We think we write at the risk our lives,
but nobody points a gun
at us.
That is the tragedy.
Twirling the world like a pink hula-hoop round our waists,
we ate meals,
had drinks,
waited all the time,
and finally
shot each other.
Jin Eun-young was born in Daejeon, South Korea, in 1970. She graduated from Ewha Womans University with a degree in Philosophy, and later received her PhD (writing a thesis comparing Nietzsche and Nagarjuna). Jin Eun-young made her literary debut in 2000, publishing poems in the spring issue of
Literature and Society. She has since published a number of poetry collections, including
일곱 개의 단어로 된 사전 [A Dictionary of Seven Words], 우리는 매일매일 [We, Day By Day],훔쳐가는 노래 [A Stealing Song] and
시시하다 [Sisihada], and has received the Kim Daljin Literature Award for Young Poets, the Daesan Literature Award, the Modern Literature Award, and the Cheon Sang-byeong Poetry Award. She has written numerous academic books:
Nietzsche, Eternal Return and the Philosophy of Difference; Critique of Pure Reason: Taking Reason to Court; and
The Atopos of Literature, among others. In addition, the poetry anthology
Red Snowflake was published in French by Bruno Ducey Publishing (2016), and the English translation of
We, Day By Day was published by White Pine Press (2018). Jin Eun-young is currently a professor of literary counselling at Korea Counselling Graduate University.
