Songs of the Kisaeng
Courtesan Poetry of the Last Korean Dynasty

Tr. Constantine Contogenis & Wolhee Choe

Rochester, NY: BOA Editions, Ltd., 1997; Pp. 80

Review © 2001 Branislav L. Slantchev

During the half millennium long rein of the Chosôn Dynasty in Korea (1392-1910), there was a class of women whose fate was both appalling and seductive. The kisaeng, sometimes translated as "skilled women" were selected from early age for their beauty, given extensive education in poetry, music, the arts, and dance, trained in the skills of courtesanship, and then assigned as professional entertainers to the court, the high government bureaucracy, and even distant military outposts. Social outcasts unacceptable to Confucian mores, the kisaeng were often little more than prostitutes, and never attained any semblance of status in society. Even the few hundred sijo (three-line poem) they authored were preserved in spite of them by admiring males. Destined forever to fall in love and never able to retain a lover, the kisaeng wrote some of the most exquisite, if simple, lines to convey their pain.

On the other hand, the education they received was denied to the "good" Korean women, reduced to male companions and groomed to become obedient and silent wives. The properly behaved woman was seldom seen without her husband, could not directly address men outside her family (she had to pretend talking to a servant who then would convey the message), had only rudimentary knowledge enough to enable her to do the household chores, was not jealous (grounds for divorce!) even when her dallying husband spent nights with courtesans, and generally existed in the shadows. Compared with these proper women, the kisaeng were free, exciting, and alluring.

The sijo presented in this little collection, however, fall a little short of my expectations. There is a handful of good ones, like this one by Kang Gangwol:

Late one night, alone, unsleeping,
I heard the wild geese cry.
Raising more wick to flame,
I continued my turning.

Then low, heavy sounds of rain
made me feel dimmer, farther away.

or this one by Kyerang:

Petals rained from the pear trees
as I cried within my arms to him.
Now that the fall wind takes the leaf,
does he keep me a place within?

My dreams range the miles to him
and return weary of travel.

and this one by Songi (my favorite):

Everything you do, everything
you don't do, deceives.
When I love, I make you
my enemy.

But the words you spoke
keep themselves within me.

but no really great ones. Since this is the first such collection I have seen, I must defer judgment until I learn more. For now, I am cautiously optimistic.

This is a dual-language book that includes the Korean originals along with the translations. The notes are quite sparse although I must say enjoyed the modern feel of the English versions.

December 13, 2001

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@book{contogenis-choe-97,
  title     = {Songs of the Kisaeng: Courtesan Poetry of the Last Korean Dynasty},
  author    = {Constantine Contogenis and Wolhee Choe},
  year      = {1997},
  publisher = {BOA Editions, Ltd.},
  address   = {Rochester, NY},
  isbn      = {1-880238-53-5},
  note      = {Includes text in Korean}
}