kamiel79

June 29. A short ode to Kafka.

For Franz K., who would have been my friend.

"Do you know what identity is?"
-"I forgot, I am sorry."
"It is having a sense of who you are. How could you forget?"
-"I... I am SORRY. I didn't INTEND to forget..."
"But you DID forget, K."
-"Is that a crime?"
"That depends, K., ...

June 28. Epochè.

There is a woman walking around at night close to where I live. I see here every time I come home. She stands near the stairs on the sidewalk of the road that curves around the Namsan mountain. She wears a mini-skirt and heavy makeup that almost make her look like a transvestite.
I don't ...

June 27. Doing what you do best.

Get up, excercise in Namsan parkTake a cold showerBuy 2 eggs for breakfast and make some coffeeWrite 3-4 hoursGo out, have lunch in a Korean-style small restaurantWrite another 3-4 hours in a caféMeet friends, have dinnerTake a bus home
Shouldn't everyboy be doing what he likes best? With zest and jest? Yest!

June 26. MJ.

Outer space, comin' in. Got some Joycean interminglings here, I'm gut at it. Get rugged again, ruggged and tough like Miller and Hemingway and thick-fingered writers with a typewriter in a suitcase with a strong smell of leather. I want more words, more sounds, braid and weave them to a napkin of language you can ...

June 25. A Nobel Writer.

I walk around the Namdaemung area, and enter the famous market. A Japanese history writer takes me into his friend's Ginseng store. He has written some books about Korean-Japanese history.
"Five books. But I still very poor."
-"Aren't most writers?"
"You will have success. Be Nobel writer."
His friend smiles. "Nobel writer." he repeats nodding ...

June 25. Pleasures.

Seoul is a city of pleasures. I mean, it's a brilliantly composed ouverture to heaven with all its incredible restaurants, comfortable private cinemas (DVD-bang), relaxing saunas, karaokebars, 24-hour-nightlife, well-kept parks, shining glass facades facing every street - and quiet Buddhist temple retreats.

I start resuscitating my hibernating writer side today, so blog entries ...

June 25. Seven Lively Sins.

Let's do nothing today! Look around a bit, peek in a bookstore, and read some theater. Walk the busy center of Seoul, observe the people moving on and off. I am shocked that Namdaemun, the "Great South Gate" has been burnt down by some lunatic protesting againt the incumbent president. It is perhaps the most ...

June 23. Seven Lively Sins.

June 22. What does Literature do?

So I live in a megalopolis again. I'm so behind with the writing I need to make long hours in fancy coffee houses here. It's hard work to keep up with the poignancy. After repeating yourself a few times, reactions will be lame and "whatever". It ages too fast. Writing that is not thought through ...