Kwak Jae-gu

Kwak Jae-gu
Hangeul	곽재구
Hanja	郭 在 九
Revised Romanization	Gwak Jae-gu
McCune- Reischauer	Kwak Chaegu
See also : Korean name

Kwak Jae-gu also Gwak Jae-gu (* 1954 in Kwangju ) is a South Korean poet .

Life

Kwak Jae-gu was born in Gwangju in 1954 . He graduated from Chŏnnam University . After he had won a literature competition of the newspaper JoongAng Ilbo with his poem Am Bahnhof Sapyŏng (사평역 에서) in 1981 , Kwak began to be active in a literary circle that published the magazine Mai Lyrik (오월 시).

Kwak Jae-gu's poetry is primarily concerned with the depiction of love and loneliness and clearly follows the Korean aesthetic. The development that can be seen between his first collection of poems Am Bahnhof Sapyŏng (사평역 에서) and his third anthology, Korean Lovers (한국 의 연인들), shows the change from an abstract devotion to historical and social problems to more social reality, which through the prism of abstract love is considered. This lyrical evolution can also be seen as an ever deeper search for the real meaning of the self.

Starting with his fourth anthology, Seoul Senoya (서울 세노야), Kwak's poems embark on a search for a concrete realization of love and spiritual rebirth. Kwak's early works are full of anger at the monstrous violence of society and filled with love for the common people who suffer the burden of that violence. The emotions emerging in his poetry - sadness, loneliness, anger, despair, desire, love - demonstrate the extent of his anger and frustration in the face of the prevailing socio-historical dilemma. While these emotions are still vaguely and abstractly expressed in the first anthology, they emerge more and more strongly and are expressed more clearly and distinctly with each volume. The poems in Seoul Senoya reveal a penetrating awareness of history and the social situation as well as a description of the human condition, both concrete and lyrical. These poems transcend the basic emotions of anger and suffering in the light of violence and seek to restore the purity and love that are the pure nature of man.

Work

Korean (excerpt)

• 사평역 에서 At Sap'yŏng Station (1983)
• 전장포 아리랑 Muzzle Loader Arirang (1985)
• 한국 의 연인들 Korean Lovers (1986)
• 서울 세노야 Seoul Senoya (1990)
• 아기 참새 찌구 The little sparrow Jjigu (1992)
• 참 맑은 물살 A Really Clear River (1995)
• 세상 에서 제일 맛있는 자장면 The best Chajangmyŏn in the world (1996)
• 내가 사랑한 사람 내가 사랑한 세상 The person I love, the world I love (1999)
• 낙타 풀 의 사랑 Love of Camel Grass (2001)
• 곽재구 의 포구 기행 Kwak Jae-gus Harbor Tour (2003)
• 곽재구 의 예술 기행 Kwak Jae-gus Art Journey (2003)

Translations

French

• Chickou, le pionnier de la grande prairie (아기 참새 찌구), Picquier Jeunesse, (2010) ISBN 978-2809701982

Awards

• 1981: 중안 일보 신춘 문예 ( JoongAng Ilbo Literature Competition )
• 1997: 동서 문학상 ( Tongsŏ Literature Prize )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Korean Literature Authors Name Authority Database: 곽재구 ( Memento of the originals of 6 October 2014 Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on January 30, 2014 
2. ↑ 네이버 인물 검색: 곽재구 Retrieved January 30, 2014 (Korean)
3. ↑ Author Database of LTI Korea: Kwak Jae-gu ( Memento of the original from June 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on January 30, 2014 

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Kwak is the family name here, Jae-gu is the first name.