Born in Taegu in 1927, Kim Nam-jo is one of Korea's leading poets. She has published numerous volumes of poetry and essays and has been awarded many major literary prizes. She served for a time as president of the Korean Poets' Association and has long been active in the Korean P.E.N. Center. For almost forty years, until her retirement in 1993, she was professor of Korean Language and Literature at Sukmyong Woman's University in Seoul.

Herself a Catholic, many of her poems are addressed to a mysterious transcendent figure that may or may not be God. Her main themes are love and loneliness. In many poems she depicts the passionate reality of human love and explores the ways in which human love mirrors the love which is the essence of the nature of God. She also suggests by her evocations of intense human solitude that love alone can give meaning to an otherwise desolate human existence.

Translator:   Brother Anthony of Taize (An Sonjae)
Professor, Department of English Language and Literature
Sogang University

Born in Truro (Cornwall, U. K.) in 1942.

Studied Medieval and Modern Languages at The Queen's College, in the University of Oxford, from 1960 until 1969.

Joined the Community of Taize (France) in 1969.

Taize is the name of a small village not far from Macon and Cluny in eastern France. Since 1940 it has been home to an ecumenical monastic community of brothers known as the Community of Taize. Taize has become well-known in recent decades for hosting meetings where young adults from all over the world pray and share together. The Community's main concern is to promote reconciliation and trust. Here is a glimpse of Taize.

Made Life Commitment in the Community at Easter 1974. Lived in the Philippines 1977-80.

Came to Korea in May 1980, invited by Cardinal Kim. Lives in Seoul with other Brothers from Taize.

Began to teach in Sogang University in September 1980. Now a full Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, teaching medieval and Renaissance English literature and culture. Served as Department Chairman 1992 - 1994. Has written a number of books and articles about English literature, and translated works of modern Korean literature. President of the Medieval and Early Modern English Studies Association of Korea 1998-2000. Was in charge of the British & American Cultures Major from July 2000, and Chair of the English Department from May 2001. Released from both anxieties July 2003.

Naturalized in 1994 with the Korean name An Sonjae.

While I was translating a novel by Ko Un based on the last part of the Buddhist Avatamsaka Sutra, the Garland Sutra, I came across the story of Sudhana (called Sonjae in Korean), a child living in India at the time of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni. Sonjae travels all over India in search of enlightening wisdom. He meets a lot of different people, 53 in all, from each of whom he learns something that brings him closer to his goal. Yet even after his journey is complete, he is still only a child, life remains to be lived. That Buddhist 'Pilgrim's Progress' is the origin of my Korean name, which is at the same time an adaptation of 'Anthony'.