"One of the real tests of writers is how well they write about smells. If they can't describe the scent of sanctity in a church, can you trust them to describe the suburbs of the heart?"
I want to learn how to write about the scents.
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오늘 한국어 반에서 "허전함" 에 대해서 배웠다.
난 어린 애 였을때 이 감정을 처음 느꼈다.
교회가 끝나고 엄마 손을 잡고 집으로 다시 행하는 그 길...
왜 갑자기 이상한 허전함이 내 마음을 넘쳤을까?
그때 났던 생각이 지금도 기억난다...
그 감정을 처음 느꼈을때 정말 이해하기 힘들었다...
그 떠나기 싫은 느낌? 마음이 갑자기 텅 비는 그 기분
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My attempt at providing some sort of translation...
Today in Korean class we studied the word 허전함 which basically translates to "emptiness of the heart." (FYI Korean is a beautiful language that I personally believe oftentimes conveys a thousand meanings that English just simply cannot convey. Either that or I don't fully understand the etymology of enough English vocabulary...) Anyway, I remember when I first encountered this emotion as a young kid. It is memorable because I actually remember the moment feeling this weird emptiness. It was as my dad was pulling our car away from the family retreat site. I looked behind to steal my last glance at our cabin, it was 3 nights of just pure fun while the adults did service. I can't even remember what was so fun about that retreat but I remember that exact moment. I remember not wanting to leave. It's a trivial matter, one that makes me laugh in hindsight. I didn't know what the word was, or how to describe the feelings in my 7-year-old heart. At the time it just seemed like I was having so much fun there and I knew that if I went home I wouldn't have as much fun.
I still get this feeling sometimes. It's like when you're having a really great time with someone and then the night comes to an end. 허전함.
Or when you expect something to happen, and then it doesn't. 허전함.
Or when you had the perfect dream, and then you wake up. 허전함.
And sometimes, it's just the smallest thing that you wouldn't expect to leave you feeling so 허전해 and then it surprises you...
you made me want to read a korean book. do you know of any simple reads?
ReplyDeleteemptiness...i would say that would be my season right now. but i actually wanted to change that mindset today and so i wrote a blog post about it. yessss
good post
i think 허전함 means more "the feeling of lacking something". that might show a different side of the word than "emptiness" because it implies that something was SUPPOSED to be there, but isn't? :p
ReplyDeleteiono. but yeah. thanks for sharing!! :)
you're right, that's the more accurate description of the word, and it's how i meant it to be used here too. it describes the absence of something that used to/should be there.
ReplyDeletethanks for the clarification! :]
and as for simple korean reads...there are some short stories, one i'm reading right now (super short) but also very famous & well known in Korea is one called "소나기" the descriptions are super well written....i wonder if you can find a copy online?
"And sometimes, it's just the smallest thing that you wouldn't expect to leave you feeling so 허전해 and then it surprises you..."
ReplyDeleteso. true. :/