Jang Seoknam (; born August 3, 1965) is a South Korean poet.
Life
Jang Seoknam was born on August 3, 1965, in
Incheon
Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...
, South Korea. Jang earned an undergraduate degree in creative writing from the
Seoul Institute of the Arts
Seoul Institute of the Arts () is an arts university in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. The Namsan campus in Seoul is used for presentation of arts productions and convergence with industry. The Ansan Campus opened in 2001 and is used for ...
and a Ph.D. from the
Inha University
Inha University () is a private research university located in Incheon, South Korea. Known traditionally for research and education in the engineering and physical sciences, the university was established by the first president of South Korea, S ...
Graduate School of Literature. Since 2003 he has worked in two different positions as an assistant professor at Hanyang Women's University. Jang debuted as a poet in his early 20s in a New Year's Writers Contest sponsored by the magazine ''
Kyunghyang Shinmun
The ''Kyunghyang Shinmun'' () is a major daily newspaper published in South Korea. It is based in Seoul. The name literally means '' Urbi et Orbi Daily News''.Korea Literature Translation Institute summarizes his work:
:In the epilogue included in his first collection Defecting to a Flock of Birds (Sae ddedeul egero ui mangmyeong), he confesses that he dreams daily of fusing together his life with music. Literature, he suggests, is merely a code, a sign that cannot be understood by a blind man; while music can be understood by everyone. This certainly is a surprising claim for a poet. But Jang says "poetry is a beautiful raft I must take to get to music, to dance, to the blaze." Most poets emphasize the absolute, transcendent qualities of language, but he does not mystify poetry or its medium, language, rather seeing it as a medium to reach something else that is absolute.
:Thus the poet boldly announces, "I lay down my head where the door to language is shut." Jabbing at Descartes' famous maxim "I think, therefore I am," he says, "I exist completely as a poet only where language is absent." Jang's belief that 'dance' and 'music' are free from 'language' and 'morality' stems from his own individual ideas about language. Constantly absorbing worldly ideas and moral standards, language is impure and polluted. Yet language can never be abandoned because it serves as the basis for human thought and expression. Though it is impure, the poet tries attaining to expressions of ideal worlds such as 'dance' and 'music.'
:This worldview of the poet makes his poetry "musical," not in the sense of rhythms and tones, but in the sense of aspiring to achieve the purity of music. He plays the instrument of silence called the world with language, and makes all things dance. This is the ideal aesthetic world that the poet seeks to create.
Jang's major poetry collections include Defecting to a Flock of Birds (1991); Now, doing my best to long for no one (1995); Teary Eye (1998); Pain in my heart (2001); Where do Smiles Go? (2006); Brighten the West on the Cheek (2010); Tranquility, Do Not Run Away (2012), and Worry about Stepping on a Flower (2017).
For his literary accomplishments, Jang has been awarded Kim Suyeong Literary(Poetry) Award in 1992, Hyeondae Literary(Poetry) Award in 1999, Midang Literature Prize in 2010, Kim Daljin Literary(Poetry) Award in 2012, Sanghwa Poetry Award in 2013, Jihun Literary(Poetry) Award in 2018, Pyeonun Literary(Poetry) Award in 2018, and Woohyun Art Prize in 2018.
Jang has not had any works in translation published formally, but noted translator of Korean poetry,
Brother Anthony
Brother Anthony (born 1942) is a translator, scholar, and member of the Taizé Community. He was born Anthony Graham Teague in the United Kingdom but has since become a naturalized citizen of South Korea under the Korean name An Sonjae ().
Life
...
of Taizé has translated three of Jang's poems on his home page. These three poems are: Winter Pond; Hanging Plum-Blossom, and; I Turn off the Light. Since May 2018, American poe Paulette Guerin and Nursing Decision Scientis Claire Su-Yeon Park are collaborating on a translation of selected poems and prose for publication.
Jang participated in the 201 Seoul International Writer's Festival as one of the 9 invited Korean poets.
Kim Suyeong Literary Award
The Kim Suyeong Literary Award is a List of literary awards, literary award established in 1981 by :ko:민음사, Minumsa in honor of the South Korean poet Kim Su-yeong.
Prizewinners
References
{{Kim Suyeong Literary Award winners
South K ...
in 1992
* 44th Hyeondae Literary(Poetry) Award in 1999
* 10th Midang Literary(Poetry) Award in 2010
*23rd Kim Daljin Literary(Poetry) Award in 2012
*28th Sanghwa Poetry Award in 2013
*18th Jihun Literary(Poetry) Award in 2018
*28th Pyeonun Literary(Poetry) Award in 2018
*12th Woohyun Art Prize in 2018
*32nd Jeong Jiyong Literary(Poetry) Award in 2020