Possible Because It's Not Eternal
Will be published approx. on 10. November 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
88 pages
978-1-965154-25-0 (ISBN)
Description
Poems from an award-winning Korean poet, known for verse exploring the complexities of modern life and memory.
The title of Lee Jangwook’s poetry collection Possible Because It’s Not Eternal suggests that certain existences become possible only because they are not eternal, and certain moments hold meaning because they are finite. The absence of eternity becomes a force in these poems that triggers the "eventhood" of the moment, and the fragmentation of the self is not the fall of the subject, but a process of generating new meaning. This triggers a positive line of thought that transcends nihilism and deconstruction.
This is a poetry that navigates the absurd world of bureaucracy, contingency, rupture, and instability.
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Persons
Lee Jangwook is a South Korean poet, novelist, and literary critic. He is the author of the poetry collections The Sand Mountain in My Sleep, Hope Song at Noon, Date of Birth, and Possible Because It's Not Eternal. Lee is also the author of the novels Karlo and the Cheerful Devils and Stranger than Paradise, alongside several short story collections and literary criticism. He is on the faculty of Dongguk University, where he currently serves as a professor of Creative Writing.