Mun Tae-jun

Mun Tae-jun is a South Korean poet.

Career

Mun Tae-jun has published several poetry collections since his prize-winning debut in 1994, and the great artistic potential of his works have gained the attention of many literary artists and critics.
Mun Tae-jun's poems employ a comforting language to soothe the wounds of the soul. His poems seek to assuage the pains of those suffering from the violence and oppression of a heartless society. He values "conversation" highly, emphasizing full empathy between two existences, such as when he says, "That over there, is in me here; and I here, am in that over there. Let me respect that which is not me, and therefore those things that are me." The poet aspires to a state in which the subject and object are not distinct form one another, but fused together. In this respect, Mun Tae-jun carries on the traditional lyrical tradition. His poetry collection The Development of Dusk was translated to English by Kim Won-Chung and Christopher Merrill and published as The Growth of a Shadow. A handful of his other works have also been translated.

Selected works

Works in translation

* The Growth of a Shadow: Selected Poems of Taejoon Moon - translated by Kim Won-Chung and Christopher Merrill

Works in Korean (partial)

Poetry collections

* Crowded Backyard
* Bare Feet
* Flatfish
* The Development of Dusk
* A Distant Place
* Our Final Face
* ''What Is the End of What I Long For?''

Prose collections

* ''Embrace: Holding You, I Am Stained''

Awards

* Dongseo Literary Prize
* Nojak Literary Prize
* Midang Literary Award - for "누가 울고 간다"
* Yushim Literary Prize
* Sowol Poetry Prize - for "그맘때에는"