Poetry
금강
Not translated into English
Shin Tong-yop · 1967
Synopsis
A long epic poem, the text looks back on the Donghak peasant war of 1894 as seen from the present. It follows Shin Ha-nui, a revolutionary figure, among the peasant soldiers of the Donghak, and traces, according to the critic Yu Jong-ho, the preludes of a revolution that the poet has no doubt will come one day. The poem thus links past, present and future, and dreams, according to the Kyeonggi Ilbo, of a peaceful and harmonious national community.
Context
The poem appeared in 1967 in the fifth volume of a collection of new works from Eulyoo, devoted to long poems, verse dramas and epics, after its author had received a grant from the Korean PEN club. To write it, he travelled repeatedly through the Honam, land of the Donghak, and completed it despite illness. Critics have read it in the line of the nationalist and populist discourses of the sixties and seventies; Paik Nak-chung links the author's work to anti-imperialism, reunification and the emancipation of the oppressed masses.
Who it is for
Long epic poem in chapters, in simple language, for which no French or English translation is recorded.
Prizes and reception
Since 1982, a fund for young writers has borne the name of its author, according to Contemporary Authors.
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