Festival Postscript 6: Free Talks (25 September)

Festival Postscript 6: Free Talks (25 September)​

Poets Park Sangsoon & Denja Abdullahi / Moderator – Baik Ji eun​

The two poets whose literary worlds are poles apart shared an exciting conversation. Park Sangsoon asserted that, in a broad sense, 

art is a form of amusement; and that within the art form of literature, the genre where hegemony is most strongly inherent, light needed 

to be shed on the so-called meaningless poetry. On the other hand, Denja Abdullahi emphasized that the role of poetry, keeping in mind 

the politico-cultural situation in Africa, was to console and entertain the masses. The conversation concluded with the striking example of 

oranges Poet Park offered. He said that while Denja was a poet who picked ripe and sweet oranges, he himself was a poet who picked 

the sour ones. What he meant was that even if sour oranges cannot be easily enjoyed like the sweet oranges, they were the ones with 

the most fragrant and thick juice.

Novelists Han Yujoo & Daniel Levin Becker / Moderator – Baik Ji eun​

In his talk, Daniel Levin Becker revealed that he was a member of OuLiPo, which is a loose gathering of writers and mathematicians 

who seek to create works using constrained writing techniques. Han Yujoo who sets her own rules for her writing can be said to have 

a similar style. She has misgivings about the constituents of the novel traditionally considered essential, including the narrative. 

As a result, her works show signs of innovative attempts to break free from the existing framework of the novel. The conversation 

of the two authors, who face head-on the constraints that restrict their writing, stimulated the audience members who were contemplating

a new way of writing.

Poets Kim So Yeon & Dan Disney / Moderator - Jang Eun Seok​

The two poets shared a common interest in travelling and asking questions. Dan Disney said that travel was a joy of life, separate from 

the joy of writing, and an opportunity to gain boundless creative inspiration. Kim So Yeon said she left on a journey whenever she felt her 

sensibilities dulling, so that she could be reborn as a more sensitive and awkward person. She also added that traveling was also a time 

to put questions to oneself. She said that in the midst of her musings on language, she had reached a point where she started distrusting 

language itself. However, that distrust did not stop the questions. Dan Disney agreed with Kim So Yeon’s opinion that questions were the 

most beautiful form of language, and said that an attitude of not stopping suspecting and continuously asking questions and answering 

them was needed.

Poets Lee Young Kwang & Sinéad Morrissey / Moderator: Jang Eun Seok​

Poet Sinéad Morrissey said that poetry was the most ideal and abstract form of language, and that her writing was based on real life 

experiences and historical facts. However, the poems written that way had a magical effect on the reader similar to hypnosis or trance. 

Poet Lee Young Kwang connected the magic mentioned by Sinéad Morrissey with a shaman’s psychological state. He added that to write 

poetry one needed to be willing to break down a part of one’s reason and to be open to the invasion of the subconscious. The two poets 

also displayed a common interest in the politics of poetry. For Sinéad Morrissey, history and political facts were fields of constant interest. 

As a poet who drew the real nature of life in his poems, Lee Young Kwang thought that poetry should treat the other’s pain and sadness 

honestly.