[Jesper R. Matsumoto Mulbjerg] A Scandinavian View of Ko Un's Poetry (2)
* Conference on ‘The Poetic World of Ko Un' / 8 May 2003 / Stockholm University, Sweden
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Characteristics of Ko Un's literary work:
Thanks to Professor Staffan Rosen I was introduced to the workㅡor should I say, the world ㅡ the poetic world of Ko Un .
During my very first readings of Ko Un's poetry I experienced the same ecstatic joy of having discovered great poetry as when I read T.S. Eliot for the first timeㅡand when I for the first time read another great Korean poet and Buddhist monk, namely Manhae, Han Yong-un. The same ecstatic joy!
I am fascinated by Ko Un's poetry. I am fascinated because reading it and being conscious about the process of reading it I often seem to forget that these poems are written by a poet from a culture so different from a Western European, and a Scandinavian culture.
I am convinced that it is possibleㅡat least to some extentㅡto describe those certain qualities that distinguish poetry from sublime poetry . Such qualities of the sublime poetry are found all over the impressive poetic work of Ko Un. Even though the title of my contribution to this meeting today is “A Scandinavian View of Ko Un's Poetry”, the cultural differences between Korea and North Europe seem to be more or less secondary in comparison with the overall basic existential humanism of the poems. That basic existential humanism will appeal to readers regardless of their nationality and cultural background.
And Ko Un's highly original imagery and his sharp and intelligent humour must come as an endless row of joyful surprises to Korean readers as well as to Scandinavian readers. Fx the poem “A Smile” (From Beyond Self p. 8): “Standing in front of the smile / on the face of a boiled pig's head // by all means be as generous.”
The kindness and humanism in such a Buddhist poem probably exceeds the kindness of Christianity. But due to the almost surreal image of the slaughtered, smiling pig's head the poem does not become too sweet. These are words cutting all but the essence away - and presenting the essence in a non-illusional, non-romantic “cool” way like Ko Un does is what poetic genious is about.
And yet, in Ko Un's process of creating these Son poems maybe he did not cut so much away? In the “Translator's Note” in the book it says: “In modern times, some Korean poets have given the name ( that is, Son poetry ) to a style of spontaneous verse not unlike ink-paintings made by a single free movement of the brush after long concentration. Ko Un follows this pattern, …”
The poet's personal experience and universal validity:
On one hand literature must reach beyond the poet's personal life. On the other hand literature without a personal dimension, without a touch of concrete experience, often seems like an empty aesthetic construction; like too much form and too little substance.
But confessional literature on the other handㅡthat only expresses the writer's private feelings, thoughts and situation in a too private wayㅡlacks the aesthetic qualities that constitutes the difference between somebody's diary and a piece of art.
In the poetic work of Ko Un the reader finds a perfect balance between The poet's personal experience and cultural backgroundㅡ AND universal validity. In our world which still very much is divided and unpeaceful Ko Un's poetry flies above it.
Furthermore as a big difference to nearsightedness in other poetry in Ko Un's poetic world we find the dream and wish for a better world.
Ko Un is without a doubt more than “just” a Korean poetㅡamong other reasons due to the universal validity of the poems' themes ㅡand his highly original creativity in the imagery of modernistic, surreal tendency.
However, to a Scandinavian reader like myself Ko Un's poems also provide impressions of the exotic Far East.
There is a certain luxurious feeling of pride when you as a reader actually have acquired a special knowledge about another cultural sphere like the Korean culture and history, which in many aspects is so different from our own culture. Thus the scenery of Ko Un's poems provides beautiful ../../image/common of Korea and the Korean people and of Buddhism.
But through his poetry Ko Un also tells us about the many horrifying incidents that took place on the Korean Peninsula during the twentieth century - things we have to remember not to repeat them.
No matter how dangerous it was Ko Un has never hesitated telling the truth about any Korean military dictatorship before the implementation of democracy began in the late part of the 1980ties. For that reason he has been imprisoned more than once.
An example is the long prose poem “When May is gone” from the 1986 collection, Fly High, Poem! It is a poem which is impossible to read untouchedㅡa poem about the horrifying violent incidents that took place in the Southern city Kwangju in 1980, where police and military troops killed hundredsㅡsome say almost two thousand civilians demanding freedom and human rights in South Korea.