Crenshaw's Books & Decks

Written by one of the most renowned writers in Korea, Lee Seung-U (or I Seungu),

The Private Life of Plants tells the story of a dysfunctional family narrated by the youngest sibling Kihyon. Uhyon, the oldest brother, a former photographer, develops a rare post-traumatic disorder after getting his legs amputated and becomes hyper-sexualised, psychologically self-destructive and locked inside. His younger brother, Kihyon, the narrator of the story, has to deal with some of his brother's needs and problems, his sense of guilt, feels alienated from his family, and keeps an active interest on his brother's former girlfriend Sunmi. Their parents seem to be also alien to each other; they barely speak to each other or spend time together, and seem to ignore Kyhon. This is the starting point of an exploration of Kyhon's psyche and view of the world, and an in-depth approach to the complexity of human relationships and of the world we perceive.

The Private Life of Plants is a beautifully written book -- very lyric, poetic and artistic at times, but very rough, sad, and confronting others. The characters are inquisitive, soulful, complex, and very human. There is a good dose of han in the book, that melancholy so specific of the Korean people. There is more to them than the beginning of the story makes one think. The story takes you to the same places where Kyhon is heading, and those places are a wonderful exploration of the nature of love, desire, family and the magic in everyday life.

THEMES

There are several prominent themes, masterly weaved, in the story, dialogues, and overall conception of the novel.

|~v|v~| We all have our point of view, we perceive, think and feel subjectively. The book makes very interesting reflections on the objectivity of the photographic camera, and the eye in front of behind the camera. Nobody is totally objective: 

"Nadie puede ser totalmente objetivo. Todo documento refleja necesariamente el punto de vista y la posición de la persona que lo ha elaborado. De igual modo, el que hace fotos expresa su punto de vista y su posición mediante el ángulo y el enfoque del aparato fotográfico." (loc. 562-566)
 [Nobody can be completely objective. Any document necessarily reflects the point of view and the standpoint of the person who makes it. In the same way, a person who makes a photo expresses their point of view and standpoint through the angle and the focal point of of the camera.] 

The eyes are the mind, and the mind is a coloured lens. The more people live in their head the less they can know other human beings, who have an existence outside the other's mind. The Private Life of Plants shows how difficult can be to connect with other people's souls, to get to know their real selves, to understand them, even if that "other" is a member of one's family. Kyhon's eyes are ours, uninformed and judgemental, because, like a photographer with a camera, he has a focal point, a framing and an angle. Like Kyhon, sometimes we just decide that our parents or siblings are something, without having anything to support the idea. We fabricate our views unintentionally; but sometimes we are lucky enough to be confronted with a reality that does not match what we believe about other people. People are sometimes something else or something more. Kyhon gets to know his family at the same time we do, page by page. 

"Esa faceta de mi padre era muy emotiva y desconocida para mí. Ahora me daba cuenta de lo poco que lo conocía. Y no sólo a mi padre. Me preguntaba también cuánto conocía a mi madre y a mi hermano, y tuve que admitir que los conocía muy poco." (loc. 1022-1024).
[That facet of my father was very emotive and unknown to me. Then, I realised how little I knew him. Not only my father. I asked myself how much I knew my mother and my brother, and I had to admit that I didn't know them much either.]

|~v|v~| Love has many faces, people can love and express love in many different ways. We see the different way Kyhon, Uhyon and their parents express love. Perhaps the most moving is that of the father, which takes the reader aback because is the most pure and unselfish of them all and the least obvious. Love is presented as the union of two parts of a soul. Love is powerful, the fuel of live. Love is also blind. Seung-U succeeds at showing what is infatuation and what is real love without preaching that one thing is better than other.

“Hay muchas maneras de querer”, me dije a mí mismo. El contenido del amor puede ser igual, pero la forma de querer es múltiple y diferente. Cien personas tienen cien diferentes formas de amar. Sólo los amores excepcionales se parecen. (Loc. 2820-2822). 

[There are many ways of loving, I told myself. The content of love can be the same, but the way of expressing love is multiple and different. One hundred people have one hundred different ways of loving. Only exceptional love stories are similar.]

"Aristófanes dice que el amor es el deseo de ser, en dos, un solo cuerpo. Eso mismo dice Platón en el Banquete —respondió ella." (loc. 1722-1723).
[Aristophanes says that love is the wish to be, in two, one  only body. The same says Plato in his Banquet, replied her.]

|~v|v~| Sexuality is an expression of the self and of the soul. There is a good deal of reflection about the nature of sexual desire in the novel. Kyhon feels repulsion at Sunmi engaging in a sexual relationship that does not fulfil her as the man uses, abuses and disrespects her; Sunmi feels inside that she deserves it and lets this man do that to her. Uhyon channels her inner pain through a "violent" sexuality, self-destructive, and anti-erotic because it is an expression of his inner pain and wounded soul. Soh channels her deep love for the man of her life through her sexual union with him in a magical pure and spiritual way, which  shows the state of her soul. The dichotomy we are presented with is not manichean -- all of these experiences are expressions and manifestations of the same thing -- The body, even the erotic one, is a connector with our inner life and and expression of the state of the soul. 

|~v|v~| Everything in Nature has a soul with which we can connect, plants and trees included. Uhyon tries to soothe his deep pain through a lyric connection with trees, as he sees them as soulful beings, connectors of earth and even, sustainers of time, and communicators between the human and the divine. He wants to heal his pain and his soul by becoming a tree. In a way, the book reminds me of The Vegetarian where we find the same obsession to unite with trees and Nature through the physical body. His father has a very similar reverence towards plants, which he considers living creatures with which one can communicate if speaking from the heart and with honesty. Kyhon initially has a view of the forest a la "Hansel & Gretel", therefore, dark, dangerous, untrustworthy, the home of witches and nasty beings. However, the more he gets to know to Uhyon and his father, the more he starts seeing the spirit of the trees as connectors of the human and the divine; eventually, he comes across the palm tree in Namcheon and understands what his brother feels and Kyhon experiences the true interconnectivity of the world.

The almost-Universal theme of the symbolic tree, the soulful tree, the tree of knowledge, and the personified tree is part of beliefs, cosmogonies, mythologies, legends and religions of different cultures around the globe: from the Bible to the Druids, from the vast cultures of Antiquity in the Mediterranean and the Middle East to the Celtic people and the Nordics, from the Aborigines of Australia to the Native Americans and beyond. Besides, this subject is very dear to the Korean collective psyche and culture.The link is found in the Korean shamanistic tradition of Musok or Musok-kyo, which is based on the belief that animals, plants and rocks have a spirit, that humans can communicate with them. What is more, there is a strong reverence to trees, who are believed to have individual personalities. The Private Life of Plants melts and fuses all of these elements in an organic way. However, there is a strong explicit emphasis on Greek mythology.

Mi padre dijo, en un tono suave, que los árboles también eran seres vivos, también tenían sentimientos, y añadió: La superficie de la planta percibe tu corazón a través de tu mano  (loc. 1461-7). Las plantas saben leer la mente del hombre.(loc. 1472-1473). Las plantas sienten como seres vivos. Son capaces de sentir dolor, tristeza y felicidad. Saben distinguir instintivamente si el hombre miente o dice la verdad. Un amor falso no provoca una respuesta. Para estar en comunicación con las plantas, hay que ser sincero, como cuando se trata con las personas (loc. 1475-1477).
[My father told me, in a soft tone, that trees are also living creatures and have feelings, and he added, "The surface of a plant perceives your heart through your hand. (...) Plants know how to read the mind of a man. (....) Plants feel as living creatures do and are able to feel pain, sadness and happiness. They can instinctively know whether a man is lying or saying the truth. A fake love doesn't provoke an answer. To be in communication with plants one has to be sincere, as when one treats with people."]

¿Habría algún bosque que no fuera sagrado? Todos los bosques guardan en su seno la génesis primera. Los bosques fueron el primer templo divino y algunos árboles de ese templo fueron adorados por sus propiedades divinas. (loc. 1330-1332).
[Is there any forest that is not sacred? Every forest keeps in its bosom the primeval genesis. Forests were the first divine temple and some trees in that temple were revered for their divine properties.]

|~v|v~| Reality and dream are weaved in myriad ways and the world is just both. The borders that separate them aren't clear or defined. On the contrary, the more they mingle, the more magical reality is and the more real the dream becomes. Although the theme is barely present at the beginning of the book, it becomes stronger and more defined as the story advances, and becomes prominent in the last fourth part of the book, when we see dream and reality connect in very tangible ways. When they connect, we see the characters moving from a world of hatred, guilt, repression, disconnection and pain, to a world that, although it is strange and inexplicable, feeds their soul and lets them know themselves, to communicate, to soothe their wounds and to heal. The story about the palm tree at the edge of the cliff in Namcheon and Sunmi's dream in the car are really beautiful and very lyric and a depiction of that.

"Su presencia lo hacía todavía más irreal, pues no es que ella entrara en el sueño, sino que ese espacio se convertía en un sueño gracias a ella. Mientras ella soñaba, el mundo de su sueño se agrandaba y en él se establecía ella como la heroína." (Loc. 2446-2448)
 [Her presence made it even more unreal, because it is not that she had entered the dream, but the space had become a dream thanks to her. While she was dreaming her dream's world was becoming larger and she was becoming the heroine in it.]

 "Le dije que ya era un árbol, porque el que sueña con ser árbol es el que posee el alma del árbol, y el que posee su alma, ya es un árbol." (loc.2709-2710).
[I told him that he was already a tree because somebody who dreams about being a tree is somebody who already has the soul of a tree, and somebody who has its soul is already a tree.]

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO...

The Private Life of Plants,  in the end, is a meandering walk towards wholeness and communion with the world, the Universe, and with Nature of which we are part. The characters start walking toward that wholeness, in different ways. Uhyon wants to heal his soul by connecting with his soul but since he can't do so directly he tries to connect with trees' soul. Kyhon wants to be one with his brother and with his family, to be seen, to be loved and be one with them . People become one with their lovers and their bodies become one. Kyhon's eye detaches from the mind and sees the world in its complexity and wholeness embracing the others for who they really are. Wounds start to heal and healing is becoming whole. Soh revels her secret and becomes true to herself and fully honest with her family, so she becomes whole. The family makes an effort to communicate better, so they are walking towards wholeness. Trees become personified, and one with the humans they merge. Dreams and reality fuse and integrate. Plants and humans talk to each other as they are part of the same. The Universe is one. Wholeness is oneness, union, integration and communion. Union with your self, with others, with reality, with Nature, with your dreams, with the magic we are and we are surrounded by.

TRANSLATION

I read the book on Kindle in the Spanish translation because there is no Kindle edition of this book in English. The translation into Spanish is wonderful, and one really forgets is a translation. The Spanish used is classic and elegant and I think will be enjoyed by both Latin-American and Spanish readers. Just a couple of sentences kept me munching because they sound a bit thick, or perhaps a bit surprising, and found the use of some capitals (or lack of them) and long dashes confusing, but that is just me being a picky reader.

RENDERING FOR KINDLE

There are just a couple or footnotes in the book, but they are misplaced and change position when changing the sizing of the font. Footnotes work best in Kindle when placed at the back and are properly linked, so one doesn't find them in the middle of nowhere. On the other hand, it seems that the conversion into digital book came with a large number of typos derived of improper linking and unlinking of words, and some unnecessary spacing between full stops. Some of the typos I noticed are:

~ inuti-lizada (Loc. 2498).
~preo cupara más. (Loc. 2217).
~ahora?. .”  (loc. 2107).
~arrastra do (loc. 1865).
~men-tido (loc. 1227).
~comprender lo. (loc. 1204).
~per-seguido (loc. 1193)
~sonrisadulce (loc. 1079). 

~ juego . Me (loc. 1033).
~ abstraí do, (loc. 777).
~ con-secuencia (loc.  729).
~ obstácu lo (Kindle Location 660).
~ canciónse (Kindle Location 647). E
~ el respal do (loc. 511).
~ insen-sata (loc. 417).
~ confir-marlas. (loc. 399-400).
~ ve-hículo, (Kindle Location 73). 

IN SHORT

The Private Life of Plants is a great little book -- Lyric but confronting, complex but beautiful, The characters are walking into wholeness and into more fulfilling lives and emotions. The way Seung-U looks at the world in this novel is original, complex, mysterious and very soulful. You can this novel as a straightforward novel and and forget about it when you close it. In my case the book has stayed with me. because reminds me of some experiences I have had with some areas of the world, pieces of land, parks and trees -- an inexplicable but deep sense of connexion and attachment to something that is out of me. At times, when I read some books, I experience a deep sense of connection with the writer, as if the words had been written for me, and this is the case here. Nature has a voice that sings to us... sometimes through books and writers. Seung-U deserves more attention and accolades in the West than he has 

had so far. What a great writer.

NOTES

> The novel ends with a note by the author himself, where he briefly explains how he came up with the idea of the story and what he has trying to do with the characters. I find that sort of notes wonderful, because they are a pinhole into the mind of the creator, how a simple image of two trees can give birth to a wonderful story like this.  
> The Private Life of Plants was originally published in Korean in the year 2000.