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English(English) Article

A Fateful Meeting with Modern Korean Poetry | LIST

About the Article

Article
http://list.or.kr/node/946
Journal
list_Books from Korea
Issued Date
-
Page
-
Language
English(English)
Country
SOUTH KOREA
City
Seoul
Book
-
Writer
Chong Chi-Yong

About the Author

  • Chong Chi-Yong
  • Birth : 1903 ~ 1950
  • Occupation : Poet
  • First Name : Chi-Yong
  • Family Name : Chong
  • Korean Name : 정지용
  • ISNI : 0000000084824322
  • Works : 27
Descriptions - 1 Languages
  • English(English)

A Fateful Meeting with Modern Korean Poetry   By Yin Hai-yan on Nov 09 2014 06:36:13 Vol.21 Autumn 2013 It was by coincidence that I encountered Chong Chi-Yong, the first modernist Korean poet. That is why I never imagined that he would become so central in my life. Twenty years ago when I had just enrolled in a master’s degree program, I visited the home of a friend of my father and came across Jo Jung-rae’s epic novel, Taebaek Mountain Range in his study. I borrowed it and read the whole series. Twenty years has passed, yet I still have a vivid memory of the poem “Nostalgia” that was in the book. I cannot forget the shivers I experienced upon reading that poem which was an integral part of the narrative of the novel. But there was no way of knowing about the poet Chong Chi-Yong, the writer of “Nostalgia,” the poem I fell in love with, or his other works. It was not until the following year that China and Korea established diplomatic relations, and until then there was very little material on Korean studies that I could get my hands on. It was not until four years later in the spring of 1997 that I was able to re-encounter Chong Chi-Yong. I was pursuing my second doctoral degree at Inha Univeristy in Korea. The course on “Modern Korean Poetry,” which I had registered for during that semester required that I submit an essay every week. It was a truly difficult task for someone who was just getting used to attending college in Korea as a foreign student. But it was from this course that I was at last able to come in contact with the treasure chest of Korean modern poetry and found myself being mesmerized by the beauty of Chong Chi-Yong’s poems. In the process of studying and analyzing poems like “Nostalgia,” “Glass Window 2,” “Mount Jangsu,” and “Indongcha,” I discovered that Jeong, who was known only as a modernist to me, was deeply knowledgeable about classical Chinese poetry. I subsequently ended up choosing Chong Chi-Yong as the topic of my doctoral dissertation.

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