(Interview) Becoming a Writer Whose Existence is Poetry: Poet Lee Soho discusses art and life.
2024-09-30The photo shows the poet Lee Soho, a Photo during her trip to Egypt, the English version cover of her poetry collection, and her YouTube channel (the poet photo on the right from Offing literary magazine site, photo in Egypt sent by Lee Soho, Book cover from LTI, Screenshot from Lee Soho YouTube channel)
Since this is literature month I reached out to one of my favorite Korean poets to introduce her and her works to the readers.
This poet is Lee Soho, one of the most unique and bold Contemporary Poets. She was born in 1988, studied creative writing, and gained a master's degree in Korean literature.
She won the Kim Su-young Literary Award in 2018, the highest poetry honor in Korea for her poetry collection “Catcalling”.
The photo shows covers of some works by the poet. (Photos from KYOBO site)
She was glad because I contacted her and mentioned that she visited Egypt years ago. I interviewed her via Zoom on September 13th.
Her career beginnings:
Q: Was it always your dream to become a poet?
A: It was never my dream to become a poet.
But in Korean society, it is important to get a college degree and I used to write the things I couldn’t say out loud in a notebook, then those got selected as a story for the radio so I released I had a talent and decided to study creative writing.
However, when I was checking my childhood diary for my first prose collection “Doing as Told, but in My Own Way” I realized that I had mentioned that I wanted to be a poet so maybe it was my dream and I didn’t know it.
Q: do you think that studying writing academically helped you?
A: Academic learning helped me a lot. Initiation won't last long. If you like something you must learn it to sharpen your skills.
Q: Was teaching writing part of your plan?
A: No, I used to skip many classes as a student and I thought that teaching was very far from me but I did teach writing for entrance exams to make a living.
However, Now I teach people who want to become a writer, I share with them my experience.
Q: is it possible to make a living while working solely as a poet?
A: It's hard to make a living from poetry. I also give lectures, participate in book talks, and do many other things to make ends meet.
The only way to purely focus on art is by winning a lottery! You must have a driving force that urges you to create.
In my case, I separate Soho from writer Soho. I even have 2 phone numbers. Soho works to support writer Soho.
Her writing style:
Q: How did you gain the courage to write about personal experiences?
A: We all have unique stories as we live and I am just writing mine down. Of course, there were times when I was afraid but I made up my mind and decided to go for it.
Q: How do you write your poetry collections, do you come up with a theme first? Also, do you usually edit the poems after writing them?
A: It depends but while writing “Catcalling” I wrote freely, then added more poems in the gaps.
I write according to what I want to say. Even if I have a theme I don’t stick to it until the end. I like the books to go against my original intentions.
Q: Is there a poem you wrote that represents you more than the others
A: Yes, “Blowfish Soup” poem. If I hadn’t written this poem I would have spent my time trying to write neat and rhetorical sentences and I would have failed.
Q: Can you elaborate more on Bamseom poem as it is one of my favorite poems by you?
A: It is interesting that you liked it. Bamseom is an uninhabited island in Seoul. There is a Korean movie about it where a man was cast away on the Island and a Hikikomori (The case of severe social withdrawal) woman rescued him.
Anyway, we can't call it uninhabited now; many people request opening it. Isn't fascinating that there is an uninhabited island in the middle of the city? I represented Bamseom as a lonely person in the crowd.
I wrote many poems about islands like Roosevelt. Staying on an Island can be great but if you think of it as an isolated place it can be hell.
The photo shows a screenshot of the poem from my digital copy of the book (The photo is from LTI “Digital Library of Korean literature” )
The photo shows Bamseom Island on the top and Roosevelt Island on the bottom. (Bamseom photo is from Korean Travel Guest's official site, Roosevelt. photo is from NewYork tourism official site)
Q: Who is your favorite writer?
A: it is meaningless to pick only one but if I had to choose I would choose Kim Hyesoon.
A writer can lose his glow over time but each new work by her is better than the last one.
I want to be like that, I want to rebuild and always show something new.
Q: You also mentioned that Choi Seung-ja is a role model poet in a poem. What do you think is special about her?
A: Whenever I read a work by her I feel that her aura completes the poem. I want to be like that I want my existence to embody my literature.
I don’t mean that I want to be like her but just like there is only one Choi Seung-ja there is only one Lee Soho.
Q: Do you believe art should have a message?
A: I don’t mind how my works are interpreted even if it is misinterpreted. I want my art to be read in various ways.
Art isn’t a slogan or a message. The true value of art lies in the questions it raises that have been ignored for long.
Q: Have you ever written songs?
Interestingly, I found out about the existence of creative writing as a major through a lyricist's profile that mentioned he graduated from there which interested me. If I have a chance I would like to write a song.
Q: You mentioned that you are working on a novel, can you give us a hint about it, and how is the writing process different?
A: Prose captures reflections from real life, poetry asks questions, and novels for me are about humanity. I’m not limited by reality when I write a novel.
My novel is a science fiction novel that occurs in the near future.
Writing a novel requires full dedication, I am organizing everything before working on the manuscript. I hope that I get used to the process of writing novels soon so I can switch between it and other writing forms.
Her hobbies:
Q: When did you decide to go on backpacking trips, and what countries did you visit?
A: I went on many trips when I was young but with my family, then one day I told my mom that it would be fun to go to India, and then suddenly she told me “You are going to Delhi, India on January 1, 2007”.
That is how my backpacking journey began. I went to countless countries, some more than twice. I have just returned from my second trip to Bali.
If I could go back in time I would go to the time when I traveled to Egypt, crossed Syria and Jourdan, and then spent Christmas in Lebanon. It is sad that this backpacking route isn’t accessible now.
Q: When did you visit Egypt, and why did you choose it?
A: I simply wanted to travel across the Mediterranean coast and I had no knowledge of arab culture back then. I only had a guidebook translated from English to Korean.
I arrived during Ramadan and I was surprised that restaurants were closed on the day. I couldn’t access some places and I wish I studied more before the trip I would have enjoyed it more. But at this time I was only a 19-year-old Asian woman and the world can be harsh.
Q: Do you know anything about Egyptian art?
A: Rather than art itself, I fell in love with Egyptian hieroglyphs. I wasn’t a writer back then but I regret not visiting the Alexandria library it would have been heaven to me.
The photo shows some pictures during the poet’s trip to Egypt (Photos sent by Lee Soho)
Q: Why did you make your YouTube channel also, there are many videos while you are reciting poetry, do you practice it or it comes naturally?
A: When you go to galleries you usually find videos capturing the process of creating the work so I wanted to capture my creative moments too.
I made these videos for myself but more people than expected started to watch them.
I don’t specifically practice reading poetry, poetry is about rhythm, and before I finalize any poem I read it aloud many times to remove the awkward parts.
Over time this developed my reciting style.
About Translation:
Q: Do you think translation can deliver the original meaning of the poem, and what is your favorite translated poem?
A: The first translated poem I fell in love with is The End of the Beginning by Wislawa Szymborska. But no, I don’t think translation can convey the original meaning.
Q: Do you think writers should be involved in the translation process?
A: No, I should only send the original piece and answer the translator if he asks for something.
I changed my opinion completely about translation after reading the end of the beginning, translators don’t just deliver the work, it is a creative process. Translation expresses the translator's passion and creativity.
Q: Will another one of your works be translated soon?
A: there aren’t any plans yet.
But there is interesting news, long ago I sent a mini fiction work for a collective book about folklore ghost stories from different countries and It will be released around Halloween.
The photo shows screenshots from the interview (Photos by Eman Ahmed)
Keywords:
Lee Soho
Korean literature
Catcalling
Poetry
Egypt
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