A hosteller 2

    A hosteller

    1. enticers

    

           2.

 

 As depicted before,when he made a round trip to the seashore,,

from the south through the east till the west of his country, South Korea,

Looking back upon the past days and nights in Europe, he would not

deny that it was the little sea cherished in his mind that enticed him to do so.

However,in case of his first overseas travel toward Europe,  he was

a bit surprised to think that it was a word of 'Bohemians' that lured him

into the long flight alone.The word was kept in his mind's backpack 

throughout the journey ,If any backpack traveler will read the passage

'below', he will be sure to love the word  of' Bohemians'

"Bohemians and the Gypsies, in the most prevalent perceptions of both,

shared some characteristics. Both groups are known for their vagabond

lifestyle, for their merry poverty, for their disregard of money for the pursuit

of music, color, and relationships. They are groups that have different

priorities than the dominant cultures of their societies..."

Bohemia is a region of Czech Republic; the nomadic, often vilified, group

called the Gypsies or Romany are called "bohemiens" in French. 

He knew  well  through books that this word come to describe the poor artists

of Paris in the nineteenth century.

While staying comfortably in a hotel in London, the name of which

he forgot, but didn't forget the alluring tea fragrance,

he was reminded of the word, and even regarded himself

as a bohemia, asking to himself:

Then what is different between me and them?

Bohemians have different priorities than the dominant cultures

of their societies? Me, too.

They ignore money for the pursuit of music and color? So do I.

As you know, I hated to have a job and yearned for the artistic life.

Into the bargain, I resemble Rip Van Winkle in that I am a good-for-nothing.

Then what is different them and me?

But, at the same time, he  criticized himself, thinking

that he is not a true Bohemian, but a pretended Bohemian

who has a steady income but chooses to live in Bohemia

for the fun of it.

In London, he was greatly fortunate that he happened to encounter,

at a roadside bookstall, 'Café Society', which since then has been

kept in his study as one of his favorite book. Reading the passage,

below, of the book in London, he came to be impatient to go to

Paris to step inside the 'Café Lapin' in Montmartre :

In the cafes of Montmartre, Modigliani met painters who were

looking for new ways of representing the visual world. They

were called 'La Bande a Picasso'. At one time or another

the members of this casual fraternity included Andre Derain,

Marice Vlaminck, Georges Braque, Juan Gris.......Many of the artists

who went to the Lapin liked to think themselves as Bohemian

In  Paris, in the Café Lapin Agile at the entrance to Montmartre,

a waiter was kind to say to me in English," This bar founded in 1860 

was and remains a haunt of unknown artist. Picasso, Utrillo and Modigliani

were patrons at one time. Picasso painted 'Au Lapin Agile' and gave

the painting to the bar owner who later sold it, 1920, for USD 20." 

And the waiter added a question looking him in the face with a smile,

" Are you from Japan? We Parisians welcome Japanese. As you know, 

Henri de Lautrec, the painter of 'Moulin rouse' loved Japanese woodblock

paintings"

He thanked the waiter for  the episodes he told and, of course,

replied politely, " I am not a Japanese, but a Korean".

More than anything else, he happily remember the sweet voice of

an old French seated facing him in the Lapin. He introduced himself 

as a retired taxi-driver  and added, " I hoped to be a poet in my

youth, You know Apolinaire?

Moon replied ," Yes, I read one of his poems, 'Le Pont Mirabeau'.

and asked smiling," Would you recite the poem here?"

Below was the first phrase of the poem he recited:

Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine
Et nos amours
Faut-il qu'il m'en souvienne
La joie venait toujours après la peine

Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
 Les jours s'en vont je demeure

............

............

 After his long journey to Europe, In Masan, his hometown he happened

to write an article on a Korean sculpture, Moon Shin who was active

as an artist in Paris.Writing the article, he once again looked back

upon Café Lapin in Montmartre. Below is a paragraph of it:

Passing by the Buddhist temple of Jungbubsa in Burimdong,

crossing the railroad,

And keep on walking up along the winding alley.

Then this alley, which will take you to get at Moon Shin Museum,

Have the brown old stone wall by one side of it,

will look like the winding uphill alley  to Montmartre,

where Utrillo of the 'ecole de Paris' lived and died.

And this will look like the uphill alley in front of Lapin

where Apolinaire and  Murger etc. haunted. 

And about Berlin and Frankfurt, his memory was relatively dim.

What is more,two things reminded of got him feel bad: the train running 

from West Berlin to Frankfurt on which the youths acted insultingly

to him, a non-white. A pension at night in Frankfurt where he was, at

his wit's end, not allowed to check in .

Strangely enough, when he was reminded of his West Germany travel,

he sometimes turned confused. Beethoven, Brahms and Surbert  etc,

the famous composers he have loved were from Germany. He remembered

that he had visit West Berlin with two purpose in his mind, one of which was

to see the Berlin Wall and the other was the Berlin Philharmonic Concert Hall

the name of which was familiar to him in love of Beethoven.In particular,

There were a lot of German literary works which exerted a beneficial influence

on him in his school days. In this regard, he often said," If I had not read

the German writers, for example, Friedrich Nietzsche, Reina Maria Rilke

or Thomas Mann  I have loved, I would not be what I am. In his memory,

he had made his mind to cr

 

Anyway It was the two factors, the little sea in his boyhood

and  a word , namely 'Bohemians' that enticed him

to go traveling, for one time seawards, and another, overseas to

Europe.