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POST-IMPRESSIONISM and a RELIC of LOVE and PRAYERS  (An Essay on my Writing Life)

     I have long been beholden to Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters and writers, although my knowledge of them is no deeper than shallow water.

     Besides my innate Korean sensibility, I am a peripatetic writer who owes her literary style and voice, if any, to Impressionism and Post-impressionism, to their sublime colors of nature, free but measured strokes of brush, and the artist’s fearless sense of freedom to express their feelings in their sublime paintings.

     I have written poems and stories that are strung together from the impressions taken in the fleeting moments of my humble life in New York City and elsewhere, about memories of my beloved family in S. Korea I left decades ago with undying love, about the drama of human existence I witnessed in my adopted country, some embellished and fictionalized in my poems, stories, and a novel, Nayoung's Age - A Story of Love and Courage.

     “Nayoung’s Journey” is partly based on true events, about a courageous young Korean woman who embarks on her fateful journey of love and trauma, from Seoul to Hamburg, to New York in 1960’s, and to her ancestral legend of a wind-bell in Old Korea, to reclaim her lost American dream.

     Although partly based on true situations, many were written in my head while I roamed around, often trying to figure out why certain words or chapters don’t seem to blend into to the story as seamlessly as an artist’s fluid brush stroke, or trying to tame my protagonist’s raw anger over the well-connected perpetrator walking free of charge; or, was it my anger? If so, how can I mitigate it in the way suitable to my protagonist who is much younger than my brittle age, only with so much more courage and grace despite her pain and trauma at such a young age!

     Here I must go back to more than half a century when I received a box of books from an American lady who used to teach us English when I was about to enter a college. There were in the box well-used editions of “Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoevsky, a book by Kipling, a book of Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and “Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorn, which became the lifelong inspiration for my dream to be a writer. I remember sending her a long “Thank You” letter before a decade would pass, then lose contact.

     Besides English and literature as my major in Kyung Hee University in Seoul, I also took French on a beginner's level, but it brought me a universe of French arts, literature, chansons, and subsequently to Impressionism and Post-impressionism, eventually to literary fiction I read in English.

     They say Impressionism captures fleeting moments and sensory experiences, and Impressionist artists would paint in plain air for many hours at a time to capture the shifting light.

     So I walk and paint with my words in plain air, air the story in the passing breeze, lay it down in the toasty sun, and set it to the rhythm of my solitary footsteps, sometimes coloring it in dawn-pink for the hopes and dreams of my protagonist, and pewter-gray for her dark days that seem never-ending, waiting for her to come of age one bright day.
Fast forward, metaphorically speaking, that is how my novel, Nayoung's Journey, has been written, for which, most cordially, I am seeking representation.

     In the picture posted above are some of my treasured books that survived the passage of time, which I placed on the white shawl crocheted by my mother in her waning days, which has now become the relic of her love and prayers she sent while I was weaving the story of “Nayoung’s Journey” with unwavering courage, resilience, and the memory of her love.

Written and Copyright by © Therese Young Kim

About books displayed in the picture:

"MONET, A Retrospective" By Charles F. Stuckey, Beaux Arts Edition
"Claude Monet focused on light. To capture the effects of natural light….depicting everyday scenes and landscapes with vibrant and lively colors. Reflected fleeting moments, used bright vibrant lights." ~ From “MONET” ~

"Impressionists in France" By G.F. Hartlaub, The Uffici Press, Milan

"The Illustrated History of Art" By David Piper, Crescent Books, New York Avenel, New Jersey

"The Poet's Guide to Life: The Wisdom of Rilke" Published by Modern Library (An imprint of Penguin Random House in 2005)

"Baudelaire, Paris Spleen," New Directions Publishing Corporation

“Which one of us, in his moments of ambition, has not dreamed of the miracle of a poetic prose, musical, without rhythm and without rhyme, supple enough and rugged enough to adapt itself to the lyrical impulses of the soul, the undulations of reverie, the jibes of conscience?” ~From “To Arsene Houssaye” in the prologue of “Paris Spleen” ~1869 by Charles Baudelaire
“The Story of a Soul” St. Therese of Lisieux, Translated & Edited by Robert J. Edmonson, Paraclete Press

A Book of Prose by a Korean Writer, Moh, Youn-Sook, "렌의 애가 -Wren's Elegy" in Korean

"Eternal Images of Sakyamuni" By art historian Kang Woo-bang, Published by The Korea Foundation

"천송이 목련화 - A Thousand Magnolias," A Book of Poems, Prose, Stories, with Images, Written by Therese Young Kim, Published by Daewonsa Publishing in Seoul, Korea

Photo by ©Therese Young Kim

None of Therese Young Kim’s  work is AI-generated.

All Rights Reserved

David pour Homme In the Manhattan theatre district a man walks up the street in his sleek black coat and tall riding boots, a black Labrador strutting alongside him                              in silent rumba. Sun-bronzed and angular like a Roman bust, his russet hair tumbling around broad shoulders                        he walks in my direction. A stage actor, perhaps, memorizing his lines to the beat and motion of the canine walk. Wide brown eyes peering into the void of time, he looks like                      Michelangelo's naked David. Clattering heels like a horse's hooves, the man with a black Labrador passes me by leaving me a whiff of                              David pour Homme. Written by ©Therese Young Kim infinite gratitude to Richard Merli and the Editors at October Hill Magazine for publishing the above poem in the OHM Spring 2020 Issue. Posted March 7, 2024, ©Therese Young Kim Therese Young Kim YouTube Channel

©Therese Young Kim

Dear Readers:

A pleasant hello to you this lovely summer evening!

It’s been nearly half a year since I wrote to you. How time rushes by, turning one moment’s episode into a memory, only to be eclipsed by the next in such an alarming succession! So many tragic tales seem to have washed ashore in the digital wave and still unfolding; however, there were also tales of incredible human spirit of courage and goodness as well.

As you may notice, I’ve posted some new texts and images, in which I’d like to highlight a poem, Katrina’s Child, in the Poetry Page, in remembrance of the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Quite a meagre one, but humbly, I’d like to dedicate the poem to the hungry and displaced people around the world, especially the children.

I believe that each day we wake up to its unique color, sound, image or smell. But in my personal level, I’d like to remember this summer as the time when my beloved Umma (Mama) had passed away 30 years ago, leaving me her incredibly soft and warm hand in my grasp, which has been burning like eternal candlelight in my memory.

Last but not least, it’s been a year since my website, Your Sentimental Stranger, was launched, and I extend my special thanks to Earthlink Web Maintenance and other talented members for their wonderful services.

Dear Readers, thank you so much for your visit and I hope you enjoy occasional moments of quiet pleasure as well as the flowers of life plucked from my little garden of writing.

Again, thank you so very much and I wish you a glorious season in excellent health and peace!

Most gratefully,
Your Sentimental Stranger
August 2015
© Therese Young Kim

San Diego Sun over Ihop porch, San Diego

Tea & Pottery House (Sam Hwa Ryung) Insadong, Seoul

Hanok (Traditional Korean Home) Latticed Windows, The Folk Village Museum, Seoul

Village Guardian Spirits, The Folk Village Museum, Seoul

Village Shrine, The Folk Village Museum, Seoul

Grass Growing under the Eaves, The Folk Village Museum, Seoul	Terrace Behind Latticed Window, Insadong, Seoul	Flower & Garden Statue Shop, Insadong, Seoul	Kimchi & Soysauce Jars, The Folk Village Museum, Seoul	Palace Wall, Duksoo Palace, Seoul	Summer Window, Volga Restaurant, Insadong, Seoul
Hanok Tea Room, Insadong, Seoul	Pavillion on the Pond, Changduk Palace, Seoul	Hanok Tea House, Seoul	Hanok Rooms & Floors, The Folk Village Museum, Seoul	The Other Canary, Volga Restaurant, Insadong, Seoul	A dancing racoon, Central Park

Photo Journal from my Journey Home in Seoul and more;

September 2015 © Therese Young Kim

		St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Dear Readers, your questions or comments posted here will be kindly honored.

Thank you.