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| The cover of Kim Hye-soon's "Phantom Pain Wings" (2023), translated by Don Mee Choi / Courtesy of New Directions Publishing |
By Park Han-sol
The English-language translation of celebrated poet Kim Hye-soon's 2019 poetry collection, "Phantom Pain Wings," has been published in the United States, Tuesday.
The poignant anthology of 72 poems, the words of which were rendered in English by Korean American poet and translator Don Mee Choi, "depicts the memory of war trauma and the collective grief of parting through what (Kim) calls an 'I-do-bird-sequence,'" the publisher New Directions Publishing wrote on its website, calling it "winged ventriloquy."
To portray the endless struggles against injustice, Kim combines her signature experimental language with elements inspired by Korea's folklore and legends, as well as cultural legacies from different parts of the world.
The poet made headlines in 2019 as the first Asian woman to be named the winner of the prestigious International Griffin Poetry Prize for her "Autobiography of Death," which muses on the complex nature of individual and collective historical traumas. The piece was also translated by Choi.
In fact, the pair's collaboration has continued for years in Kim's other pieces, including: "Mommy Must Be a Fountain of Feathers," "Sorrowtoothpaste Mirrorcream," "I'm OK, I'm Pig!" and "All the Garbage of the World, Unite!"
Choi became the two-time winner of the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize for her translation of "Autobiography of Death" and "All the Garbage of the World, Unite!"
At last year's Seoul International Writers' Festival, the translator spoke in a joint talk session with the poet about how Kim's writing helped her "rediscover" her own voice that had been lost since she left Korea at the age of 10 with her family in 1972.
Starting from June, Kim will travel to Germany, Poland and Sweden, as well as New York and Boston in the U.S., to hold a series of poetry recitations.
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