Three Poets of Modern Korea: Yi Sang, Hahm Dongseon, and Choi Youngmi,Used

From BooklistKorean poetry is practically unknown in the U.S. These selections by twentiethcentury Koreans of three generations suggest that that is America's loss and that Korea's poetry is as up to date as any contemporary nation's. Yi Sang (191037) imbibed dada and surrealism from the modernist poets of Japan, when Japan brutally occupied Korea and imprisoned Yi for thought crimes. Yi's jokey, mordant prose poems bespeak his predicament by often portraying the poet in conflict with, or alienated from, his mirrorreflection. Hahm Dongseon (b.1930) has been shaped by Korea's passage from Japanese occupation to postWorld War II partition to the war of the early 1950s. Surviving and resisting destructive colonial power and love of Korea's land and people well up in his poems, which often disarmingly begin and end in observation of nature. Choi Youngmi (b.1961) represents the selfassertiveness of the young Koreans who agitated against repressive political regimes in the south, and her poems breathe that fervor and her determination, sometimes bemused, to be an independent woman and lover. Ray OlsonCopyright American Library Association. All rights reservedProduct DescriptionAs noted in the introduction, in contemporary Korea, 'poems are found on mountain boulders, on caf walls, on placemats, Tshirts, and television game shows.' And though Americans may know something of Koreas modern history of tumultdivision and repressionlittle of the countrys rich and varied poetry has been available to the Englishspeaking public.In Three Poets of Modern Korea, American poet James Kimbrell, and his wife, translator and native speaker Yu Jungyul, have gathered and translated leading representatives of three generations of Korean poets. From the Dada and surrealist influenced work of Yi Sang, to the colloquial, affirming poems of Hahm Dongseon, and ending with the brilliant sensuality of Choi Youngmi, whose work also asserts a determination to be both a woman and a free individual, this is a superb introduction to the largely undiscovered treasures of contemporary Korean poetry.Marketing Plans:Advertisements in key literary and trade magazinesNewsletter, brochure, catalog, and postcard mailingsReader copies available to booksellers through participation in Book Sense Advance Access ProgramYu Jungyul holds degrees in French Literature from Pusan National University, and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Kenyon College. A freelance photographer and translator, she is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in Studio Art at Florida State University and lives in Tallahassee, Florida.James Kimbrell is the author of The Gatehouse Heaven (Sarabande, 1998) and is the recipient of a Ruth Lilly Fellowship, a 'Discovery'/The Nation Award, Poetry magazine's Bess Hokin Award, and a Whiting Writer's Award. He teaches in the Creative Writing program at Florida State University and lives in Tallahassee, Florida.Also available: by James KimbrellThe Gatehouse Heaven,Winner of the 1997 Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry, Selected by Charles WrightTC $20.95, 1889330132 CUSATP $12.95, 1889330140 CUSAReview'Each of these poets work is much more various and subtle than a review like this can detail.' Jeff Gundy, ForeWord MagazineFrom the PublisherThree Poets of Modern Korea is the fortysixth title to be published by Sarabande Books, a nonprofit literary press headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. Founded in 1994 to publish poetry and short fiction, Sarabandes mission is to disburse these works with diligence and integrity, and to serve as an educational resource to teachers and students of creative writing. Since the 1996 debut of the press, our titles have received positive review attention from nationally distinguished media including The New York Times Book Review, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, American Book Review, Small Press, The Nation, and Library Journal.From the Back CoverIn contemporary Korea, as noted by J