Moon Deoksu (; December 8, 1928 – March 13, 2020) was a South Korean poet.

Biography

Moon Deoksu was born December 8, 1928, in

Haman County Haman County (''Haman-gun'') is a county in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. The local government is seated in the town of Gaya-eup. The county magistrate is Seok Gyu Jin. In the early Common Era, Haman was the seat of Ara Gaya, a leadin ...

Keishōnan Province , alternatively Keishōnan Province or South Keishō Province, was a province of Korea under Japanese rule. Its capital was Busan, Fuzan (Busan). The province consisted of modern-day South Gyeongsang, South Korea. Population Number of peopl ...

Korea, Empire of Japan From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...

. Moon graduated from

Hongik University Hongik University (; colloquially as Hongdae) is a private university in Mapo District, Mapo, Seoul, South Korea. It was founded in 1946. The university also maintains a branch campus in Sejong City. The university's colloquial name, "Hongdae ...

, attended Tsukuba University, and graduate school at

Korea University Korea University (KU, ) is a Private university, private research university in Seoul, South Korea. Established in 1905 by Yi Yong-ik, Lee Yong-Ik, a prominent official of the Korean Empire, Korea University is among South Korea's oldest List of ...

, resulting in a Ph.D. in Literature. He worked for the Magazine, Shidan and served in many organizations including as President of the Poetry Second of the Korean Literature Association; President of the Modern Poet's Association; Vice Director of the Korean Literature Association; Director, Vice President, and President of the Korean branch of P.E.N.; Representative of the Korean Committee for the International Poets' Union, and as President of the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation. Moon also taught at

Jeju Jeju may refer to: South Korea * Jeju Island (Jejudo), South Korea * Jeju Province (formerly transliterated Cheju), a province of South Korea comprising Jejudo ** Jeju City, its capital ** Jeju dog, a dog native to Jejudo ** Jeju language ** The ...

and Hongik University, and served as a Dean of the College of Education at the latter.

Work

Moon's pen names are Simsan and Cheongtae. Recommended by Yoo Chihwan, he made his literary debut in 1955 with his "Silence" (Chimmuk), "Foil" (Hwaseok) and "In the Wind" (Baram sogeseo) published in Contemporary Literature (Hyeondae munhak).Source-attribution, "Moon Deoksu" LTI Korea Datasheet available at LTI Korea Library or online at: http://klti.or.kr/ke_04_03_011.do# The Literature Translation Institute of Korea describes his work :Moon's poetry can be divided into three categories according to the time of their composition. In his early collections, Entrancement (Hwanghol) and Line and Dimension (Seon, Gonggan), he depicts the workings and the nature of the human mind and creativity in an unrestrained style of free association, and occasionally automatic writing. The second category consists of the poems in the collections The Sea at Dawn (Saebyeok bada), Everlasting Flower Field (Yeongwonhan kkotbat), and Only We Who Survived Greet June (Saranameun urideulmani dasi Yuworeul maja). Here, he severely criticizes the aspects of contemporary civilization which allowed for the proliferation of immorality, conformism, standardization, simplification, and absurdities that in turn have brought about general dehumanization. :The final, third category includes his last publications, the collections Making Bridges (Dari noki), Reducing Little by Little (Jogeumssik jurimyeonseo), The Mist of Your Words (Geudae malsseumui angae) and Allegro for Encounter (Mannameul wihan allegeuro). He combines conservative themes and concerns with literary experiments to produce an original, effective critique of civilization, nature, and ossified poetic forms. Moon openly rejects black-and-white logic, especially when confronting literature; his work is characterized by restlessness and a thirst for innovation. Moon has been highly praised for crafting sophisticated forms to capture the nature of psychological sentiments and for having employed language as a material with which to build entities rather than empty, merely reflective symbols. He has published, in addition to volumes of poetry, theoretical works such as Understanding Contemporary Literature (Hyeondae munhagui ihae), Theory of Contemporary Korean Poetry (Hyeondae hanguk siron), A Study of Modernism in Korea (Hanguk modeonijeum yeongu), and Reality and Humanist Literature (Hyeonsil gwa hyumeonijeum munhak).

Works in translation

*''The Anthology of Modern Korean Poetry'' ()() *''Drawing Lines'' () ()

Works in Korean (partial)

Poetry collections * ''Entrancement'' * ''Line and Dimension'' * ''The Sea at Dawn'' * ''Everlasting Flower Field'' * ''Only We Who Survived Greet June'' * ''Making Bridges'' * ''Reducing Little by Little'' * ''The Mist of Your Words'' * ''Allegro for Encounter'' Criticism and theory * ''Understanding Contemporary Literature'' * ''Theory of Contemporary Korean Poetry'' * ''A Study of Modernism in Korea'' * ''Reality and Humanist Literature''

Awards

Hyundai Munhak Literary Prize Hyundai is a former South Korean industrial conglomerate ("''chaebol''"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Asan, a real estate construction ...

(1974) * Culture and Arts Prize of the Republic of Korea (1970) * Award of Korea Publishers School (1981) * Presidential Order of Merit for Education (1983) * P.E.N. Korea Literary Award (1985)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moon, Deoksu 1928 births 20th-century South Korean poets 2020 deaths South Korean male poets 20th-century South Korean male writers People from Haman County Hongik University alumni Korea University alumni