Jeon Bonggeon (1928-1988) was a Korean poet. Along with Pak Inhwan, Kim Suyeong and Kim Jongsam, he represents the post-war modernist movement.1) With his unusual sense of language compared with his contemporaries in the 1950s, he wrote sensuous poems displaying vivid images, particularly associated with sexuality, with the intent of expressing the vitality of human beings.
1. Life
He was born in 1928 in Anju, South Pyeongan Province. He became interested in literature after his brother Jeon Bongrae recommended that he read The Sorrows of Young Werther (German: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers) when he was a middle school student.2) He wanted to be a novelist, but because of the illness he suffered from in his early teens, he became enervated and began to write poems, instead. As he was taught in Japanese during the colonial period, he had difficulty writing in Korean right after Korea became independent.3) He debuted in 1950 through Munye (문예 Literature) with the help of Seo Jeongju and Kim Yeongrang.4)5) When the Korean War broke out, he joined the military in December6) and was discharged after he was injured during the battle on the middle east front in 1951. After the discharge, he started writing poems in Daegu.7) While he helped Hwang Hunheon with arranging records at the famous classical music hall, “Renaissance,”8) he got acquainted with literary people.9) After the Korean War was over in 1953, he returned to Seoul.10)
He participated in establishing the Society of Korean Poets in 1957 and he edited and published the first issue of a magazine, Hyeondaesi (현대시 Modern Poetry). Along with Kim Kwangrim and Kim Jongsam, he published a multi-authored poetry collection, titled, Jeonjaengkwa eumakkwa heemangkwa (전쟁과 음악과 희망과 With War, With Music, and With Hope) in 1957.11) In 1959, his first collection, Sarangeul wihan doipuli (사랑을 위한 되풀이 Repetition for Love) was published. In 1962, he joined a literary coterie, Hyeondaisi, and edited its magazine. He served as a chief editor for Munhakchunchu (문학춘추 Literature Spring and Autumn), founded in 1964. In addition, he started to write a radio play script and a historical play, Kkotsora (꽃소라 Flower Horned Turban), was published in 1964. He launched a magazine, Hyondaesihak (현대시학 Modern Poetics), in 1969,12) and served as a chief editor until he passed away. He suffered from his chronic illness, diabetes, which got worse in 1987 and he died on June 13, 1988.13)
In October, 2015, the Modern Poetics established the Jeon Bonggeon Literary Award.14)
2. Writing
Poetic language
His poems display vivid images and dynamic imagination which were rare in poetry in the 1950s. With his distinguished sense of language, he got nicknames such as a “language technician” or “language stylist.”15) His extraordinary sense of language was associated with how he organized an image.16) One of his representative works is “Piano (피아노 Piano)”17) where music is transformed through the words like “fresh fish” or “knife blade” into a wide variety of senses.
War poetry in the 1950s
His poetry in the 1950s depicts inhumane irrationality of the war and desire for peace.18) The poems written based on the war do not show either an anti-communist ideology or superficial humanism. Instead of exaggerating cruelty, his poems describe human beings that become objects19) or convey determination to heal the wounds of the war.20)
Long Poems and Serial Poetry in the 1960s
His poems released in the 1960s describe inner world through surrealistic representations.21) Both Chunghayngyeonga (춘향연가 Chunhyang’s Love Poem), a long poem published in 1967, and Sokui bada (속의 바다 The Ocean of the Inside), serial poetry, published in 1970, express a fantastically surreal atmosphere. Chunhyang’s Love Poem borrows the situation of her in jail from the classic, The Tale of Chunhyang. This poem highlights erotic love22) saying that love is so powerful that it can overcome irrationality of the reality.
He continues to explore the power of Eros in The Ocean of the Inside23) where opposite themes are repeated such as male and female; fertility and sterility; and life and death. There is a conflict between a mythical and prototypical world and a sterile real world and the narrator dreams of the mythical world.24)
Piri (피리 Pipe) (1979)
Awarded the Korean Literary Award, Pipe well displays Jeon’s characteristics of pursuing the spirituality and purity of fairy tales in the 1970s.25) His serial poetry, “Makaroni Westeon (마카로니 웨스턴 Macaroni Western)” describes rampant materialistic values and impoverished spiritual life that prevailed throughout the 1970s.26) With the repetitive image of death, it is as if life gives way to death.27) However, for him, it is the task of a poet to show resilient life,28) and in that way, Pipe represents hope, life and birth.29)
Poems in the 1980s
During the 1980s, Jeon pursued harmonious communication between self and the world. Another serial poetry, Dol (돌 Stones), starting to be released in 1981, was written based on his own experiences of collecting viewing stones around the Namhangang River.30) A stone in the poem “Stones” (1984) is not just a passive object but a living thing trying to express itself.31)
Afteer the mid-1980s, he published a series of poems titled “6.25,” based on the subject of the Korean War, but he could not finish it. This poetry deals with the matter of the North and the South Koreas with the political ideology put aside.32)
Revision
Jeon has never written any poem at one sitting. For him, revision was pleasure and he repeated revision.33) He revised his own work that had been published in a literary magazine to publish it in a separate form and even revised a poem in a collection to republish it in an anthology. He also revised his review on a magazine to publish it in a book form.34)
Dispute with Kim Suyeong
In February, through “Sagiron (사기론 Fraud)” in Sedae (세대, Generation), Jeon criticized a review Kim Suyeong wrote in Sasanggye (사상계 The World of Thoughts) in December 1964.35) Jeon said that he gave credit for Kim but his theory was not applicable to his own poems and the poems he advocated were nonsense.36) To respond, Kim explained himself through “Munmaekeul moreuneun siindeul (문맥을 모르는 시인들 Poets Who Don’t Know Context)” in the March issue of Sedae. After that, by publishing “Chamyeoraneungeot (참여라는 것 What It Means To Participate)” in Hyeondaemunhak (현대문학 Modern Literature) in November, 1966, Jeon pointed out the contradictions of the kind of poetry that deals with socio-political matters.37)
Reference
1) Nam, Jinu. “Commentary: The Poetics of Eros – Jeon Bonggeon’s Narrative Status,” Jeon Bonggeon Poetry Collection, Munhakdongne, 2008; 739.
2) Kim, Hyeon. “In Pursuit of Jeon Bonggeon,” Sangsangryeokwa ingan/siineul chajaseo (Imagination and Human/In Pursuit of Poets), Munji, 1991; 411.
Jeon Bonggeon said that the writers who impressed him the most was Rilke and Baudelaire.
3) Jeon, Bonggeon. “Note for Writing Poems,” Segyejeonhumunhanjeonjip 8 – Hanguk jeonhumunjesijip (세계전후문학전집8 – 한국전후문제시집 Collection of Post-War World Literature 8 – Post War Korean Poetry), Singu, 1961; 403.
4) Nam, Jinu. Ibid; 772.
5) Jo, Hwaseon. “Commentary: Orpheus Has His Harp Back,” A Hundred of the Suns, Kipeunsaem, 2008; 185.
With the recommendation of Seo Jeongju, “Won (원 Circle)” in January and “Sawol (사월 April)” in March were published and Kim Yeongrang recommended “Chukdo (축도 Benediction)” in May. The first recommended work was published under the name of Jeon Bongrae, his brother. The editors of Munye changed the writer’s name because they underestimated Jeon bonggeon, thinking he was not capable of writing the poem.
6) Kim, Hyeon. Ibid; 412.
7) Jeon Bonggeon, Encyclopedia of Korean Culture.〈》
http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/SearchNavi?keyword=%EC%A0%84%EB%B4%89%EA%B1%B4&ridx=0&tot=4
8) Heo, Manha. “Melody of Autumn in 1951,” Webzine Daesan Munhwa, 2005.
The name of the classical music hall is “Renaissance,” which was popular among writers during the war.
http://www.daesan.or.kr/webzine/sub.html?uid=304§ion=sc8§ion2=&ho=15
9) Kim, Hyeon. Ibid; 412.
10) Nam, Jinu. Ibid; 772.
11) Nam, Jinu; 772.
Kim Kwangrim, Kim Jongsam and Jeon Bonggeon wrote “With the War,” “With Music,” and “With Hope” respectively.
12) This is the longest poetry magazine in Korea as of today.
13) Nam, Jinu. Ibid; 772.
14) The Contemporary Poetry http://blog.daum.net/hdsh69/62
15) Nam, Jinu. Ibid; 744.
16) Kim, Yanghui. “Jeon Bonggeon’s Life and Literature,” Jeon bonggeon – Jeonjaengui sangheunkwa sarangui eoneo (전봉건 - 전쟁의 상흔과 사랑의 언어 Jeon Bonggeon – Scars of War and Language of Love), Geulnurim, 2010; 16.
17) Published in the May issue of Generation in 1959..
18) Jeon Bonggeon, Encyclopedia of Korean Culture
http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/SearchNavi?keyword=%EC%A0%84%EB%B4%89%EA%B1%B4&ridx=0&tot=4
19) Kim, Yanghui. Ibid; 20-22.
20) Nam, Jinu. Ibid; 752-754.
21) Jeon Bonggeon, Encyclopedia of Korean Culture
http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/SearchNavi?keyword=%EC%A0%84%EB%B4%89%EA%B1%B4&ridx=0&tot=4
22) Kim, Yanghui. Ibid; 33.
23) Kim, Hyeon. Ibid; 414-415.
24) Kim, Yanghwui. Ibid; 30-32.
25) Jeon Bonggeon, Encyclopedia of Korean Culture》
http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/SearchNavi?keyword=%EC%A0%84%EB%B4%89%EA%B1%B4&ridx=0&tot=4
26) Jeon Bonggeon, Dictionary of Modern Korean Literature
https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=333865&cid=41708&categoryId=41737
27) Nam, Jinu. Ibid; 760.
28) Jeon, Bonggeon. “A Poet Speaks – The Language of Dream and Pain,” Pipe, 1979;2.
29) Nam, Jinu. Ibid; 760.
30) Kim, Yanghui. Ibid; 35.
31) Nam, Jinu. Ibid; 762-767.
32) Nam, Jinu. Ibid; 768.
33) Jeon, Bonggeon. “Note for Writing Poems,” ibid; 404.
34) “Fraud,” Selected Reviews of Jeon Bonggeon, Munhakseon, 2015; 378.
35) Ibid; 356.
36) Kim, Hyeon. Ibid; 416.
37) Jeon, Bonggeon. “What It Means to Participate,” Selected Reviews of Jeon Bonggeon, Munhakseon, 2015: 382.
