Themes
2019 Seoul International Writers' Festival
Thousands of Mirrors Reflecting Us
A thousand mirrors reflect us. Mirrors take us into an entrancing world of fascination and represent transparent objectivity.
We are all mirrors to one another. We identify ourselves in our own reflection in others. Stones, insects, trees, birds, stars, leaves of grass, skies and seas are all mirrors to one another. All things in the world reflect and get reflected by one another in order to complete their existence. Thus, they form an infinite universe, and every drop of water contains the entire universe.
The past and the future, too, are mirrors to each other. The present is the flesh of the time in which the past and the future reflect each other. The infinite moments of the present reflect and permeate one another to create eternity.
Literature is the mirror of the world, and life is the eternal mirror of literature. Literature is at once cold reflection and passionate intervention—clear contemplation and blissful intoxication. In literature, we find pledges but never orders—empathy but never coercion.
The 2019 Seoul International Writers’ Festival is a time of celebration that brings together writers from all over the world and those who love literature. Please join us at the SIWF and become one of the thousand mirrors reflecting our lives.