Beginning with "I walked, following the map he threw me, and he was crossing the sea," this work is like a journey to trace the footsteps of poet Yun Dong-ju.
Inspired by the poetry of Yun Dong-ju, whom the author has admired since childhood, the author flies to the city in Japan where he once lived. There, he encounters people who honor Yun Dong-ju, walks the path he once walked, and records, writes, and reads the places where his poems remain, encountering Yun Dong-ju through the author's own perspective. However, this collection is not simply a tribute to Yun Dong-ju.
When we encounter poetry that endured the same era as Yun Dong-ju, we are accustomed to analyzing and deconstructing it through the lens of resistance and non-resistance, narrative and non-narrative. However, stripping away all such interpretations, it ultimately speaks to the anxieties and suffering of the youth of that era. Song Sang-hyun's Yun Dong-ju is a figure of the youth of his time.
These two young men, living in different eras and circumstances, face the challenge of youthful illness. Through their work, they share the incomparable trials and struggles of two young men. Ultimately, these works are the result of a young man who lived through that era, confronting his own personal perspective.