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Vision of a Phoenix: The Poems of Hô Nansôrhôn,Yang Hi Choe-Wall. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University East Asia Program, 2003. 130 pages. ISBN: 1-885445-17-2.
Reviewed by Younghee Lee
The University of Auckland
Hô Ch'ohûi, (pen name Nansôrhôn, 1563-1589) is recognized as one of Korea's great poets. Her surpassing literary talents were recognized even during her brief lifetime of 26 years, and her surviving work of 211 Chinese poems has earned her continual admiration over the centuries up to the present day. The mystique surrounding her life, of which little is known, has contributed to what some might call her "legendary" status, by which her poetic gift
is described as "divine" and the qualities of her persona as "unworldly."Hô Nansôrhôn is almost always included among the major influential figures in Sino-Korean literature and/or women's literature of the Chosôn period. Numerous traditional Korean literature and poetry anthologies in English translation contain one or more of her more celebrated poems. In Vision of a Phoenix: the Poems of Hô Nansôrhôn by Yang Hi Choe-Wall, however, we now have in English an entire volume devoted to the poet and her work.
This book includes a sampling of 53 translations from every style and theme in which Nansôrhôn chose to compose. Each translation is accompanied by the original Chinese text (to which Dr. Choe-Wall has added symbols denoting rhyme and tonal schemes) and extensive commentary. The book also includes a discussion of sixteenth century Sino-Korean literary trends (a contextual discussion of events in China and Korea that influenced Nansôrhôn's choice of theme and style), a brief biography of the poet, and a presentation of the "authenticity" issue, in which questions of plagiarism and/or misattribution in relation to some of Nansôrhôn's work are discussed.
Because so little is known of the poet's life the author's biographical treatment of Nansôrhôn is necessarily brief. Much that is commonly understood about her is derived from careful speculation on what her familial, social, and intellectual environment must have been.Nansôrhôn was one of "three [literary] jewels" in the immensely prestigious and illustrious Hô family. The other two were elder brother Hô Pong and younger brother Hô Kyun (best known today for his reputed authorship of "The Tale of Hong Kiltong"). Her family quickly recognized Nansôrhôn's literary talents, and she was strongly encouraged, especially by her brothers, to study the Chinese classics and to compose Chinese poetry. Of course, such privilege for women, especially for those of the elite classes, was forbidden in Chosôn's rigidly patriarchic Confucian society. Thus, despite her unique talents and the strong support of her illustrious brothers, it was a foregone conclusion that she would never be allowed to freely flourish as an accomplished scholar and composer of great poetry.
This state-imposed social restriction is just one of many enduring issues in the poet's life that may have contributed to her early demise at the age of 26. The melancholy and despair reflected in so many of her compositions and which earned her the sobriquet "Poet of Tears" is also attributable to her unhappy marriage to a reputedly philandering husband who was rarely home and who, for all that, was clearly her intellectual inferior. Perhaps the greatest hurt of all was the death in successive years of her two children, which was closely followed by her own passing a year later.
Dr. Choe-Wall writes that in the late 1500s many Koreans followed contemporary trends in Ming China by turning away from the highly stylized and more ambiguous expression of the Sung literary tradition (exemplified by the eleventh century luminary Su Shih) to once again embrace the simplicity and more natural expressiveness of eighth century T'ang poets such as Li Po and Tu Fu. The majority of Nansôrhôn's poems are, therefore, inspired by the same dominant characteristics that define T'ang poetry. As a result her poems tend to be intensely personal compositions. Their emotive power is further strengthened by her attention to the requirements of T'ang verse forms, which placed a premium on succinct and highly polished expression.
Though she is perhaps best known for her intensely melancholy poems, many others reflect Nansôrhôn's strong interest in the fantastic world of the Taoist immortals and in the alchemy that is associated with the Taoist search for immortality. Dr. Choe-Wall suggests that this interest was sustained, in part at least, by Nansôrhôn's wish to escape the unhappy constraints of her fettered life. In this way, perhaps, the Taoist world of fantasy offered a "substitute for the world around her" (p. 35). But Dr. Choe-Wall also notes that, after many decades of steadily declining influence, Taoism was enjoying resurgence in Korean literary circles of the late sixteenth century; a time precisely coinciding with Nansôrhôn's brief life.
The greatest portion of this volume is devoted to detailed presentation and extensive commentary of the translated poems, and it is here where Dr. Choe-Wall's study is most valuable and important. Few indeed among us possess a thorough knowledge of traditional Chinese poetry, its great traditions, its vast treasury of metaphor and allusion, and the outward beauty and simplicity of its mechanics, but to fully appreciate Nansôrhôn's literary genius these are precisely the intellectual tools required. The vast majority of contemporary Koreans and non-Koreans alike hoping to acquaint themselves with Nansôrhôn's work can only faintly glimpse the true power of her compositions without such accompanying knowledge. Dr. Choe-Wall's book seems designed to help bridge this gap by providing us with a tutorial that guides us through the poems' "formal and non-formal structures, taking into consideration sound, syntax and meaning" (p. 44). Dr. Choe-Wall elaborates further that in "regard to the phonetic features, each character has been checked against a tonal table to define the tone of each rhyme and the tonal pattern of each verse" (p. 44).
For example, her first translated poem "Song of Youth" is identified as a "five syllable koshi which changes its rhyme during the course of the poem at the end of each couplet: level tone at the first couplet, deflected tone at the second, and then back to the level tone at the third" (p. 47). She identifies a caesura in each line between the second and third syllable. Numbers and symbols that help to illustrate her commentary accompany the original Chinese text. The author's intention in providing this visual scheme is evidently to convey to the English reader some understanding of T'ang verse dynamics, by which Nansôrhôn's genius and careful attention to syntax, rhythm, and tone can be more fully appreciated.
At first glance one may protest the clutter brought on by the numbers, asterisks, and "at" (@) symbols that accompany each translation, but with a little patience their importance to Dr. Choe-Wall's overall presentation becomes apparent. This is because Dr. Choe-Wall has sought "compromise" in her translations between the "literal" and the "literary". Wherever possible she has sought to "convey parallelism and antithesis as in the original text" (p.44). Dr. Choe-Wall risks presenting a less literary and aesthetically pleasing translations in order to highlight Nansôrhôn's mastery of T'ang verse requirements.
At times the risk pays off. We can occasionally glimpse and appreciate the highly refined and compressed expression of classical Chinese poetry when, for example, we see two English words that convey much the same sentiments as two Chinese characters in the corresponding original. Overall, however, the translations fare less well on an independent footing. Indeed, the accompanying commentary and visuals are so helpful to an expanded appreciation of the poem that one could be excused for rushing through the translations to get to them. The commentary then leads the reader back to the original Chinese text and from there to a rereading of the translation.
The book could also benefit from an expanded discussion (with illustrative examples) of T'ang poetic forms. Dr. Ch'oe-Wall only briefly discusses T'ang modern style verse (chin-t'i shih, Kor. kûnch'eshi) and old style verse (ku shih, Kor. koshi) and the requirements of each, leaving the reader with precious little material with which to clearly follow and fully digest her commentary accompanying each poem. This is a surprising omission in a volume that in every other respect effectively brings the English reader closer to the creative literary environment of a late sixteenth
century Korean poet.Such criticisms should not detract from the overall very positive contribution this volume represents to the study of
Nansôrhôn in English. Dr. Choe-Wall has performed a great service to the academic community that is entirely in keeping with the stated mandate of the publishers of the Cornell East Asia Series. For those hoping to discover in English translation Hô Nansôrhôn's great poetic gift, this volume may disappoint. As a thorough academic treatment
of the poet's artistic legacy and her social and literary milieu, however, the book delivers a great deal indeed.
Citation:
Lee, Younghee 2005
Vision of a Phoenix: The Poems of Hô Nansôrhôn, by Yang Hi Choe-Wall, (2003)
Korean Studies Review 2005, no. 01
Electronic file: http://koreanstudies.com/ks/ksr/ksr05-01.htm