From the back cover: Some years ago Shin Chang-ho gave me two clay figurines he made himself. I always keep them in front of me. The figurines, with their lovely quizzical expressions, seem to carry on an endless dialogue on the things nearest to Shin Chang-ho’s heart: poetry, pottery, painting. What is a poet? Someone, … [Read More]
Booklist: Literature Fiction and Poetry (page 62)
Contemporary Korean Poetry
I have prepared this anthology with the aim of providing the reader with a bird’s-eye view of modern Korean poetry, with its best sampling, from the 1920s to the 1980s, best in the sense that it represents the varied aspects of Korean poetry [Read More]
Tilting the jar, spilling the moon: poems from Koryo, Choson and contemporary Korea
This book represents the very best of the Korean poetic tradition, from Yi Kyu-bo to the present, a poetry alert to humour and transcendence. Kevin O’Rourke is an Irish priest working with the Columban Fathers in Korea. Currently he is professor of English at Kyunghee University. Source: back cover [Read More]
Selected Poems of Kim Namjo
From the publisher’s website: A generous selection of poems by one of Korea’s most honored and highly regarded poets. Kim Namjo published her first book of poems, Life (Moksum), in 1953. In the years since then, in another ten collections of poems, she has explored in her books, an intensely experienced religious faith, and a … [Read More]
Peace Under Heaven
Originally published in Seoul in 1938, soon after the outbreak of the Pacific War, “Peace Under Heaven” is a satirical novel centering on the household of a Korean landlord during the Japanese colonial occupation. Master Yun, embodying the traditional ambitions of a standard Korean paterfamilias, by being projected fast forward into a modern urban environment, … [Read More]
Encounter
This historical novel, Encounter (만남), by Hahn Moo-Sook, one of Asia’s most honored writers, is a story of the resilience in the Korean spirit. It is told through the experiences of Tasan, a high-ranking official and foremost Neo-Confucian scholar at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Because of Tasan’s fascination with Western learning, then synonymous … [Read More]
A Korean Century: River and Fields
Over 100 poems of a spiritual nature. Born into a Catholic family in what is now North Korea, Ku Sang is one of South Korea’s leading poets. “”The poems display a rewarding blend of East and West, not only in religions (particularly Catholicism and Buddhism) but also in attitudes….A fine poet, well translated”” – World … [Read More]
Pine River and Lone Peak: An Anthology of Three Choson Dynasty Poets
From the publisher’s website: Taken from the pen names Chong Ch’ol and Yun Sondo, respectively, Pine River and Lone Peak represents the works of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Korean masters of the short lyric poetry (sijo) and narrative verse (kasa) forms. This new translation also includes the works of Pak Illo, as well as a … [Read More]
Faint Shadows of Love
The first Korean poet to deal with ecological themes, Kim creates poems full of delicate irony. Their satire is the more devastating for being quietly stated. Available from LTI Korea website or second-hand [Read More]
Mandala
Mandala, as the title suggests, deals with Buddhist themes. A depiction of the ten years Kim spent as a Buddhist monk and his eventual return to the secular world, the text addresses the conflict between individual enlightenment and redemption of the humankind as a whole. Ultimately, the author comes to the paradoxical conclusion that ‘finding … [Read More]
Wind Burial
A collection of poetry from Korean poet Dong-gyu Hwang. “Hwang’s case is a unique phenomenon in Korean poetry. He survived the prevailing romantic gloom to achieve new depth and lucidity. His life-affirming voice has begun to ‘exercise’ power.” -Chong-ho Yu- [Read More]
Selected Poems of Pak Mogwol
No information available. [Read More]
Infant Splendor
Poems by Ku Sang (1919 – 2004) Translated by Brother Anthony Paintings by Jung Kwang (1935 – 2002) This one is pretty difficult to get hold of, and it is not listed in WorldCat. Abe Books seems to have a copy, but otherwise this title doesn’t show up much in internet search results. If it … [Read More]
Shadows of a Sound
Contains the following stories: Cloudburst Clowns Cranes Drizzle Masks Shadows of a Sound Snow The Diving Girl Time for You and Me Alone Widows [Read More]
Sunlight, Moonlight
No synopsis available [Read More]