The Poet

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When the King's governor, after falling into rebel hands and changing sides, is recaptured by the royal troops, not only is he executed but his son and grandsons are, by family tie, condemned to death as traitors. The little grandsons are quickly sent away in disguise to save their lives. While the elder boy grows up to be a street-vendor living by his wits and reconciled to the loss of status, it is on the younger son that their mother pins her hopes of recovering the family's social position. In The Poet, Yi Mun-yol tells the story of this younger son, the wandering poet who lived in the strictly hierarchical Korea of more than 100 years ago: a man driven to the margins of society even as he strove for recognition as an outstanding poet; a man constantly tempted to make compromises, even to the point of betraying his family, in order to fulfil his mother's ambition and yet survive as a free spirit. This delicately told story of a lonely fight for self-respect, of a quest to reconcile duty and privilege in an oppressive society, is a luminous parable for our times.