Last
updated April 23, 2015 Translations by Brother Anthony, of
Taizé
(This page is entirely devoted to translations
of Korean literature. See my other Books page for my books about
Korean tea, about European and English literature / culture /
history, and translations from French.)
Sample translations are available
separately for easier access, poetry and fiction
Click for a PDF
file listing all my published books, plus a
brief Biography
Ku Sang grew up in North
Korea, studied the Philosophy of Religion in
Tokyo, then returned to Korea to begin a lifelong
career in journalism. With the rise of the
Communists in the North after Liberation in 1945,
he was forced to flee Southward
when he learned that his poems
did not please the censors. He was from a Catholic
family (his brother was a priest, for which he was
killed in North Korea at the start of the Korean
War) and his poems combine Asian religious imagery
with a Catholic understanding without dogmatism.
He shunned overly 'poetic' styles and enjoyed
writing spontaneous poems provoked by momentary
glimpses of things.
Read the Introduction
to Even the Knots on Quince Trees Tell Tales and
the first ten poems of Even
the Knots(as well as the poet's
Epilogue)
1) Wasteland
Poems: Poems by Ku Sang. Translated by
Brother Anthony of Taizé.
A bilingual edition by DapGae (Seoul) You
may buy this through Seoul
Selection's home page.
(Originally published in English as Wastelands of
Fire by Forest Books, 1990, out of print)
2) Infant Splendor. Poems
by Ku Sang, Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé.
Paintings by Jung Kwang. (The title is linked to a complete
online edition of poems and paintings since the
book was only printed in 1000 copies, and will never be
republished. The combination of paintings and poems
deserves to be better known.)
(A selection of poems from the various volumes,
translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé, organized
according to themes: Mystery of Meeting, River,
Fields, Sin and Grace, and Eternity
Today.) Order from Seoul
Selection
Kim Kwang-kyu
(1941 - )
Kim Kwang-kyu was a Professor
of German literature until he retired. His first
poetic activity involved the translation of German
poetry into Korean, an activity which he has
continued until now, to great acclaim. This gave
him the impulse to start writing Korean poetry in
a style owing nothing to Korean poetic
conventions. Heine, Eich and Brecht taught him the
value of subtle humor in writing satirical poems
and his early work was hailed for its skill in
mocking the military dictatorships. Much of his
work is concerned with the mediocrity of life in
conformist society as compared to youthful dreams
and ideals, but viewed with rueful smiles rather
than anger. He is now one of Korea's senior poets,
but he has never belonged to any particular group
or clique.
Translated in collaboration
with Young-Moo Kim. This
selection includes a good number of poems previously
published in Faint Shadows of Love, as well as
poems from other collections published since
then. ISBN 978 I 893996 43 4 Order
from Amazon.com
3)
A Journey to Seoul: Selected poems by Kim
Kwang-Kyu Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé.
A bilingual edition by DapGae (Seoul).
2006.
The poems in this volume were either previously
published in Faint Shadows of Love or were
translated later but were not included in The Depths of a Clam.
Order from Seoul
Selection.
Ko Un
(this links to his own Home Page in English or
Korean)
(1933
- )
Korea's
best-known poet, worldwide, his works have
been translated into at least 15 languages so far.
His life has taken dramatic turns; born in rural
western Korea, became a Buddhist monk during the
Korean War, then quit to become a nihilist, in the
1970s he became the main spokesman of the
opposition to dictatorship, he was arrested at the
coup in 1980 and spent 2 years in prison. Since
the 1980s he has published an enormous number of
books--many kinds of poetry, novels, essays . . .
and since the 1990s he has travelled widely,
giving electrifying readings in almost every
continent. His 30-volume Maninbo (Ten
Thousand Lives), a celebration of every person he
has ever encountered, is due to have its last 4
volumes published early in 2010.
Many poems by Ko Un have been published in
reviews. For a list of these, and for links to articles
and reviews etc about his work, please click here.
2)
What? : 108 Korean Zen Poems.Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé in
collaboration with Young-Moo Kim(First published in 1997 as Beyond Self)
Berkeley: Parallax
Press, 2008 Table of
Contents
4)
Ten Thousand Lives. A selection from
Volumes 1 - 10 of Ko Un's monumental series ManinboTable of Contents
Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé in
collaboration with Young-Moo
Kim and Gary
G. Gach. With an Introduction by Robert Hass.
Green Integer 123. Kobenhavn & Los Angeles: Green Integer
Press. 2005. ISBN I 933382 06 6
Green Integer Kobenhavn & Los Angeles: Green Integer
Press. 2009. ISBN 1 933382 70 8 (photo does not
show actual cover design!)
Please order from the publisher rather than from
Amazon.com!The printed version is out of print, a digital edition can
be ordered
from the publisher.
7) 차령이 뽀뽀 / ChaRyong's
Kiss. Translated by Brother Anthony of
Taizé in collaboration with Lee Sang-Wha.
For many
years Korea's leading poet, Midang gave
recognition and encouragement to a very large
number of young poets. He was always strongly
inclined to the conservative side and enjoyed
great power during the dictatorships; this brought
a hostile reaction when democracy came. His early
poems were intensely lyrical and of great power
but their impact can hardly be conveyed in
translation. Later poems seem shallow by
comparison, and there is little agreement as to
what his enduring legacy will be.
Yi Mun-yol is one of Korea's
leading novellists. The defection of his father to
the Northern side in the Korean War meant that his
family had to suffer discrimination and suspicion
in the years following. He was unable to complete
the university studies he wished and as a result
became an independent autodidact, fascinated by
the Chinese classics and belonging to no
identifiable clique, although always politically
conservative. His works have sometimes been very
popular, especially Son of Man, his first
major novel, but they have had little resonance in
translation and remain little known outside of
Korea.
The
Poet. Translation by Brother Anthony of Taizé in
collaboration with Chung Chong-hwa.
London: The Harvill Press 1995. Harvill were bought up
by RH and the copies transferred to Random
House: Vintage 2001 ISBN 1 86046 896 9
Ch'on Sang-pyong
(1930 - 1993)
Chon Sang-pyong was as an
excentric character, unable to hold a job and with
an innocence that left him extremely fragile. His
friends used to give him small sums to keep him
going. Arrested and tortured because some of his
friends had visited the North Korean embassy in
East Berlin, he nearly died in 1970, had a serious
breakdown the following year, and only survived
thanks to the care of a friend's sister who lived
with him as a Platonic wife for the last 20 years.
His poems are delightful and devoid of all
pretense.
Back to
Heaven.Translation by Brother Anthony of Taizé in
collaboration with Young-Moo
Kim)
See also, below,My Husband the Poet by Mok Sun-Ok, Ch'on Sang-Pyong's
wife, in which she tells her own life story and that
of her husband.
Shin
Kyong-Nim
(1935 - )
Shin
wrote a few poems then vanished for 10 years,
working as a building laborer, a salesman, among
the rural and urban poor. He published Farmers'
Dance to great acclaim among the writers
who advocated socially aware poetry and
continued to write powerful poetry with powerful
rhythms. He is now one of Korea's senior
literary figures.
Farmers'
Dance.Translation by Brother Anthony of Taizé in
collaboration with Young-Moo
Kim
Kim
Su-Young (1921 - 1968),
Shin Kyong-Nim (1935 - ),
Lee Si-Young (1949 -)
Three
writers linked in some ways yet distinct, born
13 years apart. Kim's accidental early death was
a serious blow to the reforming wing of Korean
writers. Shin (see above) and Lee were among the
writers opposing dictatorship and suffering
accordingly during the 1980s.
Variations
/ Three Korean Poets.
Translation by
Brother Anthony of Taizé in collaboration with Young-Moo Kim)
Lee was
Korea's first Minister of Culture at the time of
the Olympic Games. A polymath of great ability,
he wrote a small number of stories in the 1960s
and published a volume of poetry recently.
Otherwise, he is better known as a thinker and a
cultural commentator.
The General's
Beard.Translated
by Brother Anthony of Taizé.
Published in 2002 by Homa
& Sekey. Dumont, NJ, USA
(Contains two novellas, "The General's Beard" &
"Phantom Legs") You may buy this throughSeoul
Selection's home page
The
Columbia Anthology of Modern Korean Poetry. Edited
by David R. McCann.
A number of the poems by various poets in this book were
translated by me (see a list).
Kim
Young-Moo
(1944 - 2001)
Young-moo
Kim was a professor of English literature who
began to write poetry quite late. He published 3
volumes. We worked together on my early
translations, then he developed lung cancer and
died soon after the publication of his 3rd
volume, mostly devoted to his illness and the
time he spent in Australia before he died.
Virtual
Reality. A bilingual edition published by DapGae (Seoul).
2005. You may buy this throughSeoul
Selection's home page.
(Translation by Brother Anthony of Taizé in colaboration with Jongsook Lee)
Mok Sun-ok was the wife of
the poet Chon Sang-Pyong (see above). She grew up in
Hiroshima, her father was killed by the atomic bomb
on August 6 1945. Her care for the poet continued
after his death and she continued to run "Kwichon",
the little cafe in Insa-dong she first opened in
1985, while promoting his memory in a variety of
cultural festivals etc.
My Husband
the Poet: by Mok Sun-Ok.Translated by
Brother Anthony of Taizé.
This book tells the story of the life of the wife of
Ch'on Sang-Pyong, mainly focussing on the years when she
cared for him in great poverty, It can be bought through
Seoul
Selection's home page.
Chonggi Mah
(1939 - )
Chonggi
Mah has lived in the United States for many years,
working as a doctor and teaching in medical
school. He has now retired. He wrote poems in
Korean and published them in Korea throughout his
life abroad and is highly regarded as a poet in
Korea.
Eyes of Dew:
Selected Poems by Chonggi Mah. Translated by Brother
Anthony of Taizé.
Poems for
Planting Love: written by the students of
the special schools founded by the Sisters of Charity of
Seton Hill. Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé
(bilingual) Seoul
Selection. 2008
The poems can also be read atPoems for Planting Lovebut the book is full of paintings and royalties on
every copy you buy go to help the children.
Kim Yeong-Nang
(1903-1950)
Kim spent most of his life in Gangjin
(South Jeolla Province) but moved to Seoul after 1945
and was killed in the early months of the Korean War,
not yet 50, having written most of his poems during
the Japanese occupation of Korea (1919-1945). In Korea
he is celebrated for the lyrical musicality of his
style but this bilingual edition of his complete
poetic work makes plain his commitment to Korean
independence from Japan as well as his anguish at the
fratricidal violence that Korea experienced between
1945 and 1950.
Until Peonies
Bloom: The Complete Poems of Kim Yeong-Nang.
Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé.
Three Korean Tea Classics
Yi Mok's ChaBu, Cho-Ui's ChaSinJeon and DongChaSong
translated by by Brother Anthony of Taizé, Hong
Keong-Hee, Steven D. Owyoung.
This richly annotated and illustrated book contains the
Chinese text and translations of 3 fundamental texts of
Korean Tea culture: ChaBu, Rhapsody to Tea
by Hanjae Yi Mok; ChaSinJeon, A Chronicle of the Spirit
of Tea and DongChaSong, Hymn in Praise of Korean Tea by
the Venerable Cho-ui. It includes short biographies of
the two masters of the Korean Way of Tea. Published by
Seoul Selection. ISBN: 9788991913660
Kim Seung-Hee
(1952 - )
Kim
Seung-Hee was born in Gwangju (South Jeolla
Province) and studied at Sogang University
(Seoul), where she is now a professor in the
Korean Department. As a poet, she is often
described as a "feminist surrealist."
Walking
on a Washing Line. Bilingual text. Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé in
collaboration with Lee Hyung-Jin.
Ynhui
Park is better known in Korea by his pen-name Park
Imun (박이문). He did a first doctorate on French
literature in the Sorbonne then moved to the US and
did a second PhD on Merleau-Ponty. He taught
philosophy for 20 years at Simmons College in Boston
before returning to Korea. He is one of Korea's
foremost philosophers. He has also published several
volumes of poetry in Korean as well as one of poems
he wrote in English.
Shadows of
the Void. Translated by Brother
Anthony of Taizé.
Lee
Si-Young was born in Masan-myeon, Gurye-gun,
South Jeolla province, in 1949. His first volume
of poetry was published in 1976. For more than
20 years he was managing editor of Changbi
publishers. He is now Professor in
charge of the International Creative Writing
Center at Dankook University and President of
the Korean Writers Association. Translations of
a selection of his earlier poems were included
in the volume Variations (no. 10 in the
list above)
Patterns.
Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé with
Yoo Hui-Sok.
Kim Ki-rim "Weather Chart"
Sim Hun "When that Day Comes" Manhae Han Yong-Un "I saw
you" "Love’s Last Act" Kim Hyŏn-sŭng "Plane
tree" Pak Mok-Wŏl "Orchid" Pak Yong-Nae
"Evening Snow" Pak In-Hwan "The Black River" Han Ha-Un
"Chŏlla-do Road" "Barley Flute" Hwang Dong-Gyu "Snow
Falling in the South" Im Hwa "The Black Sea
Straits" Yi Sang-Hwa "Morbid Season" Kim Ch’un-Su
"Honeysuckle Leaves" Yi Pyŏng-Gi "Manp’okdong"
Chŏng Chi-yong "Sea 9" Kim Chi-Ha “Empty mountain”
Kang Un-Gyo “I Love you” Kim Tong-Hwan “Night at the
Frontier (Part 1)” Yi Yong-Ak “Cholla maid” &
“Offerings in moonlight” Kim Yong-Nang “The cuckoo” Ko Un
“Fatherland stars” Kim Nam-Ju “A handful of ash” &
“Mister Poet's words” Kim Yong-T'aek “That girl's
house” Lee Si-Young “Preface” Chang Chong-Il
“Shampoo fairy” & "Dad" Yi Mun-Jae “The last dawdler”
& “The roof of the old house where we used to live” Translations
online not published elsewhere
Winter that
Yearby Yi Mun-Yol
Translations
published in periodicals or anthologies
1. Ten Poems by Kim Su-yong Korea Journal Vol.37 No. 1
Spring 1997 pages 137-142
2. Ten Poems by Shin Kyong-nim Korea Journal Vol 37 No. 2
Summer 1997 pages 121-128
3. Su Chung-in:
The Plain Koreana: Korean Art
& Culture (The Korea Foundation) Vol.
11 No.2 Summer 1997 pages 93-102
4. Poems by Ku Sang & Lee Hae-in Divine Inspiration: The Life of
Jesus in World Poetry. Oxford University Press. 1998
5. "Aspects of Diaspora in Modern
Korean Poetry" by Sunghui Kim, translated by Brother Anthony
(An Sonjae)
A chapter in Diaspora in Korean (Immigrant) Literature.
Ed. Seong-Kon Kim and So-Hee Lee. The International
Association of Comparative Korean Studies and Seoul National
University American Studies Institute. 2004. (Contains a number of poems by Kim Donghwan, Im
Hwa, Jeon Bonggeon, Bak Namsu, etc.)
6. Poems by Ko Un, Kim Kwang-Kyu, Shin
Kyong-Nim The
Poetry of Men's Lives: An International Anthology,
edited by Fred Moramarco and Al Zolynas. University of Georgia
Press. 2004.
8. A chapter from Hwangjini by the north
Korean novelist Hong Seok-jung in Literature from the Axis of
Evil: Writing from Iran, Iraq, North Korea and other enemy
nations. (A Words Without Borders anthology) New York: The New
Press. 2006
9. Kim In-Suk:That Woman’s Autobiography Koreana:
Korean Art & Culture (The Korea Foundation) Vol. 21,
No.3 Autumn 2007 pages 88-99
10. Translations of 5 poems each by Ko
Un, Kim Seung-Hui, Yi Si-Young and Chonggi Mah are included in
the first issue of Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature and
Culture (Korea Center, Harvard University,
2007)
11. Translations of 5 poems each by Ko Un, Kim
Seung-Hui, Yi Si-Young and Chonggi Mah and 10 poems by Ynhui
Park are included as a special "Contemporary Korean Poetry in
Translation" section of Damn the Caesars Vol.3
(2007) published in Buffalo NY edited by Richard Owens.
12. Ko Un's poem "Memoirs" and Min
Yeong's poem "Before the Grave of the Poem Kim Nam-Ju" are
included in Che
in Verse, edited by Gavin O'Toole and Georgina
Jimenez, Aflame Books, 2007.
13. Poems
for Planting Love (A PDF file for Adobe
Acrobat) Very touching and beautiful poems by physically
and visually impaired children attending schools run by the
Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in Gwangju and Chungju
(Korea) (also published as a book by Seoul Selection, see
above)
23. Poems by 20 Korean poets translated by Eun-Gwi Chung and
Brother Anthony of Taizé in Cordite
Volume 35 ozko-hanguk-hoju (Cordite is an Australian
poetry review)
24. Kim Mi-wol: Guide to Seoul Cave Koreana:
Korean Art & Culture (The Korea Foundation) Vol. 25,
No.3 Autumn 2011 pages 92 - 99 (Includes Introduction)
25.
Five Poems by Kim Sa-in: Cosmos Flower,
Someone Who Makes a Bridge Feel Lonely, Springtime Sea, A
Flower, Rice Cake, Azalea
(Harvard) Vol 4 2011. pages 77 -
32. Kim Sa-in: Four poems (End of Mourning, Rainy
Season, Springtime Sea, A Flower) published in The
Iowa Review Volume 43 Number 3, Winter 2013/4
pages 41 - 44
33. Cho
Hae-jin: Light’s Escort Koreana: Korean Culture & Arts (The Korea Foundation)
Vol. 29 No. 1, Spring 2015, pages 86-99.
Also my
translations of Yi Oryong's The General's Beard and Fantom
Legs, as well as of selected works of a number of
different poets (see below) and novelists were published
inKorean Literature Today
(Korean PEN/KCAF).
Some poems by individual poets, many published in KLT. (See
a fuller list of my translated Korean poetry here)
The translations
linked to this page are all Copyright of Brother Anthony,
and may be quoted in the normal way with proper attribution,
but may not be re-published in printed or electronic form
without the translator's permission.
Articles on various
aspects of Korean literature and translation
(Links in the titles give access to the
full English text of certain articles)
1. Ku Sang: Authenticity and
Commitment
in Korea Journal (Korean National Commission for
UNESCO)
Volume 29:3 1989 pages 23-33
12. Poetic Diversities: Social Dimensions
of Korean Poetry
in Language, Culture and Translation: Issues in the
Translation of Modern Korean Literature. Centre for
Korean Studies, School of East Asian Studies, Universiy of
Sheffield. 1999.
17. Translating
Korean fiction into English: theory and practice
A talk given at an international conference on Korean Language
Education and Korean Literature across the World, organized by
the Kookmin University Language Research Institute, Kookmin
University, Seoul on November 19 2004. Not likely to be
published.
20. Songs
for Tomorrow: Korean Poetry. A talk / poetry
reading given in Kyoto (Japan) at the invitation of the editors
of Kyoto Journal, January 22, 2006.
24. Translating
Modern Korean Poetry. A paper presented at the 1st
World Translators' Conference "Korean Culture in Europe:
Achievements and Prospects" organized by LTI Korea, held in
Seoul September 13-14, 2007.
25. Translating
Literature in the 21st Century. A paper presented
at the Fall 2007 Conference of the 21st century English
Language and Literature Association of Korea held in Joseon
University, Gwangju, September 15, 2007.
26. Buddhist-Christian
perspectives in Korean poetry. An essay
published in the Autumn 2007 issue of The Japan Mission
Journal (Tokyo: Oriens Institute for Religious Research)
pages 204 - 216.
27. The Joys of Translating:
A lecture given to the Korean Open Cyber University on December
15, 2007.
31. The
Perfect Translation: Impossible Dream. A paper
presented at a conference about translation held in Dongguk
University, Seoul, November 29, 2008, and quoting portions of
the previous text.
36. A review of John Holstein's A Moment’s Grace:
Stories from Korea in Translation. Cornell East Asia
Series 148. Ithaca, NY: East Asia Program, Cornell University.
2009. First published in the Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies, Vol.
11, No. 1, (2011) pages 95 – 101.
You may like to read an unpublished article
that includes a summary history of the main developments of
Korean poetry in earlier centuries and up to 1945 and
suggests some ways in which this history continues to influence
the writing and reading of poetry in Korea today.
I helped publish the first five volumes
of a quarterly review Korean Literature Today,
most volumes of which have been put online. KLT contains
translations of Korean poetry, fiction, drama, with occasional
critical essays. There is an Alphabetical
Index of the whole series with links to all that
is available online.
Bookstores
DapGae Books,
Room 201, Won Building, 829-22 Bangbae 4-dong, Socho-ku, Seoul
137-064 Korea
Tel. (82) (02) 591-8267 Fax 594-0464
You may buy books about Korea,
including most of the above, through Seoul Selection's home
page. You can buy the DapGae books and many other
translations online.
For Cornell East Asia Series
books, there is an Online
Bookstore.
