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Hysteria
Poetry. Asian & Asian American Studies. Edited by Joyelle McSweeney and Johannes Göransson. Translated by Jake Levine, Soeun Seo, and Hedgie Choi. Kim Yideum's second collection to appear in English continues to evoke the grotesqueries of her first work, while simultaneously delving further into the materiality of everyday life. Through an overflowing that echoes fellow feminist poet Kim Hyesoon, and a blunt, down to earth language that is unique to the poems, HYSTERIA rides through the surface of wage labor, patriarchy, and subsistence, proceeding through a variety of personas, human and otherwise, along an intensity that demands to be seen as it is, to be taken at face value.
105 pages, Paperback
First published August 11, 2014
6 people are currently reading
269 people want to read
About the author
Kim Yideum
4 books19 followersKim Yi-deum was born in Jinju, South Korea and raised in Busan. She studied German literature at Pusan National University, and earned her doctoral degree in Korean literature at Gyeongsang National University. She made her literary debut when the quarterly journal Poesie published “The Bathtubs” (욕조 a에서 달리는 욕조 A를 지나) and six other poems in its Fall 2001 Issue. Her poems have attracted attention for their sensual imagination and violence.
Kim was a radio host for “Kim Yi-deum’s Monday Poetry Picks” (김이듬의 월요시선), which aired on KBS Radio Jinju. In 2012, she spent a semester at the Free University of Berlin as a writer in residence, sponsored by Arts Council Korea. Based on her experience there, she wrote her fourth poetry collection Bereulin, dalemui norae (베를린, 달렘의 노래 Song of Berlin, Dahlem), published by Lyric Poetry and Poetics in 2013. She also participated in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.
Kim was a radio host for “Kim Yi-deum’s Monday Poetry Picks” (김이듬의 월요시선), which aired on KBS Radio Jinju. In 2012, she spent a semester at the Free University of Berlin as a writer in residence, sponsored by Arts Council Korea. Based on her experience there, she wrote her fourth poetry collection Bereulin, dalemui norae (베를린, 달렘의 노래 Song of Berlin, Dahlem), published by Lyric Poetry and Poetics in 2013. She also participated in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 6, 2021
A review of Hysteria by Yideum Kim
Translated by Jack Levine, Soeun Seo, & Hedgie Choi
#review_k_literature
I teach creative writing (specifically poetry) to high school juniors and seniors and Hysteria is a book they would devour. Yideum Kim’s chapbook opens with this bang: “Shit. What’s this expensive dish? I didn’t order this” (1). Throughout the next 104 pages, Yideum Kim opens the “garden of [her] mind” in wide-ranging formats, from stanzas and prose poems to vignettes.
In “The Pleasure of Not Knowing,” Yideum Kim writes that “Really, it’s none of my business. Really, more than half of what I think about has nothing to do with me” (24). But somehow she presents her poems and stories in a way that makes them my business; she makes her words have everything to do with me, through stories of love interests, through menstruation, through poetry and family history. Her poems are about both of our lives, mundane and horrific; surprising and entertaining; shocking and sedate.
Jake Levine, in his translator’s note, writes that Kim’s “poems are often intentionally excessive, awkward and irrational...She uses long accumulations of adjectives, excessive adverbs. The speaker interrupts herself in thought. Contradicts. Uses naugthy puns.” These are the cornerstones of both literature and life: seeing the mundane in the extraordinary, the contradictions in the similar.
I have an affinity for poems of contradiction; these pieces call me to multiple readings, to discover and unfold nuanced layers. One of my favorite poems is by Hye In Lee—a high school student who wrote “A Kisaeng’s Sijo” (which won second place in the 2019 Sejong Writing Competition). Like Hye In Lee did in her poem, Kim’s poems, call me to return, to discover a deeper subtlety, a more artful craft. How tickled I was, then, to find a poem referencing kisaeng in “Country Whore”.
Kisaeng can be seen as a contradiction: controlled by men, yet also ambassadors for their own independence and art. Korean culture insists that the kisaeng is not a prostitute. And conversely, all prostitutes claim they are kisaeng (lifting their status, but tarnishing true kisaeng). In “Country Whore”, Kim’s father says her family lineage shows no kisaeng. Although scholars suggest the number of kisaeng working as prostitutes is exaggerated, they agree these young women (often teenagers) were highly skilled in poetry, dance, music and art. For her father to deny any kisaeng, he perhaps is also denying Kim’s own pain or valediction. It makes me wonder about the stories told in my family, both true and exaggerated, filled with contradictions and inconsistencies.
It would feel incomplete to say Yideum Kim’s Hysteria is successful because she tells emotional stories; or because she is thought-provoking, visual, and culturally significant; her poems are all of these things and thus deeply connect with readers.
Although she writes, “I don’t understand why this poem is good just like how I don’t understand why name brand bags are expensive. Not. At. All,” (67), I get why her book of poems is good; Yideum Kim is entertaining, jarring and surprising, in the most perfect way.
One of my favorite poems (“Fan Letter”) is about fan letters she receives: all from the penitentiary. Yet, she writes, “I don’t want to be treated like a poet only criminals are into.”
Although Yideum Kim is halfway across the world from me, I feel she and I are kindred spirits, destined to be friends. I should send her a fan letter, just so she receives one from a person who’s not incarcerated. Or maybe, after I share her poetry with my students, they too will feel more alive and uniquely present in the world—and inspired to write her fan letters of their own.
Translated by Jack Levine, Soeun Seo, & Hedgie Choi
#review_k_literature
I teach creative writing (specifically poetry) to high school juniors and seniors and Hysteria is a book they would devour. Yideum Kim’s chapbook opens with this bang: “Shit. What’s this expensive dish? I didn’t order this” (1). Throughout the next 104 pages, Yideum Kim opens the “garden of [her] mind” in wide-ranging formats, from stanzas and prose poems to vignettes.
In “The Pleasure of Not Knowing,” Yideum Kim writes that “Really, it’s none of my business. Really, more than half of what I think about has nothing to do with me” (24). But somehow she presents her poems and stories in a way that makes them my business; she makes her words have everything to do with me, through stories of love interests, through menstruation, through poetry and family history. Her poems are about both of our lives, mundane and horrific; surprising and entertaining; shocking and sedate.
Jake Levine, in his translator’s note, writes that Kim’s “poems are often intentionally excessive, awkward and irrational...She uses long accumulations of adjectives, excessive adverbs. The speaker interrupts herself in thought. Contradicts. Uses naugthy puns.” These are the cornerstones of both literature and life: seeing the mundane in the extraordinary, the contradictions in the similar.
I have an affinity for poems of contradiction; these pieces call me to multiple readings, to discover and unfold nuanced layers. One of my favorite poems is by Hye In Lee—a high school student who wrote “A Kisaeng’s Sijo” (which won second place in the 2019 Sejong Writing Competition). Like Hye In Lee did in her poem, Kim’s poems, call me to return, to discover a deeper subtlety, a more artful craft. How tickled I was, then, to find a poem referencing kisaeng in “Country Whore”.
Kisaeng can be seen as a contradiction: controlled by men, yet also ambassadors for their own independence and art. Korean culture insists that the kisaeng is not a prostitute. And conversely, all prostitutes claim they are kisaeng (lifting their status, but tarnishing true kisaeng). In “Country Whore”, Kim’s father says her family lineage shows no kisaeng. Although scholars suggest the number of kisaeng working as prostitutes is exaggerated, they agree these young women (often teenagers) were highly skilled in poetry, dance, music and art. For her father to deny any kisaeng, he perhaps is also denying Kim’s own pain or valediction. It makes me wonder about the stories told in my family, both true and exaggerated, filled with contradictions and inconsistencies.
It would feel incomplete to say Yideum Kim’s Hysteria is successful because she tells emotional stories; or because she is thought-provoking, visual, and culturally significant; her poems are all of these things and thus deeply connect with readers.
Although she writes, “I don’t understand why this poem is good just like how I don’t understand why name brand bags are expensive. Not. At. All,” (67), I get why her book of poems is good; Yideum Kim is entertaining, jarring and surprising, in the most perfect way.
One of my favorite poems (“Fan Letter”) is about fan letters she receives: all from the penitentiary. Yet, she writes, “I don’t want to be treated like a poet only criminals are into.”
Although Yideum Kim is halfway across the world from me, I feel she and I are kindred spirits, destined to be friends. I should send her a fan letter, just so she receives one from a person who’s not incarcerated. Or maybe, after I share her poetry with my students, they too will feel more alive and uniquely present in the world—and inspired to write her fan letters of their own.
February 2, 2025
Całkiem niezły zbiór, sporo mocnych kawałków.
October 2, 2020
A fantastic book that covers lethargy, fury, and pettiness in an era where the poetic deserves criticism.
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November 7, 2019A fantastic collection of poems that does vulnerability in a way that interests me--not manicured, words not in right place, not always transparent with where and how the transactions of power are occurring. Sloppy. At times funny and profane. But bursts from humorous to tragic in the space of a single line. From Yideum's standpoint, she is an outsider in Korea's poetic scene, and I am all the more grateful for it. The translators notes speak briefly about Korean speech not having direct subjects. The translation makes excellent choices to keep the slipperyness that implies.
May 3, 2025
this is not a book, this is this aquaintance from your class you at first felt was a pretentious loser but after she bit you back, shared some brilliant insights, chased the same dickhead you did and you both bittered the sink with mascara tears, you realised she is the one to call back and back
September 18, 2020
holy shit
June 18, 2023
Jeden wiersz był ładny. Ten o chorobie.
April 3, 2023
Yideum’s thoughts are so poignant and her form is just experimental enough to irritate someone expecting lyric poetry. I think Sand Woman was my favorite. Every poem sounds like half a conversation and half stream of consciousness.
March 19, 2022
Hysteria by Kim Yideum is an electric collection of poems that examine women & mental health, and how women are often typecast as a method of societal & systemic control.
read for #koreadathon 2022
read for #koreadathon 2022
April 7, 2024
3,5 *
„Histeria” to nagradzany w Korei Płd i poza jej granicami zbiór wierszy i tekstów poetyckich Kim Yideum, twórczyni, która w swojej poezji lubi wkładać patyk w szprychy, prowokować, oburzać, burzyć stereotypy. Dużo uwagi poświęca osobom, które koreańskie społeczeństwo spycha poza linię wzroku, chętnie kwestionuje też sztywne koreańskie normy, pokazując, że dla wielu są krzywdzące.
Dziwna to poezja. Bardzo intensywna i chaotyczna. Wypełniona wieloma postaciami, grzebiąca w ciele i fizjologii, zanurzona w codziennym doświadczeniu, szczególnie kobiecym, ale też przyglądająca się relacjom i poszukująca miejsca dla poetki, kogoś nieprzystającego, w tym hiper uporządkowanym świecie. Jednocześnie bardzo mocno zakorzeniona w kulturze kraju pochodzenia autorki, pełna odwołań, które były dla mnie nieczytelne, przez co mam wrażenie, że połowy wierszy zupełnie nie zrozumiałam. Czasami miałam też wrażenie jakiejś niezręczności językowej, jakby w oryginale musiało chodzić o coś zupełnie innego. Być może dlatego, że jak twierdzi blurb „Kim Yideum sabotuje język”, domyślam się, że koreański, co pewno trudno byłoby oddać po polsku. To nie jest ta poezja, która ściska mi trzewia, targa emocjami, w której się odnajduję, ale na pewno było to inne i ciekawe intelektualnie doświadczenie czytelnicze.
„Histeria” to nagradzany w Korei Płd i poza jej granicami zbiór wierszy i tekstów poetyckich Kim Yideum, twórczyni, która w swojej poezji lubi wkładać patyk w szprychy, prowokować, oburzać, burzyć stereotypy. Dużo uwagi poświęca osobom, które koreańskie społeczeństwo spycha poza linię wzroku, chętnie kwestionuje też sztywne koreańskie normy, pokazując, że dla wielu są krzywdzące.
Dziwna to poezja. Bardzo intensywna i chaotyczna. Wypełniona wieloma postaciami, grzebiąca w ciele i fizjologii, zanurzona w codziennym doświadczeniu, szczególnie kobiecym, ale też przyglądająca się relacjom i poszukująca miejsca dla poetki, kogoś nieprzystającego, w tym hiper uporządkowanym świecie. Jednocześnie bardzo mocno zakorzeniona w kulturze kraju pochodzenia autorki, pełna odwołań, które były dla mnie nieczytelne, przez co mam wrażenie, że połowy wierszy zupełnie nie zrozumiałam. Czasami miałam też wrażenie jakiejś niezręczności językowej, jakby w oryginale musiało chodzić o coś zupełnie innego. Być może dlatego, że jak twierdzi blurb „Kim Yideum sabotuje język”, domyślam się, że koreański, co pewno trudno byłoby oddać po polsku. To nie jest ta poezja, która ściska mi trzewia, targa emocjami, w której się odnajduję, ale na pewno było to inne i ciekawe intelektualnie doświadczenie czytelnicze.
March 7, 2023
Byłam na czytaniu "Histerii" z okazji jej premiery w Kołobrzegu 2022 roku.
W pamięć mi zapadł pewien kontrast, który zauważyłam między autorką a jej powieścią. Kim Yideum wydawała mi się spokojna, uważna i elegancka, a jej teksty były odważne, chaotyczne i brudne.
Zwykle nie sięgam po literaturę tego typu, nie lubię "brudu" w literaturze. Jest dla mnie elementem oczywistym, którego istnienie można zignorować, może nawet udawać, że w ogóle nie ma miejsca. Mimo to, odczuwałam pewien spokój czytając jej tom poezji. Gdyż ukazuje, że ludzką rzeczą i specjalnością jest łączenie czystości, błyskotliwości i piękna (rzucającego się w oczy w niejednym wierszu autorki) z chaosem, toksycznością i poczuciem zagubienia.
W pamięć mi zapadł pewien kontrast, który zauważyłam między autorką a jej powieścią. Kim Yideum wydawała mi się spokojna, uważna i elegancka, a jej teksty były odważne, chaotyczne i brudne.
Zwykle nie sięgam po literaturę tego typu, nie lubię "brudu" w literaturze. Jest dla mnie elementem oczywistym, którego istnienie można zignorować, może nawet udawać, że w ogóle nie ma miejsca. Mimo to, odczuwałam pewien spokój czytając jej tom poezji. Gdyż ukazuje, że ludzką rzeczą i specjalnością jest łączenie czystości, błyskotliwości i piękna (rzucającego się w oczy w niejednym wierszu autorki) z chaosem, toksycznością i poczuciem zagubienia.
July 27, 2024
Two snippets I wrote down while reading: "Next to the burning police station / I want to tear out my uterus and kick it to heaven" & "Titling a poem is like naming a crime." That should properly sum up what you'll be getting into upon opening this grotesque collection. Action Books can do no wrong. A powerful introduction into the work of Kim Yideum.
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February 18, 2025jak zwykle w przypadku poezji mam problem z oceną w skali gwiazdkowej
było to bardzo chaotyczne to na pewno i chyba nie do końca do mnie trafiło, podobały mi się jedynie fragmenty, reszta była dla mnie raczej męcząca i nie do końca zrozumiała niestety
było to bardzo chaotyczne to na pewno i chyba nie do końca do mnie trafiło, podobały mi się jedynie fragmenty, reszta była dla mnie raczej męcząca i nie do końca zrozumiała niestety
March 5, 2024
3,5⭐️
August 23, 2025
Są wiersze lepsze i nieco gorsze. Całościowo jednak całkiem spójny tematycznie tomik.
Przy niektórych pozycjach wymagana jest trochę większa wiedza na temat Korei, ponieważ pomaga to zrozumieć kontekst.
Przy niektórych pozycjach wymagana jest trochę większa wiedza na temat Korei, ponieważ pomaga to zrozumieć kontekst.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews