The Guardian / April 25, 2017

keulmadang / March 14, 2011

Ah, les choses sans bouche, titre du recueil, repris d’un poème intrigue le lecteur. L’apparition de  l’interjection « ah » en tête de phrase éloigne la certitude pourtant logique que seul l’homme a une bouche. L’usage de la bouche n’est peut être pas la seule façon de parler, et pour s’adresser à son lecteur, ce n’est pas sa bouche que LEE Seong-bok utilise. Son écriture poétique est introspective. Chacun de ses mots a une puissance telle qu’il ne peut être qu’une partie de lui-même. C’est donc son sang que l’on a l’impression de voir s’étaler sur la page en guise d’encre, comme si la catharsis que l’auteur cherche à atteindre passe tant par le vide spirituel que physique. La poésie de LEE Seong-bok se caractérise par des mots crus qui ne ménagent pas le lecteur.  Il s’agit de décrire le corps, la prison de chair et de sang dans laquelle tout homme est enfermé. Choquante au départ, la comparaison des vagues avec « du pus blanc sur le corps ulcéré » passe inaperçue dans un recueil de poèmes pour le moins différents des classiques français, où les mots vont droit au but.  Ces poèmes sont l’écriture de l’homme, et il n’y a pas d’autre choix que de se découvrir dans le miroir que l’on nous tend, même si l’image qui nous fait face ne pousse pas au narcissisme.

list_Books from Korea / -

The Rise of a Modern Sensibility   By Lee Kwang-ho on Oct 28 2014 02:50:05 Vol.10 Winter 2010 The dawn of a new generation of poets opened the possibilities of experimentation and diversification.     One of the driving forces of modern Korean poetry has been the pursuit of modernity. The efforts to attain a sense of the contemporary that went beyond traditional lyricism became active in the Korean literary scene in the 1930s. Korean poetry, however, only began to include the diversity and depth of modernity after liberation and division in the 1960s when a new generation emerged as literary leaders. After liberation, poets Kim Soo-young and Kim Chunsu pursued two aspects of modernity: a “critique of reality” and the “autonomy of language,” both of which had a major influence on the subsequent development of poetry in Korea. The struggle against the detached and lofty nature of Korean literature and the oppressiveness of Korean society meant that the poetic methodology itself came to signify resistance against reality. The way poetic language responded to the oppressive reality of the times was in itself an aesthetic achievement and a form of resistance. The “April 19 generation” that entered Korean literature after the epochal April 19 Revolution in 1960, was the leading force behind it. The poetry of this generation recognized an oppressive reality as the problem of existence and explored the poetic methodology that could expose it. Such poetry was based on the relationship of tension between the autonomy of literary language and reality. It can be seen as the exploration of modernity in Korean poetry as a response to the industrialization that took place in the 1960s and the 1970s.

LITERARY HUB / December 15, 2023

Today, the National Book Critics Circle announced the longlist for the Barrios Book in Translation Prize. The prize, now in its second year, “celebrates the artistic merit of literature in translation in any genre and seeks to recognize the valuable work of translators in expanding and enriching American literary culture by bringing world literature to English-language readers.”

Hindustan Times / September 14, 2024

In an interview conducted at the Drukyul’s Literature and Arts Festival in Thimphu, Bhutan, the Korean novelist and translator spoke about his new sci-fi novel, queer literature, and finding success as a literary translator

Foyles / November 21, 2024

A hit in Korea, Indeterminate Inflorescence is a breathtaking and refreshing collection of aphorisms on poetry and writing poetry, that acts as inspiration to writers and creatives. 

The Guardian / October 10, 2024

A collection of wise maxims written by a 72-year old poet, calmly setting out illuminating advice to other poets, is the latest and perhaps most unlikely book to benefit from a surge in demand for South Korean literature. “Kick against words like you would kick back on a swing. You’ve got to feel as if the soles of your feet are touching the sky,” suggests Lee Seong-bok in his hit title Indeterminate Inflorescence.