Enough to Say It's Far: Selected Poems of Pak Chaesam

(Paperback)

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Presents an English translation of selected poems by one of the most important and unusual modern poets of South Korea. Pak Chaesam's work is characterized by portraits of place, nature, childhood, and human relationships, and by indirection, nostalgia, and reflectiveness. He writes with a spareness of presentation, but a cornucopia of imagery.

Reviews

"McCann and Shin have executed what seem to me a perfect set of translations. The work is all of a piece, and all very fine."Richard Howard, series editor of the Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation, and author of Inner Voices: Selected Poems, 1963-2003
"This translation of selected poems by one of South Korea's most respected lyric poets illuminates his work for the first time in English. These poems do not neglect to remind the reader of irrecoverable time, but insist on the mind's ability to bear the richness of what has been lost, captured in Pak's image of the persimmon, the deep orange fruit arriving late in the year. The poems have been rendered in an evocative English afterlife by the translators. Their decisions, particularly regarding words difficult to translate, prove to be astute and effective. It is a welcome work that fills a large gap in Korean poetry in English."Ann Y. Choi, Rutgers University

Author Bio

Pak Chaesam (1933-1997) wrote fifteen books of poetry and numerous books of essays, and he won many of South Korea's most prestigious literary prizes. David R. McCann is Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Literature at Harvard University. Jiwon Shin is Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley.