De Zuidkoreaanse schrijver Yi Mun-yol werd geboren op 18 mei 1948 in Yongyang. Zie ook alle tags voor Yi Mun-yol op dit blog.
Uit: The Old Hatter (Vertaald door Brother Anthony van Taizé)
“The first encounter between our clan’s urchins and the horsehair-hat maker, Top’yo”g, took place one summer on a market day toward the end of my childhood. To be sure, his modest hat shop had stood there for as long as we could remember, but we no more noticed it than the pebbles on the shores of our creek or the grass in the shade of our valley. However, we happened to discover that horsehair, being strong and nearly transparent, was excellent for hanging bait in a squirrel trap or making cicada nets. After this momentous discovery, we would go to his shop almost every market day for horsehair. For children without money like us–it was before Korean parents gave their children regular allowances–the only way to get what we needed was to steal. In the childish parlance of the day, we “snatched” it.
Of course, old man Top’yo”g didn’t just put himself at our mercy. But we were tireless, and having neither toys nor recreational facilities, we needed horsehair badly. Old man Top’yo”g was bound to be defeated by our brilliant tactics.
On days when the old man tried to drive us away, believing he had safely hidden his horsehair, we took more of it than was necessary. Our tactic was to start a conversation with him on topics like “the day Venerable Hahoe came back without his topknot.” He was sure to get excited and hotly denounce the impious act of the late clan elder, failing to notice what was going on around him. Meanwhile, our commandos circled around to the back of the shop and snatched some horsehair. It took us a decade to understand why the anecdote so excited and infuriated the old man, but we were clever enough to use the circumstance to our advantage.
Even on days when the old man generously handed each of us horsehair not good enough for him but quite usable for us, he would still lose good horsehair, though in somewhat smaller quantity. On such days we would effusively express our gratitude and insist on helping him, blowing on the glue stove until the shop floor was covered with white ash or scrawling with our crayons on his ridiculously small and humble signboard, which said “Horsehair hats and headbands for sale. Repairs also done.” He would then scowl at us and click his tongue in disapproval, but always ended up handing out superior grade hair.”
Yi Mun-yol (Yongyang, 18 mei 1948)
De Duitse dichter en schrijver Markus Breidenich werd geboren in Düren op 18 mei 1972. Zie ook alle tags voor Markus Breidenich op dit blog.
Thermostatisch I
Wij radiatoren. Dragen sporen
van olie in de poriën. Binnenkort verlichten
luchtbevochtigers de droogtijd.
Adderhuid, die in de Namib over het
zand jaagt. Ongetwijfeld stormachtig ook
wij stropen de vacht van een zebra.
Dit retro-uiterlijk tussen de ribben.
Gepiep en geritsel in de wind.
Vertaald door Frans Roumen
Markus Breidenich (Düren, 18 mei 1972)
Zie voor nog meer schrijvers van de 18e mei ook mijn blog van 18 mei 2022 en ook mijn blog van 18 mei 2020 en eveneens mijn blog van 18 mei 2019 en ook mijn blog van 18 mei 2018 en eveneens mijn blog van 18 mei 2014 deel 2.
