Abiding Places: Korea South & North (Paperback)

~ Ko Un (Author), Sunny Jung (Translator), Hillel Schwartz (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In Abiding Places, Korean poet Ko Un transfigured his homeland in lovely, observant, and penetrating poems uniting ancient and modern, secular and spiritual, art and politics, South and North. When his former political cellmate Kim Dae-Jung became president of Korea in 1998, Ko Un because the first citizen from the South to be invited to tour the North. From that visit came this deceptively simple and deeply engaging book.

Sunny Jung and Hillel Schwartz provide lyrical and penetrating translations and complement the poems with essential maps.

About the Author

Born in colonial Korea in 1933, Ko Un has written 15 volumes of poetry and twice won the prestigious Korean Literature Prize. Work translated into seventeen languages. In 1999, he was Visiting Research Scholar at the Harvard-Korea Institute.

Product Details

• Paperback: 142 pages
• Publisher: Tupelo Press (December 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932195408
• ISBN-13: 978-1932195408
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,121,517 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, October 11, 2009

By	Kevin W. Arawjo (Freemansburg, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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Ko Un's Abiding Places is the perfect mix of history, poetry and philosophy. It examines the cultural reality of modern Korea, South and North, and its people; in Ko Un's ambiguous context, each location becomes a testament to the issues surrounding the truce line, and the world in general. This is especially excellent for those looking for insight into how modern Koreans feel about the division, and the corruption of one people, naturally and culturally similar, but ultimately, politically divided.