Four Seasons By: Han-Jae Lee This essay collection recounts the modern and contemporary history of Korea through the life of the author. Korea was a poorly developed country that was devastated during the Japanese colonial period in the early 20th century, followed by liberation, and the Korean War. In the process, there was a time when many Korean people gathered their strength to create something out of nothing in order to escape poverty. And now, Korea is standing shoulder to shoulder with developed countries. Korea has achieved not only political democratization and remarkable economic development in a relatively short period of time in recent decades, but also Korean literature is making remarkable progress toward globalization in many ways. The following essays describe various elements of rural life in Korea as a child, life in a large city in Seoul as a youth and living abroad as an adult. Before writing this essay collection, he compiled seven poetry and essay collections in Korean and English, and published them in Korea and the United States. Advance praise for Four Seasons Han-Jae Lee’s, Four Seasons is an engaging collection of essays that recount the author’s experiences as a native Korean coming of age in a poor rural area, going on to lead a prosperous career as a working man for a large corporation, fathering children, traveling around the globe and spending time in the United States. Lee’s observations about both past and present life are touching and astute. A poet at heart, his reflections are tender and poignant, as he covers a wide range of topics, from tending a cow as a young man to his influences in literature and writing, to the old customs in Korea to new information technologies. Relationships, both intimate and professional are examined. Reading Four Seasons cover to cover, you will be entertained throughout. – Magdalena Montagne, poet-teacher The Four Seasons is a distillation of the author’s life. In providing vignettes of his life both in prose and poetry, Han-Jae Lee presents the reader with the thoughts and impressions of a life rich in experience tempered by wisdom. This will not be a book that you only read once, but several times because you will always find something new and instructive in its pages. – Alexander E. Braun, author of The Adventure of the Maiden Voyage
Han-Jae Lee's poetry depicts a passionate portrait of the world around us. He exquisitely defines nature's wonders, its beauty and its joy, but also the sadness which completes it.
The Golden Gate Bridge and Other Natural Wonders is Han-Jae Lee's first collection of poetry to be published in English. Described as ..".a curious mix of Eastern sensibility and Western playfulness," Lee's poetry speaks with striking detail and understated elegance. His is the mind of a seeker who persistently asks us to go beyond how things appear, and in looking deeply, to arrive at the soul of all things. Painting Sometimes the carelessly lined circle becomes a flower. And a casually drawn horizontal line becomes the place where Earth meets up with Heaven. I glimpse the bony branches while I sketch... The lines on the paper become the morning sunlight. Or the thorns of rose bushes. Bright flowers bloom. The rose thorns turn into pins which pierce the fin of the fishes like memories that are sleeping in the deep lake. The lilies are shy and smiling; hiding in the woods. I'm listening to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." Outside, it is raining; gusty winds whip around me. And lightning strikes with a loud voice. Just at that moment the electric lights go out. Everything vanishes into the darkness. I light a candle and start again- Put my pencil to the blank page. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Han-Jae Lee began writing poetry in 1997. He studied poetry and creative writing at Chung-Ang University and Korea University in Korea, and also in the United States, attending writing workshops at the Aptos and Campbell Public Libraries and at the Almaden Community Center in San Jose. In 2005 he won a poetry award (silver) in a national poetry contest for his work, A High-rise Apartment, given annually for an outstanding poem, sponsored by The National Assembly of Korea and The Federation of Korean Cultural Center. His first poetry collection, A High-Rise Apartment, was published in Korea in 2008. He also co-published three poetry anthologies and his poems have appeared in the magazines, Literary Movement and Trend, Literature World and Vision of Poetry (all in Korean). He has been writing poetry in English since 2004 and this poetry collection is his first book in English. He lives in both San Jose and Seoul.
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