rv hosteller- preface

            Preface

This essay-turned novel show you in the beginning a man in his 40s

who happens to have an idea of unreality that the little sea he used

to live by in his boyhood still loafs around somewhere in the wider

sea not far from him in the company of a group of seagulls.

In his boyhood the man lived by an inland sea  which opened upon

the gate toward the wider sea.To the boy the little sea meant

the inland sea and the sea meant the wider sea toward which

the inland opened.

So he travels from seaside to seaside with a vague longing to find 

it the small sea, He goes to his first destination, a  city and harbor

of the South Sea to go by ship to the islands. Next he goes

to the seaside of East Sea and there takes another bus running

northwards along the seacoast to a harbor, which he have once

visited in his 20s. Running all the way to the harbor he keeps

his eyes turned only to the sea, And lastly there he turns 

toward the West Sea to reach a village named Manripo beach.

The little sea is of course not found in any seaside. And also

he knows that the little sea is nowhere but in his mind,

Since then on he has traveled overseas,unconsciously

with the little sea in his mind, and writes. Now he realize one thing:

He can catch the little sea through another way: to write. 

So he writes to see it. and whenever he write,

he is reminded of a line of advice in a letter Reina Maria Rilke sent

to a youth who wanted to write poems.The point of which is is this:

Whoever wishes to write poems, has to see many cities, 

to meet many people, and to read many books. What is more,

he has to recollect many days gone by ephemerally

with the countless stars twinkling in the night sky.

This time  we can see the man, looking to be much older than before, 

appearing as a hosteller in  Seattle and Portland of North West, USA, in Spain

with Rilke's advice in his mind's pocket ,and running by train days and nights 

through Siberia toward Irctzk, this time with a proverb of Siberian tribes

in his backpack of imagination: It is only upon Baikal in autumn that

a man learns to pray from his heart.

 

Several years ago the author of this story had a book written in English

and published in USA, the title of which was Flamenco Journey, 

As a Korean essayist, I did it in English as the original manuscript

was based on the emails written in English to and from

an American. 

And I decided to have it published in USA for  a purpose:

to earn my grandchildren's pocket money. I have been

a nobody writer who couldn't make enough money

by creating  literary woks. So I did it so.

 

Once again I wrote another book in English  for a simple purpose:

to give a bit of educational stimulation to Jaden, a  4-year-old grandson in illiteracy living in LA . I  thought that my emails directly sent o the little boy could let him to learn  Alphabet 

by stimulating not only his curiosity, but also his self -respect, For the simple purpose, I wrote this manuscript. The most important thing for it was, I judged, that I myself should raise up my English  to the higher level  to do it.. So I came to write another book in English..Below is one of the emails I sent to my Grandson:

 

Hi, Jaden;
How are you ?
How is your condition, today?

This is your grandfather,
getting worried about your injured arm.

Your Grandmother said that
because of the bandaged arm ,
you became the center of interest  at the preschool yesterday.
Grandmother said that
your friends got much interested in your bandaged arm.
Is that true?

Grandfather is thinking of Jaden, your mother and father,
And also Dongshig, the dog in your house.
Does the dog  like to play with you, Jaden?
Your grandfather was happy last spring
to play with Jaden and Dongshig in the garden of your house.

These days, do you like to read books
together with your mother and father ?
What is the name of the book you like very much?

Grandfather wants to share emails with you, Jaden
and also hope that Jaden will email to grandfather someday

Grandfather
in Masan,
South Korea