Kim Eon is a South Korean
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
.
Life
Kim was born in 1973 in
Busan
Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...
,
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
. He made his debut as a
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
in 1998, with the publication of six poems including ''The Sunflower'' in the journal ''Poetry and Thought''. Kim is a poetic
fundamentalist
Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing ...
who believes that the task of changing the world should begin with the task of changing the language, so much so that he has named himself "Eon," meaning "language".
Work
Kim published many collections of
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
, including ''The Breathing Tomb'' (Cheonyeonuisijak, 2003), ''The Giant'' (
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
Korea, 2005), and ''Let's Write a Novel'' (Minumsa, 2009). His poetic journey is symbolized as a "giant" that has come running out of a "breathing tomb" writing a "novel." Regarding his works, Sin Hyeongcheol, the critic, has said that "These poems won't get any comments on a
blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
," warning that "reading more than three of these poems a day will possibly result in the overheating and explosion of the reader's brain." And yet these poems "should be read." The poems, deemed "impossible to translate" (Yi Jangwuk), and appraised as "
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_
In_philosophy,_the_terms_obscurantism_and_obscurationism_describe_the_anti-intellectual_practices_of_deliberately_presenting_information_in_an__abstruse_and_imprecise_manner_that_limits_further_inquiry_and_understanding_of_a_subject._There_are_two_...
_poems,_but_they_are_creative_poems_that_make_possible_the_imagination_of_"other_poems."_In_that_respect,_Kim_is_a_poet_who_never_ceases_to_explore_the_world,_the_nature_of_existence,_and_the_principles_of_language._He_seeks_to_say_what_cannot_be_said,_to_communicate_with_things_with_which_you_can't_communicate._He_is_a_poetic_fundamentalist_who_believes_that_the_task_of_changing_the_world_should_begin_with_the_task_of_changing_the_language,_so_much_so_that_he_has_named_himself_"Eon,"_meaning_"language."
In_Kim's_poetry,_the_ultimate_question_regarding_poetry_is_no_different_from_an_extreme_exploration_of_language,_which_in_turn_is_no_different_from_a_fundamental_investigation_of_the_domain_of_poetry._That_must_be_why_the_poetic_fundamentalist_has_suddenly_released_a_poetry_collection_under_the_title,_''Let's_Write_a_Novel''._He_is_not_saying_that_he_will_actually_write_a_novel,_but_that_he_will_write_a_"different_kind_of_poetry."_''Let's_Write_a_Novel,''_a_collection_of_poetry_that_brings_together_the_most_fundamental_charm_of_poetry_(the_language)_and_the_thing_that's_the_farthest_away_from_poetry_(the_novel)_presents_a_kind_of_beauty_different_from_what_readers_ordinarily_expect_from_poetry.
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