Brother Anthony, Jeong to hold lecture

Poet Jeong Ho-seung, left, and Brother Anthony / Korea Times photos by Choi Won-suk

By Jon Dunbar

Brother Anthony became president of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch (RAS) in 2011, a Korean studies organization offering lectures and excursions around Korea, but he hasn’t given a lecture of his own since.

The naturalized Korean citizen will finally step up, giving a special bilingual talk with Korean poet Jeong Ho-seung on Tuesday, Sept. 13.

“I don't think I gave one, not since I've been president,” remarked Brother Anthony in an interview with The Korea Times, adding that his last was “something about the early founders of the RAS.”

The RAS was founded here in 1900, counting notable foreign residents such as Homer Hulbert, James Scarth Gale and Henry Appenzeller among its earliest members.

“I know, as it were, where we come from,” said Brother Anthony, who was born in Britain and became a monk of the French order of Taize before coming to Korea in 1980. “In the old days we used to have a different president every year and they didn't really do anything. For a long time the RAS just kept itself running because it always had done so.”

But in this century, RAS operations have become much more difficult, according to Brother Anthony, whose duties include selecting lecturers, overseeing excursions, planning and putting together the annual RAS journal, Transactions, among others. Still, the RAS has hundreds of members, including Koreans, long-term foreign residents and those just passing through.

“I know lots of people in Korean studies _ people out there also know about the RAS, even Korean studies people worldwide,” said Brother Anthony, who was a professor at Sogang University before retiring. “The big problem is getting the word out to people in Seoul, especially new arrivals. There are so many things we could be doing, but it's not always easy getting them informed about what we are.”

The RAS is just one thing keeping an already busy man busy. So far this year he has published six books, five of which are translations of Korean poetry. His latest book is with Jeong, whose poetry is published weekly by The Korea Times.

“He was born in the 1950s, so he's a senior poet, though he doesn't look old,” Brother Anthony said of Jeong. “At least 60 of his poems have been set to music by famous pop and folk singers. His poetry is not complicated as some poets’ work is. It's all about life and love and hope and pain and overcoming and flowers, like any Korean poet.”

For Tuesday’s talk, Jeong will read his poetry in Korean and Brother Anthony will read his English translations.

“From time to time I'll ask him a question and he'll answer in Korean,” he said, “and I've asked (RAS manager Hong) Yon-joo to do interpretations for those who don't understand Kr.”

This year marked an upswing in interest in Korean literature, to which Brother Anthony says “Thank you to Deborah (Smith, winner of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize).”

But, he points out, as a translator of poetry rather than novels, he hasn’t seen a huge surge in readers. “I much prefer poetry and I think Korean poetry is much more worth reading than Korean fiction for all sorts of reasons,” he said.

When asked if he’s ever written his own poetry, he replied, “I don't have time. I’ve tried but it wasn't particularly important.”

RAS lectures are usually held twice monthly. The week after Brother Anthony’s Sept. 13 lecture, Maija Rhee Devine, also a frequent contributor to The Korea Times, will lecture on “The Comfort Women of WWII,” on Sept. 20.

Lectures are held Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. on the second floor residents’ lounge of the Somerset Palace in downtown Seoul. Attendance is free for RAS members, 10,000 won for non-members and 5,000 won for students with ID.

Visit raskb.com to learn more about the world’s oldest Korean studies organization.