Maninbo Tells Narrative of Korean History

By Chung Ah-young

Staff Reporter

Poet Ko Un has finally completed ``Maninbo'' (Ten Thousand Lives), a 30-volume epic poem series, 25 years after he first began publishing the monumental work in 1986.

The 77-year-old initiated the landmark epic poem series when he was imprisoned in 1980 on false accusations of treason during a military coup. He decided to describe every person he had ever met in his life in the project.

After being freed from the prison in 1982, he began writing the poems and published the first volume in 1986.

Representing one of the major classics of