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Heo Su-gyeong
Born	1964 (1964)
Died	October 3, 2018 (aged 54)
Occupation	Poet
Language	Korean
Nationality	South Korean
Citizenship	South Korean
Education	Gyeongsang National University, University of Münster

Heo Su-gyeong (Korean: 허수경; 1964 – 3 October 2018) was a South Korean poet.

Life

Heo Su-gyeong was born in 1964 in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. She majored in Korean literature in Gyeongsang National University. Heo made her literary debut at the age of twenty-three in 1987 at the magazine Practical literature (Silchonmunhak,실천문학) with her poetry, and published her first volume of poetry There’s Not A Fodder Like Sorrow (슬픔만한 거름이 어디 있으랴). In 1992, She published her second volume of poetry Alone To A Distant House (혼자 가는 먼 집). After she published these two volumes of poetry and became a star of the korean poetry scene, She left Korea abruptly to Germany. While in Germany, she pursued a doctorate degree in Ancient Near East archaeology in the Department of Ancient Oriental Studies at University of Münster. In 2003 she married Reinhard Dittmann, a german archaeologist of the Near East.

Work

The Digital library of Korean literature comments on her work that "She infuses her poetry with the lyricism and the images taken from traditional Korean folktales and songs, thereby creating a uniquely Korean modern poetry free of western modernist influence. It can be said that distancing herself from her native tongue by living in a foreign environment is in itself the poet’s attempt to bring herself closer to the essence of the Korean language". In Heo's poems, life is broken into pieces, filled with agony, incoherent, and loveless. Literary critic Lee Kwang ho noted the difference in the style of her post german migration work and her previous works saying while her pre germany works can be characterized as "a love poem combined with the rhythm and sensibilities of the South Gyeongsang Province and the loneliness and sadness that she faced as a woman", her work while in germany showed "her musings of lengthy periods that reflects her archaeological background".

Works in Korean (partial)

• There’s Not A Fodder Like Sorrow (Seulpeummanhan georeumi oedi iteurya, 1988)
• Alone To A Distant House (Honja ganeun meon jip, 1992)
• Though My Soul is Old (Nae yeonghoneun orae doieoteuna, 2001).

Death

The poet died of terminal stomach cancer on October 3, 2018. The burial was held in a tree burial (Baumbestattung) fashion.

References

1. ^ 독일서 눈 감은 허수경 시인…향년 54세(종합2보) (in Korean)
2. Heo Su-gyeong Archived 2013-09-21 at the Wayback Machine
3. "허수경 시인". people.search.naver.com. Naver. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
4. ^ "시인 허수경이 갔다, 먼 집으로, 혼자서…향년 54". The Hankyoreh. 2018-10-04.
5. "시인 허수경 타계…92년 독일行,고고학 박사논문 쓰며 만난 獨 지도교수와 결혼" (in Korean). Segye Ilbo. 2018-10-04.
6. "Biografie auf der Website des Hattuša-Surveys". Archived from the original on 2009-04-09.
7. "Heo Su-gyeong(허수경)". digital library of korean literature.
8. Twentieth-Century Korean Literature, Yi Nam-ho, U Ch’anje, Yi Kwangho, Kim Mihyŏn, Translated by Youngju Ryu Edited by Brother Anthony, of Taizé. p. 77
9. "허수경 시인 별세···향년 54세, 독일 뮌스터에서 수목장" (in Korean). The Chosun Ilbo. 2018-10-04.

• 1964 births
• 2018 deaths
• South Korean women poets
• Gyeongsang National University alumni