I
Want to Hijack an Airplane:
Selected Poems of Kim Seung-hee
Author: Kim Seung-hee
Translators: Kyung-nyun Kim Richards & Steffen F. Richards
ISBN-13: 978-1-931907-13-2
ISBN-10: 1931907137
Order No. 1021
5.5 x 8.5 , Paperback
208 pages, 2004
$15.95
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The 103 poems in this volume by Kim Seung-hee cover a number of themes:
sacredness of the life force, conditions of women, mother-daughter relationship,
and husband-wife relationship. "Female Buddha" paints a vivid
picture of a woman's agony in the delivery room and the triumphant birth
of a new life. In "The Legendary Flute of Shilla," Kim poses
a question to her husband: "Is it possible to live together, yet
as if not, or to live apart, yet as if together?"
Her works also deal with the cold and dehumanizing aspects of modern
urban life, and the longing for freedom as an absolute ideal. "Hijacking
an Airplane" best expresses her desire to transcend existence and
liberate the individual from everything that confines and oppresses.
THE AUTHOR
Born in Kwang-ju, South Korea, Kim Seung-hee attended Sogang University
studying English literature. In 1973, she won first place in the poetry
category in a literary contest held by Kyung-hyang Daily Newspaper. Since
then Kim Seung-hee has published eight volumes of poetry, several collections
of essays, a critical biography and two novels. A prolific writer and
a professor, she has garnered numerous honors and prizes, including the
prestigious So-wol Poetry Award in 1990.
