Hardly War

by Don Mee Choi

Hardly War , Don Mee Choi's major second collection, defies history, national identity, and militarism. Using artifacts from Choi's father, a professional photographer during the Korean and Vietnam wars, she combines memoir, image, and opera to explore her paternal relationship and heritage. Here poetry and geopolitics are inseparable twin sisters, conjoined to the belly of a warring empire. Like fried potato chips – I believe so,
utterly so – The hush-hush proving
ground was utterly proven as history –
Hardly=History – I believe so, eerily so
– hush hush – Now watch this
performance – Bull's-eye – An uncanny
human understanding on target –
Absolute=History – loaded with
terrifying meaning – The Air Force
doesn't say, hence Ugly=Narration – Don Mee Choi is the author of The Morning News Is Exciting (Action Books, 2010), and translator of contemporary Korean women poets. She has received a Whiting Writers Award and the 2012 Lucien Stryk Translation Prize. Her translation of Kim Hyesoon's Sorrowtoothpaste Mirrorcream (Action Books, 2014) was a finalist for the 2015 PEN Poetry in Translation Award. She was born in Seoul and came to the United States via Hong Kong. She now lives in Seattle, Washington.

Genres: Poetry, War, Asian American, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Womens, Literature

112 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 2016

About the author

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Don Mee Choi is the author of DMZ Colony (Wave Books, 2020), Hardly War (Wave Books, 2016), The Morning News Is Exciting (Action Books, 2010), and several chapbooks and pamphlets of poems and essays. She has received a Whiting Award, Lannan Literary Fellowship, Lucien Stryk Translation Prize, and DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Fellowship. She has translated several collections of Kim Hyesoon's poetry, including Autobiography of Death (New Directions, 2018), which received the 2019 International Griffin Poetry Prize.

Reviews

[Queralt✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't necessarily a fan of this. I think I could've spent more time thinking about the poems, but the meaning of most was pretty direct (I am sure I missed a lot, though). The usage of children's songs and stuff was really nice and I am a fan of chapter 18 because it made me chuckle.

I loved that there was a recurrent bit where Choi would write "무궁화 꽃이 피었습니다” (mugunghwa kkochi piotsseumnida) and then said she refused to translate - after Squid Game, does this even require translation? Just sing it out loud a couple of times and you know what it is and, in a war context, what it means (I guess).

[Ronald Morton · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I was growing up in Hong Kong, I saw more of my father’s photographs than of my father because he was always away in various war zones. He would bring back photographs of the wars he saw, then leave again. He also left us a map, a wall-sized map of Southeast Asia, framed and hung above our dining table, so we could track him across Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. What I am attempting to do with my poems and my father’s photographs is what I used to do as a child when I stared at my father’s photographs and maps. I’m trying to imagine race=nation, its language, its wars. I am trying to fold race into geopolitics and geopolitics into poetry. Hence, geopolitical poetics. lt involves disobeying history, severing its ties to power. It strings together the faintly remembered, the faintly imagined, the faintly discarded, which is to say race=nation gets to speak its own faint history in its own faint language. Its mere umbilical cord is hardly attached to anything at all. Hence, hardly=war.

Combining her father's photographs, artifacts from her youth, an unmailed postcard, historical references, pop culture quotations, and snippets of interviews with her father, Don Mee Choi has crafted an intimate exploration of biography (both personal and paternal), of war, and of the collide between western and eastern culture. The book hopscotches between collage and verse and prose poetry, creates and builds motifs and recurring themes across works, and slowly builds a referential vocabulary of its own.

Truthfully I'm likely only mapping out the edges here, and probably need to read it more than twice to unpack all that's going on, but there is a dense structure underlying this fairly sparse work, where the verbal and non-verbal elements have a volume of meaning left to unpack.

[juch · Rating 3 out of 5]

The way adverbs and equations functioned in this was cool. Both are like equivocation, or transference, the actors of violence slipping from Japan to US to DPRK or ROK itself. Rly interesting and sad the idea of the neocolonys colony, the ROK troops sent to Vietnam

I found this interesting but didn’t rly find it beautiful? The childlike/crude language and humor feels more rich in don mee Choi’s translations of Kim hyesoon. I found the flat prose most beautiful, the context about her father’s photography and story. But I guess she’s trying to trouble the idea of beauty or whatever, beauty=nation (I get it), beauty smth seen from above, applied to smth objectified

[Micah Winters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hardly War belongs to that class of contemporary poetry with which I tend to find more in common with contemporary gallery art than traditional poetics, as such. By this, I mean (1) that it is as much an aesthetic and visual artifact as a linguistic one, (2) that it cultivates an aura of oblique affect rather than concentrated moments of poignancy, and (3) that it leans into fragmentation so far as to blur the lines of conventional notions of literature. It feels installation-like. Admittedly, this framework is a roughly and hastily composed one, insufficient and of little real use, but in it I'm searching for a way to think about works such as this and, to mention another notable collection which feels akin to it, Solmaz Sharif's Look. All that to say, Don Mee Choi's work here, regardless of my muddled attempts of categorization, draws out meaningful, appropriately obscured considerations of the geopolitical conflicts her life and identity inextricably enmeshes her within. And it sure makes one reconsider one's use of adverbs! It's a book that fits aptly alongside the work of Viet Tanh Nguyen (especially Nothing Ever Dies) and Rithy Panh (especially The Missing Picture) as a multimodal exploration of war, memory, and image from a Southeast Asian diasporic positionality.

[𓆩♡𓆪 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vilken jävla KING hon är
Oootroligt bra efterord också

[Gregory Duke]

I want to read Mirror Nation, so I thought, since it seems Don Mee Choi has written a sort of trilogy, that I'd read this (having already read DMZ Colony) in preparation for her new work. Thought this was awful. Collage abstractions with very little heft. I'm not enamored by the thematics nor am I alluded by any sense of style that sings. It all appears rather crude, like she's clamoring for experimental sheen, but it much of it reads juvenilely or as simply boring.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

stunning very experimental / mixed media reminds me of theresa chas dictee

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Focusing on war (through her father's experience), translation, nationality, and flowers.

I think Choi does a lot of things very well. I liked the use of adverbs and children's songs. The wordplay was often great and provided a contrast to the seriousness of the effort. I guess her own innocence as she wasn't there for her father's experiences.

The look on translation was interesting. Some part like 18=sepal were jokes that required you to know some Korean. 18=십팔= fuck. Other jokes written in English could never be translated. Parts of "Hardly Opera" seemed to focus in on this language barrier.

For me the peak was "Daisy Serenade".

Ultimately I don't think that the message was conveyed very effectively or coherently. At times it seemed more style than substance, which may have been her intent.

Lots of references. "The Manchurian Candidate", "Wars I Have Seen", "Deer Hunter", "Pork-Chop Hill". Even US political commercials ("Daisy" '64). Also lots of old newsreels and academic writing.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review for the New York Times Book Review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/boo...

[Wuttipol✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woe Are You?

It was hardly war, the hardliest of wars. Hardly, hardly. It occurred to me that this
particular war was hardly war because of kids, more kids, those poor kids. The kids
were hungry until we GIs fed them. We dusted them with DDT. Hardly done. Reha-
bilitation of Korea, that is. It needs chemical fertilizer from the States, power to build
things like a country. In the end it was the hardliest of wars made up of bubble gum,
which GIs had to show those kids how to chew. In no circumstance whatever can
man be comfortable without art. They don’t want everlasting charity, and we are not
giving it to them. We are just lending them a hand until they can stand on their own
two feet. A novel idea. This is why it occurred to me that this particular war was
hardly war, the hardliest of wars.

My father was hardly himself during the war, then I was born during the era that
hardly existed, and, therefore, I hardly existed without DDT. Beauty is pleasure re-
garded as the quality of a thing. I prefer a paper closet with real paper dresses in
it. To be born hardly, hardly after the hardliest of wars, is a matter of debate. Still
going forward. We are, that is. Napalm again. This is THE BIG PICTURE. War and its
masses. War and its men. War and its machines. Together we form THE BIG PIC-
TURE. From Korea to Germany, from Alaska to Puerto Rico. All over the world, the
US Army is on the alert to defend our country, you the people, against aggression.
This is THE BIG PICTURE, an official television report to the nation from the army.
This is Korea! Is one thing better than another? These South Koreans are all right.
Woe is you, woe is war, hardly war, woe is me, woe are you? My father is still alive,
and this is how I came to prefer a paper closet with real paper dresses in it.

Well, it’s morning in Korea. The most violently mountainous place on Earth. Every-
one has been dusted, existence hardly done, whereas beauty has been regarded as
the quality of a thing. At Uncle Dann’s Huddle doughnuts and coffee are free and in
case there are any, for there are many, the unescorted ladies are not permitted. The
decision has been made in Tokyo for the hardliest of wars, an old soldier made it.
The situation in Korea is so critical that we the Navy must give the Eighth Army prac-
tical support. Do you remember how you began this day? How did you spend this
morning? Woe are you? Well, pinecones fall every day. So why do we fail? Miles and
miles of homeless refugees set adrift by the Red scourge.

[Dree · Rating 2 out of 5]

This poetry collection is the predecessor to Choi's DMZ Colony, which won the 2020 NBA for Poetry.

The themes in the two books are similar--war, her father's work as a South Korean photojournalist in Korea and for Korea during the Vietnam War. And this one started off in a promising way, mocking news reports (American? Korean?) that considered the Korean War (and maybe the Vietnam War too?) as being "hardly war".

But I did not enjoy this one nearly as much. Again there is untranslated Korean which is only briefly explained in the notes, and there are puns using numbers--which are puns in Korean, not English. But there are a LOT of flowers mentioned here. Flowers edited into photos as leaders' faces. A mention that her father only photographs flowers now (is this true?).

There are no red hydrangeas, so what does a red hydrangea represent? Azaleas, daisies, crocuses, rose of Sharon (which is mentioned as being South Korea's national flower, I think?), fosythias, and more. I know what these flowers look like, but I really didn't understand what Choi was getting at. (Traditional meanings (in what tradition?)? Wordplay in Korean? Do all these flowers references make sense if you are Korean? Korean American? Well-read in poetry?

I think this one pretty much went over my head.

[Lyra Montoya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had a lot more trouble reading this one than the other poetry collections I read recently. I still really liked it though. Currently puzzling over the positioning of both the refusal to translate in the early pages with a collection of notes and context for images in a brief description section at the end of the book.

The use of +,-,= in text were really interesting to me, especially in how I would try to switch up how I would vocalize them (=, equals, is , are, etc.) The pictures and images and words all felt interlocked with one another in a really deliberate manner. the various beauty=nation and other equivalences gave a really distinct affect of participatory substitution as the reader when one of the portions of the equivalency appeared. "Blouse" seemed to appear particularly often to evoke this affect.

Planning to read the following books in the series will probably take a short break before starting the next one.

[Tarredion · Rating 5 out of 5]

En underbar liten vinjett och inblick i en barndom, en fars onåbara liv, och Koreas historia!

Jag har bara några få Notes: Trots att innehåll och form är engagerande är det på gränsen till en femma för mig. Inte hundra procent min favoritdikt / på min våglängd för ett så högt betyg. MEN kvalitén, formgivning och design för den här upplagan slår definitivt högt! Mitt hjärta bultar bara jag tänker på det !! Så skön att hålla i handen, bekväm trots sin icke-traditionella storlek, exceptionell layout på sidan och så så vackert omslag och grafik genom hela. Jättebra samspel med texten också — typsnittet, alltså, wow. Absolute Perfection både estetiskt och för läsningens lätthet.

Så värd att läsa. Och jag kan tillägga att språket och formen i första halvan är enklare och mer prosalyriskt, dvs väldigt lättillgängligt även om man inte vanligtvis läser dikt .. o informativt. Definitivt.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

Some of my favourite lines:

I refuse to translate

~

I eventually became a foreigner
I no longer pretend to write in English
Because English is a foreigner like me
But I still pretend to be a foreigner - O rubbish!
Because that is what I am in English

~

Translate me and I'll kill you

I feel like I need to know more about international history after reading this.
This book is so necessary, I'm grateful two people recommended it to me. It was a huge (aesthetic) inspiration for one of my portfolio collections.

I want to read Yi Sang's poetry now.

PS: getting to finish reading this book on International Book's Day in the park with one of my favourite people was amazing <3

[Venneh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of Don Mee Choi’s first works that isn’t her translating someone else’s work, and mainly focuses on her father’s experiences in the Korean War. This one was a bit harder for me to follow, mainly due to knowing only vague outline information about the Korean War. Probably the most interesting piece in here is Hardly Opera, which tackles her father’s experience through the form of Chinese opera and the use of flower language to refer to things like Johnson’s Daisy Girl ad, Gertrude Stein, the Republic of Korea’s flag, and others (which I only really understood after reading the end notes) to talk about her father’s experience in the war as a reporter. Definitely worth a look through.

[sameera · Rating 2 out of 5]

only giving this two stars unfortunately… although this probably has more to do with the whole book going way over my head, rather than the quality of the author’s writing itself! the poetry/prose and mixed-media elements are very experimental (and I think the book would have benefited with footnotes added to each page to explain each entry, rather than being compiled in a notes section at the end). i’ve seen the authors previous book, dmz colony, in bookshops before and was always intrigued by it, so i’m glad i finally attempted to read/understand her work at least once!

[Levi · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF @ page 45

I really wanted to like this collection. Usually experimental / multi-media poetry really speaks to me but this collection just fell flat for me. I don't know why exactly, perhaps it's because the individual lines weren't interesting enough to carry my attention for how experimental it is?

I am sure this book will speak to someone else, like I can see it's value and I love it on a conceptual level, but it's just not for me.

[Hyesol Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The closed logics (of a power’s) grammar can surpass language itself. Don mee Choi’s Hardly War is built on errors, disruptions and a whole lot of korean wordplay (that I couldn’t decipher immediately)- using her writing as a force to expose the grammatology of the US-Korean/Korean-US empire. Thinking about Cha and Stein,,,,, thinking about Baudrillard and Deleuze,,,,, also thinking about my zine that I made a year ago😅

Too much thinking. I am going to go look at my album of flowers.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A meditation on the Korean War and the aftermath of colonial control and a puppet-government; this book isn’t for the feint. A brutal text that slips between bombs and flowers, deploying vernacular/colloquial to ruthlessly skewer the colonial forces (Japanese, American and Soviet) that destroyed Korea.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Don Mee Choi’s collage form quite a bit, but DMZ Colony did a lot more for me in terms of meaning-making. I’d appreciate if this came with more supplementary material, to help fill in the gaps.

[Gus Tringale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry book #2! Very dope very cool. This is what I am looking for. Sooo many little references that I could spend years trying to decode all of it. I always wanted to learn more about the “forgotten war.” What better way to learn about it than this geopolitical poetry/memoir/photo album!

[Michalina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,25 stars

[Cooper Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as unified and powerful as DMZ Colony, but still very fine.

[Yu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully written poems about war, Don Mee's father and a complicated complex with ROK. So inspiring! For readers who love poetry, reading inspirational poem as well as innovative poetic arts!

[Angela Wang]

Read excerpts for ENGL 141 Introduction to World Literature at UNC-Chapel Hill.
P2-4
P10
P20
P26-27

[Ted · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hardly understandable.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

i wept instantly upon reading page 1
idk if this hits if ur not korean
last section, the opera, was a bit challenging for me as a new reader lol

[Farah Farooq · Rating 2 out of 5]

please don't get too experimental, i don't know how to read and understand poetry

[Farah Lim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A poetic take on Korean war. Not bad but not really my type of book.

[Urvashi · Rating 5 out of 5]

red white and blue has never been uglier