It has been a joy to translate poems by one of Korea’s most widely loved poets. The poems of Do Jong-Hwan do not need much explanation or commentary. They are not difficult to understand but offer glimpses of wisdom, lessons learned from life’s greatest joys and deepest pains. Koreans love supremely the poets who encourage them to endure, to preserve a simple dignity in the midst of trials and hardship. Mortality and transience can never fail to be challenges to any over-simple expectation of human happiness: “It’s sad, but flowers fall. Days once beautiful go floating away on the stream, the wind blows and without a word our flesh cracks.” The final solution, then, is a deeper wisdom, an acceptance. As he writes, “wounds and pain too form part of a beautiful life.” Such is the beauty we have tried to convey in our translations.
Raindrops trickle down maize leaves. Today again I have lived one day. Before leaves fall and chill winds blow the days left to us are short indeed. Just as strands of hair, fallen without trace, pile up at the bedside each morning, the life is slipping away from your body, rustling.
- excerpt from Hollyhock You
Do Jong-Hwan
Brother Anthony & Jinna Park
No Flower Blooms Without Wavering
Translators’ Note
About the Poet Do Jong-Hwan
No Flower Blooms Without Wavering 흔들리며 피는 꽃
시인 도 종 환
Do Jong-Hwan Translated by Brother Anthony and Jinna Park
11,000 won / US$ 18.00
ISBN 978-1-62412-063-3
Born in 1954 in Cheong-ju, Chungcheong buk-do, he began work as a high school teacher. He made his literary debut through the literary magazine The Age of Division in 1984. He has authored many poetry collections, including In Godumi Village, Hollyhock You,Who Are You? The Smooth Straight Line, The Root of Sorrow, and The Road to Haein. His most recent volume is Between Three and Five o’clock. His second poetry book Hollyhock You, which brought him critical acclaim and instant fame. He has received a number of major literary awards, including the 2009 Jeong Ji-yong Award, the 2010 Yun Dong-ju Award, the 2011 Baek Seok Award, and the 2012 Gong Cho Award. He has been a member of the main opposition party in the Korean National Assembly since 2012, elected through a proportional representation system to represent the world of education, culture and the arts.
1954년 충청북도 청주에서 태어난 도종환은 고등학교 교사로 재직하였고 1984년 문학지 《분단시대》를 통해 문단에 등단했다. 그 후 〈고두미 마을에서〉, 〈접시꽃 당신〉, 〈당신은 누구십니까?〉, 〈부드러운 직선〉, 〈 슬픔의 뿌리〉, 〈해인으로 가는 길〉 등 수많은 시집을 냈다. 그의 최근 작품집은 〈세시와 다섯시 사이〉이다. 그의 두 번째 시집 <접시꽃 당신>은 비평가의 호평과 즉각적인 명성을 안겨주었다. 시인은 2009년 정지용 문학상, 2010년 윤동주 문학상, 2011년 백석 문학상, 2012년 공초 문학상 등 다수의 문학상을 받았고 2012 년 제1야당의 교육문화예술계를 대표하는 비례대표 의원으로 선출되었다.