[KS] Re: Korean Poetry/Culture

[Walter K. Lew]

For an article on Ko ChOng-hUi, the late feminist Korean poet who
frequently wrote politically engaged poems in a shamanistic mode (her 1983
collection, for instance, was titled _Ch'ohonje_ [Ritual to Summon the
Spirits of the Dead]), see Prof. Ann S. Lee's "The Kwangju Uprising and
Poetry by Ko Chong-hui, a Writer of South Cholla," _Bulletin of Concerned
Asian Scholars_ 29/4 (Oct-Dec 1997): 23-32. The article includes references
to a wide range of primary and secondary materials and two sidebars on the
Kwangju Uprising and the interextual relation of Ko's poem "Konghuin" to
certain ancient Korean poems. Kim Seung-hee, who recently completed a year
of teaching at the Univ. of California, Irvine, is another feminist poet
who has some of her poems translated into English; her poetic approach is
deeply influenced by shamanism, but she refrains from placing her work in
an explicitly ritualistic framework.  There's a chance that she is still
receiving e-mail at the following addresses: <kimsh at uci.edu> or
<sunny3k at aol.com>, although she is in the process of returning to Seoul to
write and teach.

Walter K. Lew

>Dear Members,
>
>I'm doing Ph.D. work on cross cultural comparative literature looking at
>the genre of poetry as a prophetic power for spiritual healing in
>cultures that have experienced oppression. Can anyone recommend Korean
>poets, in particular women who have written about their experiences? I'd
>like to study the work of a Korean woman who has had some but not all of
>her work translated. Does anyone know whether or not North Korean poets
>and their works on this subject MIGHT BE accessible? I am well aware
>that the chances of this are highly unlikely at this time. But perhaps
>there's someone out there who has information that could be helpful.
>
>Thanks.
>Linda M. Goddard
>Hannam University
>133 Ojung-dong
>Taejon, South Korea
>        306-791
>Tel: 8242-621-4285
>E-mail: goddard_linda at hotmail.com
>
>______________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

Walter K. Lew
11811 Venice Blvd.  #138
Los Angeles, CA  90066




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