Kim Kirim
Kim Kirim (김기림, 金起林, May 11, 1908 - ?) is a Korean poet and literary critic. His real name is Kim Inson (김인손, 金仁孫), and his childhood name was Kim Inson, but with different Chinese characters. (金寅孫). He used Pyeon-seok-chon (편석촌, 片石村) as a childhood nickname.
Kim Kirim | |
|---|---|
| Native name | 김기림 |
| Born | Kim Inson, 김인손, 金仁孫 Haksung, North Hamgyong Province, Korea |
| Died | DOD unknown North Korea |
| Pen name | Kim Kirim, 김기림, 金起林 |
| Literary movement | Intellectualism, Imagism |
Life
Kim was born in Haksung, North Hamgyong Province. After graduating from Posung high school, he graduated from Tohoku University, following Nihon University in Japan. He returned to Korea and started his literary career, publishing "Away to the New Life" (〈가거라 새로운 생활로〉) in The Chosun Ilbo while working as a reporter in a department of art and science of the same newspaper. He also published "Problems on Poetic Techniques, Cognition, Reality, Etc" (〈시의 기술 인식 현실 등 제문제〉) in the newspaper and started his career as a literary critic. In 1933, he formed the Circle of Nine (Guinhoe, 구인회, 九人會) with Yi Sang, Lee Hyo-seok, Jo Yongman, Park Taewon, and so on. Kim began to write in earnest then, and published his first collection of poems, The Weather Chart (Gisangdo, 《기상도》, 氣象圖), in 1936. He retired to the countryside and taught English at Gyeongsung middle school (경성중학교, 鏡成中學校) near hometown until he taught Mathematics, when English was no longer taught by school. A poet Kim Gyudong was one of his students.
Kim took part in Chosun Writer's Union (조선문학가동맹, 朝鮮文學家同盟) after the liberation in 1945. The next year, he fled to the South from Soviet Union occupied North Korea. Then, he withdrew from the union around the time Republic of Korea was established in 1948. He became an assistant professor at Seoul National University, after working as a lecturer at Chung-Ang University and Yonsei University. He also founded New Culture Research Institute (신문화 연구소) around the same time. He died in North Korea, where he was kidnapped to during Korean War, but the year is unknown.
On June 9 of 1990, his fellow poets including Kim Gwang-gyun and Ku Sang erected a monument that pays a tribute to Kim at Posung high school, where Kim attended.[1]
Literary style
Influenced by T.S. Eliot, Kim mainly wrote intellectualist and imagist poetry. He criticized technicalism of contemporary Korean modernist poetry and advocated "total poetry," which content and form are in balance. Because Kim was too dedicated to his theory, his earlier works were criticized for being a scatter of shattered images, but he gradually overcame it. For literary criticism, he is praised for changing Korean literary world by adopting imagism and intellectualism of Britain and the United States.
Literature
바다와 나비 (Sea And Butterfly)
아무도 그에게 수심을 일러준 일이 없기에
흰 나비는 도무지 바다가 무섭지 않다
(White butterfly is not afraid of the sea because no one has told him the depth of the water.)
청무우밭인가 해서 내려갔다가는
어린 날개에 물결에 절어서
공주처럼 지쳐서 돌아온다
(As the blue radish filed goes down, it falls in the waves and returns exhausted like a princess.)
삼월달 바다가 꽃이 피지 않아서 서글픈
나비 허리에 새파란 초생달이 시리다
(As the sea does not blossom in March, a blue crescent moon is creeping on the back of a sad butterfly.)
Work
Collections of poems
- The Weather Chart 《기상도》, 1936
- Wind Speed of the Sun 《태양의 풍속》, 1939
- The Sea and the Butterfly 《바다와 나비》, 1946
- The Birdsong 《새노래》, 1948
Others
- theoretical publication: Introduction to Literature 《문학개론》, 1946
- collection of poetry criticism: Poetics 《시론》, 1947
- collection of essays: Poetics 《바다와 육체》, 1948
- translation: Introduction to Science 《과학개론》, 1948
- collection of poetry criticism: Poetics《학원과 정치》, 1950 (coauthored by Yoo Jinho, Choi Hojin, and Yi Geonho)
- poetry study report: Understanding Poetry 《시의 이해》, 1950
- theoretical publication: New Lecture on Syntax 《문장론신강》, 1950
Notes
- 납북시인 김기림 시비 세워”. 동아일보. 1990년 6월 4일.
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