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GUEST LITERATURE – KOREA included Ko Un, Oh Gyu-won, Jeong Hyeon-jong, and Hwang Dong Gyu. In the 1970s, three trends were active, traditional lyric poetry continued to constitute an integral part of Korean poetry and young poets, who had become active in the 1960s, came forward, such as Shin Kyung-nim, Ko Un, Lee Seong-bu, Jeong Hi-seong, and Cho Tae-il represented the realistic voice of the Korean poets’ circle.This was followed by an intense era of national literature in the 1980s. After the 1980 Gwangju massacre and oppression of democracy, Korean poets became ashamed of conformity and created works of resistance. Workers, farmers, and the poor led social change and produced their own writings. The main focus of the Korean poets’ circle at that time was the genre of folk poetry, written as an expression of resistance against imperial fascism and capitalism. With the collapse of socialism in the 1990s, the ideology of Korean folk poetry lost direction. The 1980s poetry of resistance was replaced by the inner voices of individuals. A new generation of young poets began writing poems that were classified as new lyric poetry and soon a diverse range of poems appeared – the result of democracy and its acknowledgement of life’s diversity. The Korean poets’ circle of the 21st century is gradually being released from the grip of the mere formality of democracy that prevailed in the 1990s. Once more, Korean poets are beginning to express social opinions in response to the government’s anti-democratic policies.The resistance movement is growing stronger despite the arrest of a worker-poet.The interest of Korean poets in migrant workers is undoubtedly the result of the globalized capitalist era. In sum, Korean poets have made the transition from the period of Japanese national literature to one of living, expressing and empathizing with the world. To read the full article please go online to www.banipal.co.uk/selections Park Soo-yeon is a foremost critic in Korea. He teaches modern Korean literature in Chungnam Nationali University in Daejeon, Korea 144 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES
page 147
JEONG DO-SANG Zebra A NOVELLA TRANSLATED BY JEON MISELI “A herd of zebras are grazing on the savannah.” Zebra must be today’s topic on “The Animal Kingdom”.* As soon as he hears the word “zebras”, Yông-su immediately drops the broken toy he has been playing with and rushes to sit in front of the TV. His ringworm-stricken face reminds one of a savannah in dry season. He immediately gets absorbed in the scene of a vast African savannah, which is reflected in his eyes that are riveted on the screen.The scene changes and now a couple of lionesses are sneaking up on a zebra, lowering themselves close to the ground. The boy clenches his hands and yells: “You bad lions! Go away! Scram!” Yông-su shouts on, shaking his small fist at the lionesses. When they finally pounce on the prey, however, the boy closes his eyes tight. Of all animals, the eight-year-old loves zebras the most. He first saw them onTV when he was five, some time after crossing the Tuman River on his mother’s back. The zebras, mixed with a herd of gnus, were grazing to their hearts’ content in Serengeti. The stripes on their bodies looked really beautiful. Since then, whenever he watches a large family of zebras galloping across a plain onTV, his eyes are glued to the images on the screen and his cheeks burn with excitement.Yông-su has memorized almost everything about the life of zebras. BANIPAL 43 – SPRING 2012 145

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GUEST LITERATURE – KOREA

included Ko Un, Oh Gyu-won, Jeong Hyeon-jong, and Hwang Dong Gyu. In the 1970s, three trends were active, traditional lyric poetry continued to constitute an integral part of Korean poetry and young poets, who had become active in the 1960s, came forward, such as Shin Kyung-nim, Ko Un, Lee Seong-bu, Jeong Hi-seong, and Cho Tae-il represented the realistic voice of the Korean poets’ circle.This was followed by an intense era of national literature in the 1980s. After the 1980 Gwangju massacre and oppression of democracy, Korean poets became ashamed of conformity and created works of resistance. Workers, farmers, and the poor led social change and produced their own writings. The main focus of the Korean poets’ circle at that time was the genre of folk poetry, written as an expression of resistance against imperial fascism and capitalism. With the collapse of socialism in the 1990s, the ideology of Korean folk poetry lost direction. The 1980s poetry of resistance was replaced by the inner voices of individuals. A new generation of young poets began writing poems that were classified as new lyric poetry and soon a diverse range of poems appeared – the result of democracy and its acknowledgement of life’s diversity.

The Korean poets’ circle of the 21st century is gradually being released from the grip of the mere formality of democracy that prevailed in the 1990s. Once more, Korean poets are beginning to express social opinions in response to the government’s anti-democratic policies.The resistance movement is growing stronger despite the arrest of a worker-poet.The interest of Korean poets in migrant workers is undoubtedly the result of the globalized capitalist era.

In sum, Korean poets have made the transition from the period of Japanese national literature to one of living, expressing and empathizing with the world.

To read the full article please go online to www.banipal.co.uk/selections

Park Soo-yeon is a foremost critic in Korea. He teaches modern Korean literature in Chungnam Nationali University in Daejeon, Korea

144 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES

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