Book Review - The Poet (Yi Mun-yol)

 The Poet
 Yi Mun-yol
 [Korea, historical fiction]
 translated from the Korean by Chong-wa Chung + Anthony of Taize
 Harvill 1995
 207 pages
 
 A book review by Danny Yee
 http://dannyreviews.com/h/Poet.html

When Kim Pyong-yon is four, his grandfather, a government official, is
executed for joining a rebellion -- and three generations of the family
are condemned to death.  Pyong-yon and his immediate family survive
through subterfuge and eventually obtain a pardon, but as a traitor's
descendants they face a bleak future.  Pyong-yon is driven to study,
struggling to regain his family's position; when the impossibility of
that becomes clear, he abandons his family to become a wandering poet,
Kim "Sakkat" or "Bamboo Hat".

His life and his poetry go through several phases.  At first he spends
his time as the guest of provincial scholars or officials, writing
poetry appropriate to that audience.  His welcome there wears thin,
however, and after an encounter with a man who knew his grandfather he
comes to question the conventional wisdom about the rebellion -- and
turns to popular poetry and the breaking of conventions, both poetic
and social.  Eventually disillusioned with that as well, he finds solace
in introspection and nature.  Episodes in Kim Sakkat's life involve
the inspiration of the Diamond Mountains, meetings with a mysterious
"Old Drunkard", and a period spent producing revolutionary propaganda
for bandits.  Its coda is provided by the filial piety of his own
neglected son.

Kim Pyong-yon was a well-known historical figure; the rebellion that
shaped his life was that of Hong Kyong-rae, in north-western Korea
in 1811.  The translators' introduction makes it clear that _The Poet_
(_Shiin_) is largely fictional, but it has almost the feel of a dramatised
biography rather than a historical novel.  In places Yi Mun-yol discusses
his sources in an almost scholarly fashion, or provides commentary on
the historical background.
        
        "He was born and grew up in an age when new ideas, especially
        the Practical Learning and Catholicism, were being introduced
        from China.  There was no challenge to the monarchy or the
        system of government as such, but questions were beginning to
        arise in structural terms about such issues as the possession
        and distribution of wealth and the nature of human relationships."
        
Outsiders may find the broader cultural context just as intriguing as
the history.  They may also find some references confusing, but the
translators have usefully added a map of Korea and endnotes explaining
potentially unfamiliar concepts.

_The Poet_ is fundamentally a psychological study, of the development
of a poet and of the nature of poetic inspiration.  Quite a few of Kim's
poems are included, and sometimes analysed.
        
        The gruel in the bowl on this little four-legged table //
        Is so thin it reflects the pale azure clouds. //
        Please don't be ashamed, master of the house. //
        Why, I love to see green hills reflected in water.
        
Though never didactic, _The Poet_ also touches on political and ethical
topics, some of them, one suspects, allusions to modern Korea.  There's
certainly an autobiographical parallel, since Yi Mun-yol lived under a
cloud as a result of his father defecting to North Korea in 1951.

Kim Pyong-yon remains distant -- we never really identify with him --
and the other characters are merely ciphers.  Despite this, however, and
some untidiness in the construction -- Yi Mun-yol originally planned to
write "one novella and four or five short stories" about Kim Pyong-yon,
and ended up producing a novel in installments -- _The Poet_ works
surprisingly effectively as a novel.

--

%T      The Poet
%A      Yi Mun-yol
%M      Korean
%F      Chung, Chong-wha
%F      Taizé, Anthony of
%I      Harvill
%C      London
%D      1995 [1992]
%O      paperback
%G      ISBN 1-86046-896-9
%P      207pp
%K      world literature, historical fiction, poetry, Korea
%Z      a marginal poet in 19th century Korea

19 October 2003

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        Copyright (c) 2003 Danny Yee       http://danny.oz.au/
        Danny Yee's Book Reviews      http://dannyreviews.com/
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