Either Usable or Unusable

This is the fourth collection of literary critiques by the author, who, based on affection for poetry and calm and meticulous analysis, is the most active critic in South Korean literary circles today. Confidence in and expectations of what can be written. Ambition and vision to write what cannot be written. The author’s writings, which seek to encompass all of these, are at once spirited steps to find the inherent direction of literature through South Korean poetry and to secure points of statements hurled at the era and warm confessions that gently approach texts, poets, and readers alike. Her critiques, which comprehend well-established and rising poets alike, enable even readers who have been removed from poetry lately naturally to grasp the flow of contemporary South Korean verses in a certain context. Part 1 collects the author’s special contributions and pieces published in diverse literary journals. Part 2 consists of writings examining the literary worlds of individual poets. Part 3 comprises commentaries originally published in the author’s poetry collections.