KJ New Issue Event

Jan. 22, 2006

Brother Anthony of Taize, a superbly sensitive translator of modern Korean literature, including works by Korea's Nobel nominee poet Ko Un, visited Kyoto to give a public reading, "Songs for Tomorrow," on Sunday January 22nd. He presented a thoughtful and informative introduction to some of the diverse poetry that came out of the hard times of postwar military dictatorship in Korea, bringing individual poems to life in a way that was a very memorable experience for those present.The text is available on his website here.

Brother Anthony contributed the article "Pain and Truth: A Pilgrimage with Some Korean Poets" to KJ #60, our special Korea issue, and was very generous in his assistance with the project, providing introductions and even interpreting, especially for Patricia Donegan's interview with Ko Un.

Originally from England, he studied Medieval and Modern Languages at the Queen's College, Oxford. In 1969, he joined the Community of Taizé in France. He arrived in Korea in May 1980, and was naturalized in 1994, taking the Korean name An Sonjae. He teaches medieval and renaissance English literature as a Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at Sogang University (Seoul). Over the last two decades Brother Anthony has translated some 20 volumes of modern Korean literature into English, including 6 volumes of works by Ko Un, five by Ku Sang, two of poems by Kim Kwang-Kyu, and The Poet, a novel by Yi Mun-yol. More about Brother Anthony and his translations: http://www.sogang.ac.kr/~anthony/Trans.htm and http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony/

Modern dance, by Kokoro, to iron-stringed kayagum music composed by late Korean Living National
Treasure Song Gum Yon; choreography by Miyagi Noboru.

Korean contemporary tea ceremony, performed by Hong Kyong-Hui, who accompanied Brother
Anthony on his trip from Seoul.

KJ greatly appreciates the kind cooperation of Kampo Memorial Hall in providing the venue.
Thanks also to contributing editor Sherry Nakanishi for helping to organize this event.