By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
Swedish Ambassador Lars Vargo, a book lover, chooses literary works as a vehicle to understand the country in which he is posted, and he does that in Korea through the Seoul Literary Society.
``Literature is a poetic mirror of the real world,'' Vargo said, and for a diplomat who lives in, what he calls, a ``bubble'' of a society where one is posted, it provides one with a glimpse of what real life is like.
He saw conservative strength in Korean society through Yi Mun-yeol's short stories; tragic history through Ko Eun's poems; and the burden for women through Park Wan-seo's literature.
Seoul Literary Society was set up in 2006. ``Diplomats are usually interested in literature, but time is extremely limited for us. So I thought this might help those diplomats to use their time in a more coordinated way,'' Vargo said.
Periodical meetings with members, including diplomats and members of the Korean literary community, have had prominent Korean writers as guest speakers such as Ko Eun, and hosted open discussions. The society also promotes translation of Korean literature into different languages, which is imperative in disseminating literature abroad.
Vargo carries his life-long passion for literature with him to his diplomatic posts, peppering his duties as a diplomat.
The most recent activity, with two months of preparation, was a book-reading session that Ambassador Vargo had with Korean children to commemorate the late Swedish children's book author Astrid Lindgren.
Seated before third-grade kids, he began to read Pippi's part in Pippi Longstocking, a children's story. ``Shall we begin?'' ``Don' t worry mom. I will behave,'' he spoke in Korean line by line with clear pronunciation.
``One of the important parts of society the diplomats often forget about is children,'' Vargo said, as to the reasons why he participated in the book reading. It was to plant seeds of love for books among the younger generation.
Recalling his experience, ``I started to read the story, more or less by heart,'' he said. But he came to a conclusion after two months of practice that reading the whole thing was next to impossible.
They wouldn't understand. That was his worry, and he made a last-minute decision to have a Korean read and have him read only Pippi's part.
Vargo's zeal for literature arose under the strong presence and influence of poetry and short stories in Sweden when he was young. He was a high school student when he first was drawn to an atmosphere of social gatherings for music and poetry. One teacher at school, who loved short stories, was another influence, as were his booking-loving parents with vast bookshelves full of books on a variety of subjects at home.
Vargo also remembers a museum in town, where he often went, that gave him exposure to Chinese poetry. He studied Sinology, the study of China and the Chinese language, at college.
Vargo is also a fluent Japanese speaker. He studied ancient Japanese history at Kyoto University in Japan between 1972 and 1976 for his post-graduate degree, then returned there three more times, as a diplomat.
Altogether, he spent 16 years in Japan, and that earned him the command of the language, contacts, and extensive exposure to haiku, a type of Japanese poetry.
He is currently translating four Japanese poetry and short story books into Swedish, which will be added to a list of translation projects that he has completed.
The bookshelves in his residence have a wide collection of books on various subjects, and a small section held a few books with his own name.
He composes poems ― he isn't sure how many there are exactly, but says he has published approximately one hundred ― and it's not just confined to the genre of literature.
On the web, Vargo operates a Swedish online blog on ``haiku'' (Japanese poems) where he makes his presence known as one of few professional Swedish haiku translators.
Vargo wishes to be able to translate Korean literature into Swedish for himself as he does in Japanese, but confesses it will still take time and practice at his Korean class organized by the Seoul Global Center.
One interesting coincidence is, however, that his first translation, done during his college years, was two works by a Korean poet Kim Chi-ha, he said. They were in the Japanese translation, and the original copy of the book, which he still possesses, has many red marks on the pages, signs of his translation process. The two poems were published in a university newspaper.
The striking features of Korean literature include the level of intelligence ― female writers are very thoughtful and intelligent ― and emphasis on education, Vargo said. These are some things that come out in translation, he added.