Recipient of the 2025 Arts Council Korea Literature Fellowship
The beautiful, impassive circle of a universe
Poetry that is life and death and love in itself
―From the Poet's Preface to Orange Geometry (Munhakdongne, 2012)
A poet who ponders humanity and language, the world and the universe through mathematical thinking and avant-garde form
1. Life
Ham Kiseok was born in Cheongju, Chungbuk, in 1966. He studied mathematics at university where he first encountered the writings of such luminaries as Pascal, Leibniz, Hilbert, and Wittgenstein, soon becoming enamored of physics, astronomy, and philosophy. Ham's interest in nature and space soon expanded to humanity, society, history, and war, a process throughout which he kept a record of the thoughts and fears that occurred to him. He also wrote poetry during that time and made his literary debut publishing five poems including "Loving Seoul in the Manner of New Corinthians" in the Summer 1992 issue of Writer’s World. Ham has worked at the planning department of a major company, at an SME venture firm, and at an art magazine, while continuing to write poetry, children's books, criticism, and essays for over 30 years. He teaches poetry and children's poetry writing at Chungbuk National University School of Lifelong Education.
2. Writing
Characterized by bold experimentation based on mathematical concepts, Ham Kiseok's avant-garde poetry fearlessly explores undetermined time and space, objects and the universe, humanity and history. Using painstaking logic and narrative, the poet somberly and agonizingly reflects upon the written word and meaning, the emptiness and infinity of being, the limits and potential of speech, and the process through which they become extinct. Ham's poems can be broadly categorized into five types. Surrealist poetry with an emphasis on fantasy, flights of fancy, and wordplay; avant-garde poetry blending mathematics, architecture, and calligraphy to create radical new forms; psychological poetry addressing a plethora of modern malaises from melancholy to boredom to desire; realist poetry that visualizes the sadness of objects and landscapes; and ludic poetry that playfully approaches the world from a child's point of view. Whichever the case, Ham's poems stand for escape and adventure. They are at once harsh battle and joyous play. In this process of playing with strange symbols, language, and formulas, the poet creates unique, geometrical structures. His poetry is a beautiful celebration, an invention, a playful act of rebellion against the old order in that its goals are liberation from conventional perceptions of the world; creation, not destruction; and seeking a new artistic vision.
Reference
Poems
Our Korean Teacher’s a Snail 국어선생은 달팽이 (Segyesa 세계사, 1998)
Stone of Derangement 착란의 돌(poemsijak 천년의시작, 2002)
Ppolang Park 뽈랑 공원 (Random House Korea 랜덤하우스코리아, 2008)
Orange Geometry 오렌지 기하학 (Munhakdongne Publishing Corp., 문학동네, 2012)
Hilbert Cat Zero 힐베르트 고양이 제로 (Minumsa Publishing Group 민음사, 2015)
Designhouse Sentence 디자인하우스 센텐스 (Minumsa Publishing Group 민음사, 2020)
Negative Poetry 음시 (Munhakdongne Publishing Corp., 문학동네, 2022)
All Flowers Are a Prophecy 모든 꽃은 예언이다 (Geodneunsaram 걷는사람, 2023)
Poetics & Criticism
Lonely Conversation 고독한 대화 (Nanda 난다,2017)
Topography of 21st-CenturyKorean Poetry 21세기 한국시의 지형도(Paran 파란, 2018)
Children's and YA Poems
Number Bugs 숫자벌레 (BIR Publishing Co., Ltd. 비룡소)
That's Fishy 아무래도 수상해 (Munhakdongne Publishing Corp., 문학동네, 2015)
Prophetic Practice Tests for the KSAT 수능예언문제집 (ChangbiPublishers, Inc., 창비, 2020)
Children's Books
Imagination School 상상력학교 (Daekyo 대교출판,2007)
Yay, I Love Math Now 야호 수학이 좋아졌다 (Totobook 토토북, 2009)
The Nose Thief Secret Mission 코 도둑 비밀탐정대 (Hyungseul Children's Books 형설아이, 2010)
Golden Ration Math Tales 황금비 수학동화 (Bluebird Publishing Co. 파랑새, 2011)
Chronos Math Explorers 크로노스 수학탐험대 (Nanda 난다, 2017)
The Kingdom of Garion and the Flying Children 가리온 왕국과 하늘을 나는 아이들 (Aideulpan 아이들판, 2021)
Co-authored
Poets' Objects 시인의 사물들 (Hanibook 한겨레출판, 2014)
Where Does a Poem Come From? 시는 어떻게 오는가 (siindongne 시인동네, 2018)
Eternal Whisper 영원한 귓속말 (Munhakdongne Publishing Corp., 문학동네, 2014)
The Flying Classroom 날아라 교실 (Sakyejul Publishing Ltd 사계절출판사, 2015)
Finite and Infinite (공저) 유한과 무한 (Esoop Publishing 이숲, 2021)
Fly to Space, Nuri! 우주로 날아라, 누리호!(Aideulpan 아이들판, 2022)
Reference
Cho Jae-Ryong, "Poetics ofWu Wei (無爲)," in OrangeGeometry. Munhakdongne, 2012
조재룡, 「무위(無爲)의 시학」, 『오렌지기하학』, 문학동네, 2012
Cho Jae-Ryong, "On HamKi-seok's Poetry: Poems that Disrupt, Inflame, and Provoke," in PoetryDoes Not Play Dice. Moonji Publishing co., Ltd., 2014
조재룡, 「교란하는 시, 분기하는 시, 촉발하는 시-함기석론」, 『시는 주사위 놀이를 하지 않는다』, 문학과지성사, 2014
Ko Bong-jun, "Escapees in Wonderland: The Common Good in Ham Ki-Seok’s Poetry," in Hilbert Cat Zero. Minumsa Publishing Group, 2015
고봉준, 「이상한 나라의 탈옥수들-함기석 시세계의 문학적 공리들」, 『힐베르트 고양이 제로』, 민음사, 2015
Lee Sumyeong, "On the Disappearance of the Individual Entity in Boyhood," in Our Korean Teacher’s a Snail. Geodneunsaram, 2019
이수명, 「소년시대, 단일 주체가 사라지는 방식 에 대하여」, 『국어선생은달팽이』, 걷는사람, 2019
Park Hyejin, "Negative Poetry: The House of Nonexistence," in Negative Poetry. Munhakdongne Publishing Corp., 2022
박혜진, 「음시, 비존재의 집」, 『음시』, 문학동네, 2022
Profile information provided by the Arts Council Korea (ARKO)
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