Park Je chun

Life

Park Je-chung was born in Seoul, Korea on March 23, 1945. Park graduated from Dongguk University in 1966 and immediately debuted as a poet in the Hyundai Munhak monthly. Park became a member of the literary coterie Poetic Thought in 1983 and in 1995 helped to found the magazine Literary Academy, for which he served as publisher and editor. He has also taught at Kyonggi University and served as an officital of the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation.

Work

The Korea Literature Translation Institute has summarized Park's contributions to Korean literature:

His first volume of poetry The Poem of a Mature Man (Jangjasi, 1975) was not entirely successful in sustaining poetic intensity despite rhetorical flourish and sensuous language. If The Poem of a Mature Man failed to reach maturity, his second and third volumes of poetry, The Law of Heart (Simbeop, 1979) and The Law (Yul, 1981) respectively, make apparent that the poet is striving towards poetic maturity, abandoning flowery language to reflect upon the Buddhist world of goodness with solemnity and care. At the Moonless Buddhist Temple (Dareun jeumeun garame) and Further Than Darkness (Eodumboda meolli) show greater depth and breadth in the poet’s language and his contemplation upon the world. In his latest volume of poetry, SF-Sympathy (SF-gyogam, 2001), Park delves into the crisis of poetry and of the literary arts at large brought on by the proliferation of visual media in the 20th century. Park’s poetic imagination has evolved beyond mere contemplation on self to embrace individual as a part of larger group. With expansive worldview, Park continues to explore the meaning of poetry in the modern world.

Works in Translation

La Canción del dragón y otros poemas (박제천 시선)

Works in Korean (Partial)

Collections of Poetry

Taoist Poems

Laws of the Mind

The Third Star

The Moon Over the Darkening Sea

Farther than the Darkness

Dreaming Prints

The Autumn of my 23rd Year

Your Name, My Poems

Flower of the Sky

In the Twelve Hells of the Blue Star

Collections of Critical Essays

Wings of the Seoul

Lectures on Poetry Composition

Methods of Poetry Composition

Essays

Selections from the Jade Mirror of Mind

Discourses on Herbs and Roots

The Flame of a Dream-Filled Life

The Fountains of the Heart

Awards

Hyundai Munhak Literary Award (1979)

Prize for Poetry of Korean Poet's Association (1981)

Nokwon Literary Award (1983)

Woltan Literary Award (1987)

Yun Tong-ju Literary Prize (1989)

Dongguk University Literary Prize (1991)