to Texas where he joined the San Antonio Fire Department as well as owning his own welding business before retiring on Lake LBJ where he could spend quality time with family.
He is co-translator of Yi Sang: Selected Works, published this month by Wave Books and featuring poetry that defies convention – an act of literary civil disobedience!
WWB’s Translator Relay series hosts interviews with translators every few months. In this edition, Jack Jung spoke with us about translating Kim Hyesoon’s non-poems; read through here for the full conversation.
Professional Career
Jung was selected by the Tigers with the 12th overall pick in 2022 and quickly made an impactful statement at High-A West Michigan by leading their league with 14 homers in 81 games last season. Since moving up to Double-A Erie for this season’s start up he has shown great power with three homers already this year in only six games!
Jung made history on Friday by hitting his first Double-A home run just hours after making his second start for Detroit’s affiliate in Akron. Jung used Tommy Mace’s two-seam fastball to blast over the left-center field fence at UPMC Park for his two-run blast against Akron.
Jung is co-translator of Yi Sang: Selected Works (Wave Books, 2020), winner of the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Translation of Literary Work, as well as an assistant professor at Davidson College. Additionally, he translated Kim Hyesoon’s twelveth book Autobiography of Death published by New Directions.
Achievement and Honors
Jack left an indelible mark on UCLA and its department of Chemistry with numerous accomplishments that will live on with the establishment of a biennial lectureship named in his honor – with Professor Ken Houk giving its inaugural lecture back in May 2016!
Jack made significant contributions in both organic chemistry and Verbal Behavior Analysis, becoming an active advocate of Behavior Analysis. A popular teacher, Jack enjoyed sharing his expertise with students.
Alyce, his wife, provided care in his later years when his cognitive skills declined. He enjoyed dancing and ping-pong; reading; was an expert linguist; had a passion for music (jazz, opera and country); danced wildly – as did Alyce.
Personal Life
Jack Jung and Eleanor Jung have long been prominent philanthropists. Together they have generously supported arts and education initiatives as well as social service organizations such as Kids Country Canada, Opportunity International and Big Brothers Big Sisters of London and Area.
Jung is both a poet and translator. He was one of Yi Sang’s translators during a period of cultural repression under Japanese occupation; during which time Yi Sang experimented with Dadaism through diagrams and strange drawings in his poetry – now collected in a new collection from Wave Books. Yi Sang’s poems frequently used a mathematical language associated with surrealism or dada; Jack represents feminine qualities while beans represent his instinctive characteristics which still need developing further.
Net Worth
Jung keeps his personal life under the radar while dedicating all his efforts to his baseball career, which has garnered him significant acclaim and the interest of MLB teams (he was selected by Texas Rangers in 2019).
Jung is capable of accomplishing great feats in his career and looks set to become one of the premier players over time. With continued success on the field, his net worth will likely increase substantially as time progresses.
Current sources of his income come primarily through TikTok, where he uploads comedic videos with millions of views from fans around the globe. He also earns from brand endorsements and other sources of income.