“An iconic figure of Korean literature.” “The common pronoun of the 1980s poets.”

These are how The Guardian has described one of Korea's most- prominent poets, Choi Seung-ja. On Jan. 24, the U.K. daily published three poems by Choi in its “Translation Tuesday” section.



The thee poems featured in the article are “Two Kinds of Death" (두 편의 죽음), “At the End of the Deserted Street" (버려진 거리 끝에서) and, lastly, “Fearful Green" (무서운 초록). All these pieces were translated from Korean into English by Lei Kim.

One of the translations goes as follows.

Two Kinds of Death Like a rumor or drifting cloud The lodger in Cheongpa-dong passes away And morning’s black phone call rings. Suddenly at the edge of the dining table The species of mothers and fathers Melt into the longing spirit of water and fire The rice and soup in a chorus Recite the deceased’s prehumous words: Wishing to die Yet going mad A black boat appears from the blue sky. Full of cosmic humidity Transmitting an extraterrestrial Morse code On and off Death sends us a message. Someday in Manhattan John Lennon dies and The voice of the dead is floating. Mama don’t go Daddy come home.

“The existential despair captured here in broad bravura strokes transcends both culture and eras,” the article said of the way in which the poet writes.

The two other poems can be found in English at the link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/translation-tuesdays-by-asymptote-journal/2017/jan/24/translation-tuesday-three-poems-by-choi-seung-ja?CMP=share_btn_link

The Guardian’s “Translation Tuesday” section offers translated works of literature from around the world in English every Tuesday. The newspaper said it will highlight works by a total of seven Korean poets this year, including Kim Ki-taek, Moon Tae-jun and Yoo An-jin, so as to bring Korean poetry to a wider English-speaking audience.

By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photo: The Guardian
jiae5853@korea.kr