[A Sip of a Book] AnA Vol.2: We Care for Each Other

Some sentences encapsulate the entire content of the book itself, while others instantly reach the reader's heart, creating a point of connection with the book. We present meaningful sentences excerpted from the book. - Editor's note

This is a collection of works by eight next-generation artists selected by the Arts Council Korea (ARKO) Korean Art Creation Academy. It is the second book in the 'AnA Series,' planned and introduced in collaboration with the literary magazine ‘Axt,’ featuring not only poetry and novels but also interviews, essays, photographic works, popular culture critiques, and reviews. This year's protagonists are eight writers: novelists Gu Hyekyung, Kim Jiyeon, Kim Hong, Park Gangsan, Jeong Eunwoo, and poets Kim Geonyoung, Seo Hojun, and Yuk Hosu. These are beautiful writings born from the shapes of things encountered in life by those who have decided to sustain their lives through literature, waiting for readers.

Happiness and pain coexist. To be happy, we must humbly accept pain. Must we suffer to be happy? One might want to question this indignantly. One might want to ask why it must be so. But there is no way to explain. It is because, just as when we love, we are happy and hurt, hurt and happy, life is the same. Like the warp threads (vertical threads) arranged in parallel intersecting with the weft threads (horizontal threads) at right angles to weave a single fabric, life is like that. So even if we know the end, we cannot help it. We must live inevitably. Happily and painfully.

Blue-haired Ares grows on the dobba I sat on. I regarded it as a potted plant. But it was looking at me first, and somehow it seemed to be moving little by little toward the barn. With the blade-like hair texture of 1990s Japanese animation style. Finally, it has come here, and thinking it can rest now, blue-haired Ares withdraws its vitality. Today, dust has settled. Even such a small change is both frightening and delightful.

AnA Vol.2: We Care for Each Other | Gu Hyekyung et al. | Eunhaengnamu | 560 pages | 15,000 KRW