skip-navigation

한국문학번역원 로고

TOP

Korean Literature Now

Back to Poetry

Crow’s Eye View, Poem No. I scrap

by Yi Sanggo link Translated by Walter K. Lewgo link November 16, 2014

Author Bio 작가 소개

이상

Yi Sang

Yi Sang (1910-1937) is a well-known author of the Japanese occupation period. He was active in every genre, writing poetry, fiction, and essays. His poems and stories, in particular, exhibit the characteristics of modernism in the 1930s. In his poems, he showed us the desolate landscape of the modern human mind, and with the use of anti-realist techniques in works such as “Crow’s Eye View, Poem No.I,” he gave us a stark view of his subject matter: pure anxiety and horror. In his stories, as well, he deconstructed the formal conventions of fiction and laid bare the modern condition. For example, in the short story “Wings,” he used stream-of-consciousness to express the alienation of modern human beings, who are fragmented, commodified, and unable to function in their daily lives. All 80 or so of his works are compiled together in the collected works by Yi Sang.

13ChildrenRushdownaStreet.
(AdeadendalleyisSuitable.)


The1stChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The2ndChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The3rdChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The4thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The5thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The6thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The7thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The8thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The9thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The10thChildsaysit’sfrightening.


The11thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The12thChildsaysit’sfrightening.
The13thChildsaysit’sfrightening.


13Childrenwerejustgatheredtogetherlikethataseither
frighteningorfrightenedChildren(Theabsenceofanyother
Conditionwashighlypreferable.)


IfAmongstthem1ChildisafrighteningChildit’sfine.
IfAmongstthem2ChildrenarefrighteningChildrenit’sfine.
IfAmongstthem2ChildrenarefrightenedChildrenit’sfine.
IfAmongstthem1ChildisafrightenedChildit’sfine.


(AsfortheroadevenanopenalleyisSuitable.)
Evenif13ChildrendonotRushdowntheStreetit’sfine

 

* Translated by Walter K. Lew.
** The work entitled "Crow’s Eye View" consists of Poems 1 to 15, which were originally published in separate installments. The Chinese character for “crow” in the title "Crow’s Eye View" is widely known to be an altered version of the character for “bird.” A bird’s eye view (鳥瞰圖) is an expression referring to a representation of a building viewed from above, usually a blueprint. Yi removed a single stroke from the first character “bird (鳥)” to make “crow (烏)” giving the phrase a new meaning with darker connotations. The poems were published in the Joseon Joongang Ilbo over the period from July 24th until August 8th, 1934. With the aim of deconstructing poetic meaning and creating it anew, Yi departed from poetic convention, bringing symbols and diagrams into play, and using terse, repetitive statements.

Writer 필자 소개

Yi Sang

Yi Sang

Yi Sang (1910-1937) is a well-known author of the Japanese occupation period. He was active in every genre, writing poetry, fiction, and essays. His poems and stories, in particular, exhibit the characteristics of modernism in the 1930s. In his poems, he showed us the desolate landscape of the modern human mind, and with the use of anti-realist techniques in works such as “Crow’s Eye View, Poem No.I,” he gave us a stark view of his subject matter: pure anxiety and horror. In his stories, as well, he deconstructed the formal conventions of fiction and laid bare the modern condition. For example, in the short story “Wings,” he used stream-of-consciousness to express the alienation of modern human beings, who are fragmented, commodified, and unable to function in their daily lives. All 80 or so of his works are compiled together in the collected works by Yi Sang.

Translator 번역가 소개

Walter K. Lew

Walter K. Lew

Walter K. Lew is based in New York and Miami. He has published seven books, including the award-winning Treadwinds: Poems and Intermedia Texts, Excerpts from DIKTE / ∆IKTH, and Crazy Melon and Chinese Apple: The Poems of Frances Chung. Formerly a documentary producer, his film and literary scholarship and translations of poetry have been widely anthologized.

Did you enjoy this article? 별점

Did you enjoy this article? Please rate your experience

Send