Ryu Shiva (born 1959) is a South Korean poet, literary critic, and professor.
1. Life
Ryu Shiva was born 1959 in Okcheon, Chungcheongbuk-do. His actual name is An Jaechan. He attended Kyunghee University for Korean literature on a creative writing scholarship and graduated. When he was in his second year of university, he won the Korea Times New Writer’s Contest with a poem called “Achim” (아침 Morning). Around 1980 ~ 1982, he participated as a member of ‘Siundong’ with Park Deokgyu, Lee Moon-jae, Ha Jaebong, and Nam Jinwoo. In 1983 he left the group and went into a search for truth, using the name Ryu Shiva, and also concentrated on translating various meditation books.
From 1988 he lived in meditation centers in the US and India, and translated major works of Rajneesh, a popular Indian spiritual leader. At the time, he was criticized by the poetry circle as writing poetry according to pop psychology and worldly desires. But he received much adoration through the public with poetry collections such as Geudaega gyeot-e itseodo naneun geudaega geuripda (그대가 곁에 있어도 나는 그대가 그립다 Even Though You Are Next To Me I Miss You) (1991), and Oenunbak-i mulgogi-ui sarang (외눈박이 물고기의 사랑 The Love of the One-eyed Fish) (1996).
He is also a traveller that visits India every winter, and he has published the experiences he had gone through as well as the lessons gained through travel writing collections, Haneul hosuro tteonan yeohaeng (하늘 호수로 떠난 여행 A Trip To the Sky Lake) (1997), and Jigubyeol Yeohaengja (지구별 여행자 The Earth Traveler) (2002). As such, his work can be summarized as beginning with poetry writing to translation of meditation books and then to publishing collectioㅅns of proverbs. As his major collections of proverbs there is Flowers Blossom in the Mountains (산에는 꽃이 피네) which is a complication of Beopjeong sunim’s Buddhist verses and proverbs; May All Beings Be Happy (살아 있는 것은 다 행복하라) (2006); as well as proverb poetry collections Jigeum algo itneungeol geuttaedo alatdeoramyeon (지금 알고 있는걸 그때도 알았더라면 If I Had Known Then What I Know Now) (1998), and Saranghara hanbeondo sangcheobatji aneun geotcheoreom (사랑하라 한번도 상처받지 않은 것처럼 Love, As If You’ve Never Been Hurt Before) (2008).
2. Writing
When Ryu Shiva was working as An Jaechan, he showed a creative style of mysticism in contrast to the literary world at the time which preferred works that were more about the masses and resistance. Through the critical essay collection Babeltapui eoneo (바벨탑의 언어 Language of the Tower of Babel) poet and literary critic Nam Jinwoo has commented on Ryu Shiva’s poetic style in neither particularly positive nor negative way. He has said the following. “The movement of imagination, which is the most important element in An Jaechan’s (Ryu Shiva) poetry, is the tension between two forces. One that wants to expand externally, and one that attempts to pull in internally. The latter is always at an advantage than the former. There is a possibility for his work to be criticized as escapism by populists who argue for active participation in reality. Today, when everyone is busy looking forward and moving ahead, in his low voice that sings ‘return to where you came from’ there is a lot of meaning to take that we can listen to.”
Though he receives much love from readers, he is also a poet who has not been able to earn the praise of the literary circle and the press. It has been also said that poetry that satisfies the public sentiment as well as tuned to worldly desires like Ryu Shiva’s poems, isn’t poetry. Also, poetry has been seen as a genre where it’s not the works that approach the public, but the public must take effort to approach the work, and Ryu Shiva’s works have ben criticized as belonging to the former. Ryu Shiva’s works have been alienated by the literary circle and literary journals.
Meanwhile, Ryu Shiva’s books continue to be popular among the public. Geudaega gyeot-e itseodo naneun geudaega geuripda (그대가 곁에 있어도 나는 그대가 그립다 Even Though You Are Next To Me I Miss You) was on the best seller list 21 times between 1989 and 1998, and in a survey on 530 university students done by Opening The World With Poetry (시로 여는 세상) for their 2002 Summer issue, he was selected as the most liked poet along with Yun Tong-Ju, Kim Sowol, and Han Yong-un.
Reference
Nam, Jinwoo, Babeltapui eoneo (바벨탑의 언어 Language of the Tower of Babel), Moonji Publishing, 1989.
