[KS] KSR 2005-01: _Vision of a Phoenix: The Poems of Hô Nansôrhôn_ , by Yang Hi Choe-Wall

[Stephen Epstein]

_Vision of a Phoenix: The Poems of Hô Nansôrhôn_, by Yang Hi 
Choe-Wall.  Ithaca: Cornell East Asia Series, 2003. 130 pages. ISBN: 
1-885445-17-2.


Reviewed by Younghee Lee
The University of Auckland
yh.lee at auckland.ac.nz


	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://koreaweb.ws/ks/ksr/ksr05-01.htm
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