Hwang Tong-gyu

Hwang Tong-gyu (born April 9, 1938) is a Korean poet and critic.^[1]

Life

Hwang Tong-gyu was born in Seoul. He received a degree in English literature from Seoul National University, where he also completed his graduate studies. His literary career was officially launched with the publication of works such as "October” (Si-wol) and "A Letter of Delight” (Jeulgeo-un pyeonji) in Contemporary literature (Hyundae Munhak). He is currently a professor of English literature at Seoul National University^[2] and has been the recipient of several prestigious Korean literary prizes.^[3]

Work

The early poetry of Hwang Tong-gyu illustrates a sense of longing and anticipation through portrayal of melancholic interior landscapes, as seen in "October” (Si-wol) and "A Letter of Delight" (Jeulgeo-un pyeonji). “Elegy” (Biga) is written in the language of a wanderer or outcast in order to illustrate the conflict between the 'Ego' and reality. This particular work marks the poet’s first foray away from the abstraction of his earlier work into an exploration of concrete reality. In discarding his prior detachment from reality, the poet takes as subject the suffering of people living tragic lives. His works “The Song of Peace” (Taepyeongga), “Snow falling on the three southern provinces” (Samname naelinun nun), and "Yeolha-ilgi" exemplify the use of irony in the poet’s narrative voice.^[4]

Hwang Tong-gyu ’s diction and general poetic aesthetic evolved continuously throughout his literary career. Oftentimes, the poet strips images to their bare, essential core, and employs a terse and unalloyed prose style. This poetic transformation suggests the poet’s attempt to revolutionize the traditional prosody into a general/ conventional, realistic form. While the poet meditates upon death by describing a will to tame it in "Wind Burial” (Pungjang), his poetic language is more flexible in "The Intolerable Lightness of Being" (Gyeondil su eobs-i gabyeo-un jonjaedeul).^[5]

Works in Translation

• Wind Burial (풍장)
• Die Horen. Zeitschrift für Literatur, Kunst und Kritik (독일문예지 誌 -한국문학 특집호)
• Windbestattung (풍장)
• Posada de nubes y otros poemas (황동규 시선 <몰운대행>)

Works in Korean (Partial)

• A Shiny Day (Eotteon gae-in nal),
• A Falling Snow in Samnam (Samname naelineun nun)
• Yeolha-ilgi
• I Want to Paint When I See the Rock (Naneun bakwileul bomyeon gulligo sip-eojinda)
• A Journey to Morundae (Morundae haeng)
• Wind burial (Pungjang)

Awards

• Korean Literature Award (1980)
• Isan Literature Prize (1991)
• Midang Literary Award (2002)
• Manhae Prize (2006)
• Ho-am Prize in the Arts (2016)

References