Jo Eun


Jo Eun is a South Korean poet. In her early poems, she focused on connecting nature and an inner world, but she has gradually expanded her poetry world to deal with other people and an outer world. In 2014, she won the Jeon Sukhui Literary Award.

Biography

She was born in 1960 in Andong, North Kyungsang Province. She debuted with three poems including "Ddangeun jugeomeul horakhorak badajuji anneunda " in Segyeui Munhak in 1988. For a long time, she has studied poetry by herself and she met Oh Kyuwon through his lecture and kept up acquaintance with him until he died. She said that she could not write poems when she was happy; she could only write through the five senses recovered at the misfortunate moment. With her belief that literature is part of an ordinary life, she has seldom met with anyone from literary circles. Living in Sajik-dong, Seoul, she has a poetry reading once a month. Since June 2019, she has published serially "Joeunui dosisanchaek " which describes every corner of the city through her delicate lens.
She also published several poetry collections including Sarangui wiryeokeuro, Ddangeun jugeomeul horakhorak badajuji anneunda, Mudeomeul maemdoneun iyu, Yeop baljaguk. In addition, she was interested in children's books and published warmhearted stories such as Hatbyet ttatteuthan jip and Yetnalcheoreom ''sala bwateoyo that inspire children with friendship and love. Besides, she released essays such as Byerangeseo salda and Maeumiyeo geoleora. She received the Jeon Sukhui Literary Award for Ttotto'', an essay illustrating the 17 years she lived with her pet, Ttotto.

Writing

Her poems describe agony, pain, despair and death we face every day in our ordinary life in a plain language. Death in her poems is portrayed as part of daily life in a form of natural image not an abstract statement. A serial poem "Jeonwonilgi " in her first poetry collection, With the Power of Love, depicts a poor and depressing farm village where she spent her youth. The second collection, The Reason for Lingering around Graves, describes death as one side of life, showing her resolution to overcome difficulties without giving up on her life. The unyielding determination is expressed through her solemn tone.
Darkness, pain and death are the key aspects of her poems. But graves that used to be described as a dark image is now portrayed as something inherently vital in Ddaddeuthan heul where death is not simply the end of life but something stimulating life. This transformation resulted from her new awareness of selfdom. In "Supui hyusik " and "Gayahal got," opposite things such as light and darkness and flower and root coexist, and contradictions become identical. The form of prose highlighted in her earlier poems has been changed into the poetic form.
Her poetry world has stretched from her focus on the self and the inner world to the other and the outer world. Saengui bitsal shows her compassion to others who are sick and distressed through the sixth sense. Particularly, "Gieokui simcheung " illustrates the narrator who finds her old self through flowers, trees, cats and strangers and who shares pain and sadness with others. Yeop baljaguk shows the journey of understanding life by looking into the destiny of human beings that past memories inevitably encounter forthcoming death at this very moment. Well illustrating attention to others, empathy of sorrow, and warm concerns for neighbors, poems in this collection are considered "the steps or footprints moving toward life, not death, despite the awareness of the close relation between life and death."

Works

1) Poetry Collections
《사랑의 위력으로》, 민음사, 1991 /Sarangui wiryeokeuro, Mineumsa, 1991.
《땅은 주검을 호락호락 받아주지 않는다》, 민음사, 1991 / Ddangeun jugeomeul horakhorak badajuji anneunda Mineumsa, 1991
《무덤을 맴도는 이유》, 문학과지성사, 1996 / Mudeomeul maemdoneun iyu, Munji, 1996.
《따뜻한 흙》, 문학과지성사, 2003 / Ddaddeuthan heul, Munji, 2003
《생의 빛살》, 문학과지성사, 2010 / Saengui bitsal, Munji, 2010.
《옆 발자국》, 문학과지성사, 2018 / Yeop baljaguk, Munji, 2018.
2) Essays
《벼랑에서 살다》, 마음산책, 2001 / Byerangeseo salda, Maeumsanchaek, 2001.
《우리가 사랑해야 하는 것들에 대하여》, 샘터사, 2004 / Uriga saranghaeya haneun geotdeule daehayeo, Saemteosa, 2004.
《조용한 열정》, 마음산책, 2004 / Joyonghan yeoljeong, Maeumsanchaek, 2004.
《낯선 길로 돌아오다》, 랜덤하우스, 2009 / Natseon gillo dolaoda  , Random House, 2009.
《마음이여, 걸어라》, 푸른숲, 2011 / Maeumiyeo geoleora, Pureunsup, 2011.
《또또》, 로도스, 2013 / Ttotto, Rodos, 2013.
《벽강 전숙희》, 한겨레출판사, 2016 / Byekkang jeonsukhui, Hankyoreh, 2016.
3) Children's Books
《햇볕 따뜻한 집》, 창비, 1999 / Hatbyet ttatteuthan jip, Yeolimwon, 2003.
《동생》, 푸른숲, 2003 / Dongsaeng, Pureunsup, 2003.
《다락방의 괴짜들》, 문학과지성사, 2005 / Darakbangui ''goijjadeul, Munji, 2005.
《으뜸 누리》, 도깨비, 2006 / Eutteum nuri, Doggabi, 2006.
《옛날처럼 살아 봤어요》, 사계절, 2012 /Yetnalcheoreom sala bwateoyo, Sagyejeol, 2012.
《힐링 썰매》, 문학과지성사, 2016 / Hiling sseolmae'', Munji, 2016.