Ha Jong-o: Elderly people

We are entering an age of older people. No one disputes that we live in an era when people can reach 100. Although the pace varies by region, the rapid growth of the older population is a global trend, likely resulting from advances in medicine and greater economic prosperity. An age of longevity may certainly be a blessing. At the same time, it draws attention to various challenges society has not yet prepared to address. It is also discussed as the negative phenomenon our society experiences as the ‘problem’ of older people. Thus population aging, both a ‘blessing and a problem,’ is an unavoidable major topic in our society. This raises the question of how Korean literature has responded to aging and the issues it brings. It is difficult to find poems or novels in which older people are central characters. At such a time, poet Ha Jong-oh asks, ‘There are quite a few older poets in Korean poetry, yet there are hardly any poems about old people. Why don’t older poets write poems with old people as their subjects and themes?’ His question is directed at Korean literary circles and at himself. With his collection The Old People, the poet also offers a practical and literary answer. Now in his seventies, Ha Jong-oh has ample reason to draw attention with his forty-third collection. The poet says the title, ‘no-in-ryu’ is a coined expression with two meanings: ‘old humanity’ and ‘a group of older people.’ He created it to distinguish older people as a particular humanity at a time when their numbers are increasing in an aging society.

Korean title: 노인류

Korean author: 하종오

Korean publisher: b

ISBN-13: 9791192986234