Back to Heaven - by Sang Pyong Ch'on (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

These poems by "the happiest man in the world" are full of light though written in dark times. Ch'ōn had the art of seeing the beauty of life beyond all the pain, and of putting it into the music of words. Recently, many young Koreans have discovered in these poems and in the poet's life the innocence and honesty they look for in vain in modern society. His poverty and his body broken by torture never made Ch'ōn bitter or angry; his poems are hymns of joy at the marvels of nature and the simple pleasures of life. His greatest poem sees death, not as the end but as a journey "back to heaven" where he plans to tell the angels how beautiful life in this world can be.

About the Author

Brother Anthony of Taizé (An Sonjae) was born in 1942 in the UK. He studied Medieval and Modern Languages at Oxford and in 1969 he joined the Taizé Community in France. He taught English literature at Sogang University, Seoul, for nearly three decades. He is emeritus professor at Sogang University and chair-professor at Dankook University. Since 1990, he has published more than forty volumes of translated works by such esteemed Korean authors as Ku Sang, Ko Un, Cheon Sang-byeong, Shin Kyeong-nim, Park Yuhui, Yi Mun-yol, and Do Jong-hwan. Since January 2011, he has been president of the Royal Asiatic Society s Korea branch. He received the Korean government s Award of Merit, Jade Crown class, in October 2008 for his work to spread knowledge of Korean literature throughout the world. In 2015, he was awarded an honorary MBE (Member of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth for his contributions to Anglo-Korean relations.