Brother Anthony of Taizé has donated to the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, his extensive library of nineteenth and early twentieth-century books by foreigners on Korea and will offer comments on selected books and the personalities behind them.
Biography
Brother Anthony of Taizé (naturalized Korean name An Sonjae) studied Medieval and Modern languages at Oxford. In 1969 he joined the Taizé Community in France. After three years’ service in a Philippine slum, in May 1980, Brother Anthony joined other brothers in Korea, invited by the late Archbishop of Seoul, Cardinal Kim Sou-Hwan. He taught English literature at Sogang University, Seoul, for nearly three decades, while translating works of modern Korean literature and also writing books and articles about literature and translation.
Brother Anthony has published a wide variety of works by classical writers and modern writers. In 1991 he won a Modern Korean Literature Translation Award from The Korea Times for his translation of “Headmaster Abe” by Ko Un. He served as President of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch (2011-2020). He was awarded the Korean government’s Order of Cultural Merit, Jade Crown class, in October 2008 for his work in promoting knowledge of Korean literature in the world. In 2015 he received an MBE. He currently lives in Seoul.