Poems and Stories for Overcoming Idleness: Pahan chip by Yi Illo

Poems and Stories for Overcoming Idleness is the first complete translation in any Western language of Pahan chip, the earliest Korean work of sihwa (C. shihua; remarks on poetry) and one of the oldest extant Korean sources. The collection was written and compiled by Yi Illo (11521220) during the mid-Kory dynasty (9181392). Pahan chip features poetry composed in Literary Chinese (the scriptura franca of the premodern East Asian Sinographic Sphere) by the author and his friends, which included such literary greats as Im Chun (dates unknown) and O Sejae (1133?). Pahan chip also contains the work of other writers of diverse backgrounds: Chinese master poets, famous Confucian literati, eminent Buddhist masters, erudite Daoist hermits, Kory kingsas well as long-forgotten lower-level officials, unemployed intellectuals, and rural scholars. The verse compositions are embedded in short narratives by Yi that provide context for the poems. In accordance with the guidelines of the sihwa-genre, these narratives focus primarily on matters relating to poetry while touching on a wide array of subjects such as Korean history and customs; the court and government institutions; official procedures and festivals; Kory foreign-policy and diplomacy; books and the circulation of knowledge; calligraphy and painting; Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist thought; the role of women; and scenic spots and famous buildings.

The book opens with an extensive introduction by translator Dennis Wuerthner on Yi Illo and Pahan chip set against the backdrop of literary and historical developments in Korea and sino-centric East Asia and vital issues relating to Kory politics, society, and culture. Wuerthners comprehensive, thought-provoking study is followed by a copiously annotated translation of this important Korean classic. See more