“On a night I lie in cold so sharp it frosts the tongue, the corpse-dresser arrives bearing the clothes of the underworld / Now, whom shall I ask about what comes after death? / I bring my ear to his mouth / Even if a dead body were to exhale, / what issues forth is chilling / hollowness.” (<세속도시의 즐거움 2>, 《세속도시의 즐거움》, 세계사, 1990 / “Sesokdosiui jeulgeoum 2” (The Pleasures of the Secular City 2), Sesokdosiui jeulgeoum)
Choi Seung-Ho is a poet who probes the contradictions of modern society with a critical gaze and sensuous poetic language.
1. Life
Choi Seung-Ho was born in Chuncheon in 1954. He grew up close to nature. He later graduated from Chuncheon National University of Education. In 1977, the year he received his first appointment as an elementary school teacher, he made his literary debut with his poem “Bibaldi” (비발디 Vivaldi), recommended by the journal The Contemporary Poetry. He went on to work at major literary publishing houses, including Minumsa, Goryeowon, and Segyesa, and launched several literary journals. He also served as editor-in-chief of Hamkke saneun gil (The Way of Living Together), published by the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements. His commitment to ecological issues has extended beyond writing and carried over into activism; he took part in campaigns to preserve the Donggang River and the Saemangeum tidal flats. He has been a prolific writer, publishing over 20 poetry collections and also writing a number of fairy tales for adults, children’s poems, children’s songs, and picture books out of his interest in the playful possibilities of language. From 2009 to 2019, he taught poetry writing in the Department of Creative Writing at Soongsil University.
2. Writing
Choi Seung-Ho began his literary career in 1977 when he published poems in the journal The Contemporary Poetry. From the outset, his work raised a critical voice against the modern urban civilization that suppresses both human life and the life of the natural world. To carry on this theme, he draws on visceral and unsettling metaphoric imagery: excrement, animal and human corpses, abandoned fetuses, slabs of meat. His poetry frequently evokes the loneliness of the urban individual, the powerlessness felt by a self stripped of individuality within consumer capitalism, and the misery of a society robbed of its freedom of the press. The fact that he emerged as a serious poet in the 1970s and 1980s, when South Koreans faced extreme state violence and the suppression of their freedoms, is closely tied to the substance of his poetry.
In 1990, when Korean society was widely seen as having achieved democratization on the surface level, Choi expanded his concern with the alienation of life and humans into a wider ecological consciousness. This shift makes clear that Choi was already engaged with ecological questions well before “ecopoetry” had taken shape as a critical category in Korean literature. He turns a critical gaze on the capitalist values that have become highly advanced, which have come to permeate everyday life. At the same time, he avoids the trap of a simplistic binary that pits nature against humans, as well as the trap of romanticizing nature unconditionally; instead, he draws out with great delicacy the way humanity’s destructive desires threaten not only the ecosystem but the very existence of the human as subject.
Choi has been highly regarded by critics and beloved by general audiences. Poems such as “Bugeo” (북어 Dried Pollack), “Daeseoljuuibo” (대설주의보 Heavy Snow Advisory), and “Amajon sujokgwan” (아마존 수족관 The Amazon Aquarium) have been read as carrying pointed social critique, and were included in Korean school textbooks.
Reference
Poetry collections and anthologies
《대설주의보》(민음사, 1983) / Daeseoljuuibo (Heavy Snow Advisory), Minumsa, 1983
《고슴도치의 마을》(문학과지성사, 1985) / Goseumdochiui maeul (The Hedgehog's Village), Moonji, 1985
《진흙소를 타고》(민음사, 1987) / Jinheuksoreul tago (Riding the Mud Ox), Minumsa, 1987
《나는 숨을 쉰다》(문학과비평사, 1988) / Naneun sumeul swinda (I Breathe), Munhakgwa Bipyeongsa, 1988
《세속도시의 즐거움》(세계사, 1990) / Sesok dosiui jeulgeoum (The Pleasures of the Secular City), Segyesa, 1990
《고해문서》(미래사, 1991) / Gohaemunsseo (Confessional Document), Miraesa, 1991
《회저의 밤》(세계사, 1993) / Hoejeo-ui bam (Night of Gangrene), Segyesa, 1993
《달맞이꽃에 대한 명상》(세계사, 1993) / Dalmajikkoche daehan myeongsang (Meditation on the Evening Primrose), Segyesa, 1993
《반딧불 보호구역》(세계사, 1995) / Banditbul bohoguyeok (Firefly Reserve), Segyesa, 1995
《눈사람》(세계사, 1995) / Nunsaram (Snowman), Segyesa, 1995
《여백》(솔출판사, 1997) / Yeobaek (Blank Space), Sol Books, 1997
《그로테스크》(민음사, 1999) / Geuroteseukeu (Grotesque), Minumsa, 1999
《모래인간》(세계사, 2000) / Morae ingan (Sand Man), Segyesa, 2000
《코뿔소는 죽지 않는다》(도요새, 2000) / Koppulsoneun jukji anneunda (The Rhinoceros Does Not Die), Doyosae, 2000
《바보 성인에 대한 기억 외》(현대문학, 2001) / Babo seongine daehan gieok oe (Memory of the Holy Fool and Other Poems), Hyundae Munhak, 2001
《아무것도 아니면서 모든 것인 나》(열림원, 2003) / Amugeotdo animyeonseo modeun geosin na (I, Who Is Nothing Yet Everything), Yolimwon, 2003
《고비》(현대문학, 2007) / Gobi (The Gobi), Hyundae Munhak, 2007
《자코메티와 늙은 마네킹》(웅진씽크빅, 2008) / Jakomettiwa neulgeun manekking (Giacometti and the Old Mannequin), Woongjin Thinkbig, 2008
《북극 얼굴이 녹을 때》(웅진씽크빅, 2010) / Bukgeuk eolguri nogeul ttae (When the Arctic Face Melts), Woongjin Thinkbig, 2010
《아메바》(문학동네, 2010) / Ameba (Amoeba), Munhakdongne, 2010
《허공을 달리는 코뿔소》(문학동네, 2013) / Heogongeul dallineun koppulso (The Rhinoceros Running Through the Air), Munhakdongne, 2013
《얼음의 자서전》(중앙북스, 2014) / Eoreumui jaseojeon (Autobiography of Ice), JoongAng Books, 2014
《방부제가 썩는 나라》(문학과지성사, 2018) / Bangbujega sseokneun nara (The Land Where Preservatives Rot), Moonji, 2018
《아무것도 아니면서 모든 것인 나》(문학과지성사, 2018) / Amugeotdo animyeonseo modeun geosin na (I, Who Is Nothing Yet Everything), Moonji, 2018
《누군가의 시 한 편》(달아실, 2018) / Nugungaui si han pyeon (Someone's Single Poem), Dalasil, 2018
(co-authored)《우리는 어디서나》(한겨레. 1988) / Urineun eodiseona (Wherever We Are), Hankyoreh, 1988
(co-authored)《그날 나는 슬픔도 배불렀다》(진음, 1994) / Geunal naneun seulpeumdo baebulleotda (That Day I Was Full Even of Sorrow), Jineum, 1994
(co-authored)《몸속에 별이 뜬다》(윤컴, 1998) / Momsoge byeori tteunda (Stars Rise in the Body), Yooncom, 1998
(co-authored)《설악산은 어디로 가는가》(윤컴, 1998) / Seoraksaneun eodiro ganeunga (Where Does Seoraksan Go?), Yooncom, 1998
(co-authored)《내 몸이 시다》(세계사, 2000) / Nae momi sida (My Body Is Poetry), Segyesa, 2000
(co-authored)《온몸으로 밀고 나가는 것이다》(민음사, 2014) / Onmomeuro milgo naganeun geosida (Pushing Forward with One's Whole Body), Minumsa, 2014
(co-authored)《영원한 귓속말 : 문학동네시인선050 기념 자선 시집》(문학동네, 2017) / Yeongwonhan gwitsongmal: Munhakdongne siinseon 050 ginyeom jaseon sijip (Timeless Whispers: Munhakdongne Poets Series 050 Commemorative Self-Selected Anthology), Munhakdongne, 2017
(co-authored)《너를 만나는 시》(창비교육, 2019) / Neoreul mannaneun si (Poems That Meet You), Changbi Education, 2019
(co-authored)《내가 아직 쓰지 않은 것 : 시인의 말 모음집》(문학동네, 2023) / Naega ajik sseuji aneun geot: Siinui mal moeum-jip (What I Have Not Yet Written: A Collection of Poets' Words), Munhakdongne, 2023
Short story collections
《황금털 사자》(해냄출판사, 1997) / Hwanggeumteol saja (The Golden-Maned Lion), Hainaim, 1997
《눈사람 자살 사건》(달아실, 2019) / Nunsaram jasal sageon (The Snowman Suicide Case), Dalasil, 2019
《황금의 책》(글씨미디어, 2023) / Hwanggeumui chaek (The Golden Book), Geulssi Media, 2023
Novels
《시인의 사랑》(민음사, 1993) / Siinui sarang (The Poet's Love), Minumsa, 1993
Essays
《달마의 침묵》(열림원, 1998) / Dalmaui chimmuk (The Silence of the Dharma), Yolimwon, 1998
Academic works
《한국적 서정의 본질 탐구》(다운샘, 1998) / Hangukjeok seojeongui bonjil tamgu (An Inquiry into the Essence of Korean Lyricism), Daunsaem, 1998
《서정시와 미메시스》(역락, 2006) / Seojeongsiwa mimesiseu (Lyric Poetry and Mimesis), Youkrack, 2006
(co-authored)《21세기 문학이란 무엇인가》(민음사, 1999) / 21 segi munhagiran mueosinga (What Is Literature in the 21st Century?), Minumsa, 1999
(co-authored)《네 정신에 새로운 창을 열어라》(민음사, 2000) / Ne jeongsine saeroun changeul yeoreora (Open a New Window in Your Mind), Minumsa, 2000
(co-authored)《카프카, 카프카》(나남, 2024) / Kappeuka, Kappeuka (Kafka, Kafka), Nanam, 2024
Children’s books
《쌍둥이자리 별에는 다른 시간이 흐른다》, 민음사, 2022 / Ssangdungijari byeoreneun dareun sigani heureunda (A Different Time Flows on the Star of Gemini), Minumsa, 2022
《물땡땡이들의 수업》, 상상, 2022 / Multtaengttaengideurui sueop (The Water Beetles’ Class), Sangsang, 2022
《사랑에 눈먼 판다》, 달아실, 2024 / Sarange nunmeon panda (The Panda Blinded by Love), Dalasil, 2024
《부처님의 작은 선물》, 담앤북스, 2024 / Bucheonimui jageun seonmul (The Buddha's Small Gift), Dham & Books, 2024
(co-authored)《이상한 집》(비룡소, 2005) / Isanghan jip (The Strange House), Biryongso, 2005
(co-authored)《말놀이 동시집》(비룡소, 2006) / Malnori dongsijip (Word Play Children's Poetry Collection), Biryongso, 2006
(co-authored)《수수께끼 ㄱㄴㄷ》(비룡소, 2007) / Susukkekki giyeoknieunidigeut (ABC Riddles), Biryongso, 2007
(co-authored)《구멍》(비룡소, 2007) / Gumeong (Hole), Biryongso, 2007
(co-authored)《펭귄》(비룡소, 2007) / Pengwin (Penguin), Biryongso, 2007
(co-authored)《내 껍질 돌려줘!》(비룡소, 2008) / Nae kkeopjil dollyeojwo! (Give Back My Shell!), Biryongso, 2008
(co-authored)《말놀이 동요집》(비룡소, 2013) / Malnori dongyojip (Poems to Sing), Biryongso, 2013
(co-authored)《랩 동요집》(중앙북스, 2015) / Raep dongyojip (Children's Rap Songs), JoongAng Books, 2015
(co-authored)《치타는 짜장면을 배달한다》(문학동네, 2016) / Chitaneun jjajangmyeoneul baedalhanda (The Cheetah Delivers Jjajangmyeon), Munhakdongne, 2016
(co-authored)《누가 웃었니?》(비룡소, 2016) / Nuga useotni? (Who Laughed?), Biryongso, 2016
(co-authored)《얼룩말의 생존 법칙》(문학동네, 2018) / Eollungmarui saengjon beopchik (The Zebra's Rules of Survival), Munhakdongne, 2018
(co-authored)《마지막 눈사람》(상상, 2023) / Majimak nunsaram (The Last Snowman), Sangsang, 2023
(co-authored)《피카소 물고기》(상상, 2024) / Pikaso mulgogi (Picasso Fish), Sangsang, 2024
(co-authored)《올해의 좋은 동시 2023》(상상, 2024) / Olhaeui joeun dongsi 2023 (Good Children's Poems of the Year 2023), Sangsang, 2024
LTI Korea 
DLKL 
SIWF 
