Publisher's Synopsis
Poetry. This is a bilingual (Korean-English) poetry collection by Cho Jihoon, translated and introduced by Sung-Il Lee with two poems translated by Insoo Lee. Edited by Stanley H. Barken.
This volume will timely commemorate the centennial of the birth of a twentieth-century Korean poet, Cho Jihoon (1920-1968). The poet's perceptions of nature have a trembling delicacy filled with emotional resonance. He sees in the particulars of nature blossoms, birdsongs, raindrops the fragility of life. The Korean landscape as a mirror of human mortality is concentrated in the poet's recurring images of fleeting clouds and falling petals.--Joan Digby
Cho Jihoon's poetry celebrates the wonder of living and more specifically the delights of nature that surround the poet. Grass-blades, bellflowers, a dead tree, briar roses, fallen leaves, mountains, and moonlight become the subjects of the poet's sudden focus of attention. Then, without warning, mist covers everything: a mountain, a deep ravine, a stone gate. In the distance, the sound of a gong resonates. The restless traveler recounts the difficulties of the road. The lover, thrilled with longing, describes his beloved. Through precise imagery and mellifluent language, Cho Jihoon's poetry in SHEDDING OF THE PETALS reveals the heart of the matter the nebulous, fleeting experiences that thread together a life.--Bill Wolak
