By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
JEJU ― French poet and critic Claude Mouchard did not recognize Korean literature until some Korean students in his class at Paris VIII University showed him a poem translated in French in 1997.
Mouchard introduced the work, ``The Tomb at the Top'' by Cho Chong-kwon, in the 80th issue of the literary quarterly ``Po&sie'' (from the word ``poesie'' which means poetry in French), where he works as an editor.
His journal featured the poetry of 12 Korean poets in the 1999 summer edition titled ``Poesie sud-coreens.'' It was the first time for the journal to exclusively focus on one country's poetry in depth.
``I saw strong desires of Korean students to get their native poetry known to others. They introduced Korean poems to me with French translations," Mouchard told reporters at the press center at the 3rd Delphic Games on Jeju Island. "Since then, I have been captured by Korean poems. It was Koreans who made me appreciate Korean poems.''
Mouchard, who is the judge of the contest's lingual arts section and maestro program for poetical recital, showed his strong interest and affection for Korean poetry as much as his enthusiasm for the event.
``I can't sleep out of excitement for the experiences here in the Delphic Games. This experience is quite inspiring and exciting for me. So I am writing down all my impressions here,'' he said.
The poet will discuss the translated poetry in different cultures with other participants during the contest.
``For a long time, poetry has been regarded as art that can be hardly translated into other languages and has been believed to speak only to its people. But I believe that poetry still has a strong power that overcomes the barrier of languages and races,'' he said.
Although the translated works have a limited meaning and message compared to the originals, he said that translating is helpful for writing a poem.
It's difficult to translate Korean poems into French due to some characteristics such as musicality and mimetic and onomatopoetic words that are often found in Korean works.
But at the same time, he finds that Korean poetry always displays a strong hope and energy confronting reality, even though the poems depict sorrow and despair. He introduced an anecdote related to his journal's coverage on Korean poetry.
``When the Korean poems were featured in our journal, one of the greatest French poets sent me a letter, saying that he got great energy to live from the poem `The Tomb at the Top' by Cho Chong-kwon, when (the French poet) was seriously sick at the hospital,'' he said.
Mouchard said the poet was Philippe Jaccottet, one of the most prominent figures of the immediate post-war generation of French poets.
The 68-year-old Mouchard highly praised numerous pieces of Korean literature written by the likes of Lee Cheong-jun, Ki Hyung-doh and Lee Sang.
When he first encountered Lee Sang's poems, he was shocked and captivated by his innovative writing style which totally changed his standards for judging poetry. ``Maybe that's what I expect in this Delphic competition,'' he said.
In regards to poetry in modern society, he said that countries might be in the same situation, with only a small number of people enjoying poems.
``Nevertheless, poetry is important because it still has a power that represents social resistance and continuously interacts with other arts,'' said Mouchard.
``Recently, in France, there have been serious movements by immigrants. Some of them came from Africa to land a job to make a living in Europe. Some of them are illegal immigrants," Mouchard said. "I am now working on that issue by hearing their voices. On that score, the Delphic Games is very important in that I can hear various voices from all over the world through their works.''
When he visited Korea last year, Mouchard learned ``hangeul,'' or the Korean alphabet, and he practiced reading words in subway stations. ``I hope that I will learn Korean further and can speak Korean with you 10 years from now,'' he added.