Senior scholar dedicates life to studying Goethe

Chon Young-ae, Seoul National University professor emeritus, who is an expert on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's literature, looks at a book at the Yeobaek Academy in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, which is a part of her dream to set up a "Goethe Village" in Korea, Aug. 13. Courtesy of Kim Chang-young

Chon Young-ae's Korean 'Goethe Village' aims to inspire young Koreans

By Kim Chang-young

Yeoju of Gyeonggi Province has long been one of the most popular sites for holiday-goers. The city features a variety of historical monuments including the tomb and shrine of King Sejong, a Joseon-era royal vestige registered as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage.

Surrounded by scenic hills, mountains, streams and rivers, Yeoju boasts of the Silleuk Temple beside the Namhan River, built in the Silla Dynasty about 1,400 years ago. Not far from the time-honored temple, a significant new spot has been added to the major cultural attractions.

The Yeobaek Academy complex is open to anyone wishing to enjoy the traditional Korean literati custom and classical German literary world, says Chon Young-ae, 72, professor emeritus at Seoul National University (SNU).

She translated all the poems written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe into Korean in 2009 and won the Goethe Gold Medal from the Weimar Goethe Society two years later. "The rest of his complete works will be translated within 10 years, if everything goes well," Chon said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.

Scholar Chon Young-ae takes a rest at Sijeong Pavilion in the spacious garden of the Yeobaek Academy in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 13. Beside the garden is the "Goethe promenade" which runs around the hill, decorated with small stones on which some of the German poet's phrases have been inscribed. Courtesy of Kim Chang-young

The private academy, named after the pen name of her father Chon U-soon, comprises four Korean-style houses and annex pavilions, all roofed with black tiles, and a two-story Western-style house resembling the facade of an old house Goethe was born and lived in his early years in Frankfurt.

Built on a spacious garden and nearby blocks, the facilities are awesome achievements that the senior scholar has made herself and with the help of benevolent hands.

"Goethe has shown us how far a strong will could bring a man in the tough way of life. Goethe has shown us how much effort a man should make to achieve the strong will in the troubled water of life," she said.

"He overcame a variety of hardships in a creative way and turned every crisis into a better chance," Chon said. "Look at the novel titled 'The Sorrows of Young Werther.' Suffering from agonies from impossible love and pains from untouchable relations, he merged himself into the sea of literature for four weeks to produce the bitterest and sweetest novel."

The strong will nourished the talented boy to become "a poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theater director, critic and amateur artist, considered the greatest German literary figure of the modern era," as Britannica describes him.

"He has grown for himself very well. A 'literary man' is a mere piecemeal introduction of the all-rounder human. In reality, he had been a minister covering four ministries until he passed away, scientist, meteorologist and left 2,500 pieces of fine art and 146 volumes of literary works. During the busiest time, he exchanged tens of thousands of letters," she emphasized.

Professor Emeritus Chon Young-ae enters the replica of the Frankfurt Goethe House in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, which is a start to her ambitious project to establish a Goethe Village there, Aug. 13. Courtesy of Kim Chang-young

She has charted out an ambitious plan to set up a "Goethe Village," an expanded version of the academy which, when completed, will be composed of a building resembling the Weimar Haus where Goethe stayed in his later years, in addition to a Goethe gallery, astronomical observatory and small bungalows for meditation, among other things.

"The village is expected to encourage young people to have big dreams and achieve them in the right means by following in the footsteps of Goethe. Watching, touching and experiencing the Weimar period, when Goethe was in the turmoil of pain and glory, will be much more fruitful than reading hundreds of books and listening to thousands of words," she said.

If and when the village project is completed, it will become a wonderful match for the old sites established in memory of King Sejong. Hailed as the "sage king" and popularly called "Sejong the Great," the fourth monarch of the Joseon Kingdom reformed governance and taxation system for the political and economic stability of the 500-year-long kingdom. He organized a wealth of young scholars and scientists to design the Hangeul alphabet and technical devices during his reign spanning from 1418 to 1450.

Self-made with family support

Professor Emeritus Chon Young-ae talks with participants of a book reading session at the Yeobaek Academy in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 12. Courtesy of Kim Chang-young

Chon was born in Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, in 1951, following Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule (1910-45) and during the Korean War (1950-53).

Her father was educated in Tokyo and Seoul in the 1940s, while her mother was self-educated because the parents of her mother, obsessed with Confucianism, disliked the co-ed system.

Her father encouraged her to study in Seoul at a prestigious school. At 12, she moved to Seoul alone and entered Namdaemun Elementary School. It was a turning point in her life.

She cleaned her clothes and the rented room, cooked for herself and succeeded in getting scores high enough to enter the most coveted schools of the time. The ticket to the Kyunggi Girls' Middle School eventually paved the way for her career as an SNU student, professor, world-renowned Goethe researcher and author of 70 books thus far.

Her mother Kim Han-seop represented the last examples of Joseon-era housewives, widely deemed as being "wise to the children and generous to the husbands."

"Taking care of her elders and household events day and night, mom educated herself over the shoulders of her husband in the Hangeul and calligraphy," she recalled her younger years in her hometown. "My mom taught us not with words but with action. She praised every letter higher than any other thing and never stepped on any letter-printed document, even ad leaflets, needless to say, books."

Chon Young-ae, left, the founder of the Yeobaek Academy, explains her favorite readings to Min Young-hye who runs a book club in Daegu, during a session at the academy in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 13. Courtesy of Kim Chang-young.

Diligence, strong will, social trust lead to success

Prof. Chon, which is still the title her colleagues and disciples use to address her, works every day even when she is at home. She travels to Germany and other countries on business frequently. But she thinks her daily routine is much looser and lazier than her mother, who passed away 40 years ago.

"I am a self-employed slave, destined to work three different jobs: gardening the 'orphan trees,' serving every visitor and writing manuscripts," the senior scholar often says with a wide smile. Almost all the trees, now growing in the academy, had been found abandoned around the university or beside the streets. Whenever and wherever she finds withered plants, she tries to transplant them into the garden of the academy.

As the garden has been filled with the "orphaned" trees one by one, the academy has been built with bricks and tiles one after one over a long period. It was started 20 years ago with her simple desire to have a space in which she could read and write books anytime. A small shared space in Yeoju has been expanded year after year and is going to flourish into a village.

She has no money enough to build the village, well worthy of the fame of Goethe. However, she is confident of the successful completion of the project as she believes in the words of Goethe, which he confessed in his bulky biography: "Desire is the presentment of our inner abilities and the forerunner of our ultimate accomplishments."

The lengthy story about how she has managed to erect the academy in totally unfamiliar circumstances is a fairy tale, adroitly plotted by a fortune to tell children that luck follows good boys and girls.

It represents a sequence of magic whereas, in reality, it is a natural sequence of rewards for a prepared mind. She has already begun sharing with others the rich outcome of her strong will to change her community better and has had ardent efforts to back up the will, and social trust accumulated by her sincere attitude toward the human and serious way of living.

Artist Lee Ji-young, third from left, poses with Yeobaek Academy founder Chon Young-ae, center, and other participants of the Faust Class opened by Chon bimonthly, in front of a pair of her paintings, titled "Microo," at an annex gallery of the academy in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, July 1. Courtesy of Lee Ji-young

Twice a month, a class is open to Goethe lovers who read "Faust" translated by the professor. A cozy "hanok" house is open to foreign writers without any conditions. A gallery, plus the broad garden, is offered to beginner artists free of charge. Now showing are 18 paintings by Lee Ji-young, 53, who began to study painting at Hongik University at the age of 50.

A series of Lee's works, titled "Microo" after the microbe, are full of experimental spirit, though based on traditional painting methods on "hanji" (traditional Korean paper). The solo exhibition, the first for the artist, will go on through the end of the year.

"It had always been a series of dark days and nothing had been seen in the past," Chon said, closing the two-day interview, "I'm sure I've done my best every moment in the darkness and thanked everyone, everything, every tree and flower and, looking back, I've now found a few of my footprints have gradually become a way step by step."

Kim Chang-young worked for The Korea Times for 15 years before he assumed the posts of vice spokesman and spokesman of political parties and later served as deputy minister for public relations at the Prime Minister's Office. He has translated and authored books including Bob Woodward's "Bush at War" and "Plan of Attack."