keulmadang / January 21, 2012

Le rêve d’un homme abattu de SIN Kyeongnim   Quand Gallimard publie Le rêve d’un homme abattu en 1995, peu connaissent la littérature coréenne, et moins encore la poésie. Ce recueil se dote donc d’une double vocation : présenter un poète, mais aussi les capacités poétiques d’un pays inconnu. Lourde tâche, mais savamment menée. Une panoplie de poèmes déterminée à montrer la diversité de l’œuvre de SIN Kyeongnim nous est présentée. Les mots défilent. Tristesse, monotonie, solitude, misère ; par petites touches les mots et les sens se mélangent et la Corée apparaît, son quotidien, son peuple. Le poète, alors peintre, dresse le portrait de la vie qu’il connaît. Et le lecteur de se rendre compte que les difficultés d’ailleurs ne lui sont pas inconnues. Qui ne s’est jamais senti seul et en perdition, étranger à son propre monde et éloigné de ses proches ? Les questions existentielles se posent et s’imposent à l’esprit de celui qui voudrait comprendre sa vie. « Faut-il vraiment vivre ainsi ? ».

BRITISH COUNCIL / March 27, 2014

If you're curious about Korean poetry, understanding the country's rich and turbulent history is a great place to start. Scholar and translator Brother Anthony of Taizé (An Sonjae) explains. The Korea Cultural Programme is at the London Book Fair this coming April.   Korean poetry is hardly a frequent topic of conversation around British dining tables. This is not surprising, in a world where very little translated poetry is read, although it saddens Korean poetry lovers. There are lots of poets in Korea, and there used to be even more.   Poetry was central to 19th century Korean society   In times past, the main mark of an educated gentleman was an ability to write poetry, mainly in Classical Chinese but also in Korean. The two languages are very different, since Chinese has almost no grammar, whereas Korean has an awful lot of grammar. Indeed, in the Joseon period (1392 – 1910), in order to become a high state official, one had to pass a Chinese-language poetry-writing exam. Before 1900, Korea was a Confucian state in which all studies were conducted using Classical Chinese texts and following Chinese models.   Yi Munyol’s novel The Poet Opens in a new tab or window. (Harvill / Vintage, 2001) tells the true story of a young man’s struggle early in the 19th century to master the rules of classical Chinese poetry, only to find he was disqualified from taking the civil service exam. So he became a wandering poet, and was welcomed everywhere because poetry composition was a popular form of entertainment as well.   Once modernisation began, just before 1900, with the introduction of the modern curriculum in schools, the whole tradition and culture of Classical Chinese poetry went into decline. Historians of Korean literature cannot agree whether or not there is any continuity linking it with contemporary Korean poetry.  

毎日新聞 / April 12, 2015

谷川俊太郎は、日本の現代詩人の中でも、もっとも多くの読者を持ち、多くの世代に愛されている詩人と言っていいだろう。申庚林（シンギョンニム）は、一九七〇年代に貧しい人々の暮らしを描く民衆詩が高く評価されて以来、現代韓国を代表する詩人で、日本語訳は『申庚林詩選集 ラクダに乗って』が、クオンから出版されている。

list_Books from Korea / -

Rediscovering the Self Through Lyricism By Yoo Sungho on Oct 31 2014 07:21:25 Vol.10 Winter 2010 As Korea struggled with democracy and industrialization, poets explored lyricism and the inner self.     Through the 1960s, Korean poetry pursued the creative integration of social consciousness and lyricism rather than traditional sentiments, based on the experiences of those who had lived through the April 19 Revolution. Such change could be seen in the leading poets such as Seo Jeong-ju, Kim Hyun-seung, Park Mok-wol, Kim Gwang-seop, Pak Tu-jin, and Cho Chi-hun. For example, Seo Jeong-ju built his own linguistic fortress with a unique mythical imagination and a mastery of the language while Kim Hyun-seung explored the existence of an individual who stands face to face with God. Park Mok-wol turned around from his nature-oriented imagination and delved deeply into the joys and sorrows of the city people and Kim Gwang-seop criticized civilization in The Pigeons of Seongbuk-dong, which was a rare attempt at the time. These poets all explored topics with immutable values such as nature, the individual, the inner self, existence, and the classics, thus diversifying the genre. Just as the poetry of the 1960s wa s ba sed on the possibilities created by the April 19 Revolution, the poetry of the 1970s bloomed amid political oppression and the waves of industrialization. While Ko Un, Shin Kyeong-nim, Kim Ji-ha, Cho Tae-il, Lee Sung-boo, Jeong Hee-sung, and Lee Si-young demonstrated social lyricism, Hwang Tong-gyu, Chong Hyon-jong, Choe Ha-rim, Mah Chong-gi, Oh Kyu-won, Kim Kwang-kyu, Kim Myung-in, and Park Jung-man presented diverse inner experiences based on ontological explorations. Meanwhile, poets like Heu Young-ja, Chung Jin-kyu, Lee Keun-bae, Kim Huran, Oh Tak-bon, Yoo An-jin, Park E-dou, Ra Tae-joo, Lee Soo-ik, Song Soo-kwon, Oh Sae-young, Lee Geon-cheong, Kang Eun-gyo, Shin Dalja, Lim Young-jo, Lee Sung-sun, Moon Chung-hee, Kim Hyeong-young, Cho Jeong-kwon, Hong Shin-seon, Sin Dae-chul, Kim Jong-hae, Kim Jong-chul, Lee Ga-rim, Kim Seung-hee, Lee Jun-gwan, Lee kee-chul, Cho Chang-whan, and Yoon Suk-san continued their path in exploring lyricism.