Mun Tae-jun | |
---|---|
Born | 1970 (age 53–54) Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea |
Occupation | Writer, poet |
Language | Korean |
Nationality | South Korean |
Alma mater | Korea University |
Korean name | |
Hangul | 문태준 |
Hanja | |
Revised Romanization | Mun Tae-jun |
McCune–Reischauer | Mun T'aejun |
Mun Tae-jun ( Korean: 문태준, born 1970) is a South Korean poet. [1]
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. [2]
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. [3] His poetry collection The Development of Dusk (2008) was translated to English by Kim Won-Chung and Christopher Merrill and published as The Growth of a Shadow (2012). A handful of his other works have also been translated. [4]