A hosteller 16s

Dear Lindsey Gearlds

Hello,
I am pleased to inform you of another good news
for the ebook of Booktango Project ID 715482,
titled Flamenco Joureny!

To my surprise,
MBC TV local here covering Kyungnam area in Korea
are sure to make me appear on television on a weekend of July
as the guest for their one-hour-long talk show program
titled Lee Man Kee Talk Show
(named after the MC who is well-known enttertainer here in Korea).

My lifestory as the author of the ebook written in English
will be the main subject for the TV talk show.

Anyway, the author of the ebook( written in English and published in USA )
probably attracted their attention.

In this relation,
the program is scheduled to be videotaped.on July in the afternoon.

Expressing my thanks to BOOKTANG,
Joon //

Preface

This book of ‘Flamenco Journey’, a hybrid of personal essay and fictional technique is mainly based on the emails which Gohk and an American dancer shared for over 10 years. Since then, he kept on his ardent companionship with her, by inviting her as a flamenco bailaora to Korea as well as, by writing poetic proses on the art of Flamenco.In particular, the writer in this work shows his deep emotion and meditation on flamenco emailed to her during his flamenco trip to the cities of Spain; Granada, Jerez, Seville, Cadis, etc.

Last year the writer made his 3rd flight to Portland, Oregon ​to meet the dancer for the purpose of consulting with her about his idea that he planned to have a couple of flamenco performances in Masan of South Korea, his hometown.  

Writing is a way of getting over the feeling of despair and pains in his mind. In this relation, he added that whenever he pondered about his style, he was reminded of the stories of two men: one is Charles Lamb, an English personal essayist and the other, Franz Schubert, the composer of the lied of 'Der Lindenbaum'.

According to Gohk, the former who tried in vain to make great novels was famous for his short essayist style, and the latter was a great composer much more brilliant in composing rylic melodies or pretty string musics than grand symphonies.

By the way, the writer has not been seen in public since then.  It was because he kept himself in isolation ​at a seaside hamlet several miles away from his hometown. Unfortunately ​he relapsed into the lung consumption he had suffered in his twenties. In fact, he is kept away from the ordinary life.

He once said that whenever he got conscious of the old sores of the tuberculosis he had suffered from in his youth, he loved to recite a poetic passage of solea, a song form of flamenco: 'Singing the pain, the pain gets forgotten.' In my conjecture, he seemed to try consciously to forget some distress hidden in his heart by writing or travelling. 

When it comes to travelling, he is the kind to go beyond the near sea familiar to him over to the exotic lands. He vaguely yearned to be a traveler getting 'the juice insider of the grape', not a tourist fed only with the 'skin of the grape. He often seemed to be put under an irresistible drive to drag him ​out of the humdrum daily routine, to snatch him away from ​the comfort and to separate him from his native language.

He would wander alone anywhere far from home, be it Portland, New York, or Paris with a simple desire to be free on the road of ​the exotic lands. one time when he stayed in Portland he worked for a hotel as a time as a part time house keeper. Another time he was tramping around Andalusian cities, particularly Granada peeping in the flamenco caves of gypsies in Sacromonte. on the other hand, staying home or walking alone, he was in the habit of murmuring to himself:  

Can I write novels? No. You can’t do it.

Write poems? No.  Probably that will not be your way.

If not so, what genre is it where I can do well?”

Such questions the writer asks himself are sure to be perceived between lines of sentences. At the writer's request, I as an old friend of his, ​took the lead in getting it published, partly by helping to translate some parts of the manuscripts into English. ​Joining Gohk for this work, I was caught ​by a line he would quoted from a flamenco cantaora and until now have wondered what it means: “When I sing as I please, I taste blood in my mouth.”

In the emails between Gohk and her I picked out ones which were expected to suit the subject of this literary work and assorted them. And I translated a couple of his essays in Korean into English, editing them.

For your information, in the story of this book there are two pronouns to indicate Gohk: the first person ‘I’ and the third person ‘he’.

In place of Gohk,

Jh

 

   

 

 

Table of contents

Preface

I. Flamenco fever

1. Room sharing

   2. Korean song fits Spanish steps

3. ay! ay! ay!

II. Leaving Portland

1. You are inspiring!

2. Morning Dew   

3. Leaving Portland

III. Cities of Flamenco

1. Bailaora flies to Korea

2. Andalusian cities of Spain

3. Flamenco Baile and bullfight

IV. A poem can be pure dance

1. Pure desire

2. The 3rd trip to Portland

3. Could Back to Heaven be deep baile!

Epilogue

*glossary

*bibliography